Preparing to sell
Know your number before you go to market.
A valuation for sale from The Business Valuers is an independent written valuation of your business, fixed fee from £495 and delivered in 3 working days from receipt of the information we need. It gives you a defensible figure to negotiate from, not what a broker wants you to hear.
James Nelson
Founder & M&A Valuation Director, The Business Valuers
17 years in UK business brokerage and valuation. 1,000+ SME valuations completed. Former Head of Corporate Sales at Christie & Co.
Independent.We don't sell businesses. No success fee.
- 1,000+ UK business valuations
- 17 years of brokering & valuing experience
- Fixed fee from £495 — no hourly billing
- Report delivered in 3 working days
When you need this.
- —You want a realistic valuation before you instruct a broker, so the headline figure they quote is tested, not taken on trust.
- —You're thinking about selling in the next 6 to 24 months and want a baseline.
- —You've had an unsolicited approach and need to know whether the offer is fair.
- —You want to understand which levers move the value before you market the business.
How we value it.
The single biggest mistake owners make is going to market without an independent view of value. You end up anchored to a broker's headline figure, which exists to win your instruction, or to a buyer's opening offer, which exists to win a discount. We assess the business the way a buyer's adviser would, triangulating a normalised-EBITDA earnings multiple, a net asset valuation and a discounted cash flow cross-check, and benchmark it against what comparable businesses in your sector have actually changed hands for.
Normalisation matters most here: owner remuneration, one-off costs and personal expenses run through the business are identified and adjusted, so the figure reflects the business's true earning power rather than how it happens to be run today, which is also what a buyer's own adviser will do during diligence.
Illustrative example
A baseline before marketing.
A print and signage business owner is considering a sale in the next year. Reported EBITDA is £220,000, but £35,000 of that includes the owner's above-market salary and a personal vehicle run through the company. Normalised EBITDA comes to £185,000. Applying a benchmarked multiple of 3.5x gives an enterprise value of £647,500. With net cash of £40,000, the equity value is £687,500, roughly £150,000 below the figure the owner had been quoted informally by a broker, giving him a realistic baseline before instructing anyone.
This is for you if…
- —You want a realistic valuation before you instruct a broker — so the headline figure they quote is tested, not taken on trust.
- —You're thinking about selling in the next 6–24 months and want a baseline.
- —You've had an unsolicited approach and need to know whether the offer is fair.
- —You want to understand which levers move the value before you market.
What you'll need to provide.
- —Statutory accounts for the last three years.
- —The most recent management accounts.
- —A short note on any one-off costs or owner benefits run through the business.
If anything is missing, we will tell you what matters and what doesn't.
What we don't do.
- —We are not tax advisers. We don't advise on the tax treatment of a sale; that is for your accountant or tax adviser.
- —We are not RICS-regulated. Where the business owns freehold property, we use an agreed property value, or value the business debt free, cash free, excluding the freehold.
- —We don't sell businesses and take no commission from a broker for placing yours with them.
And when you do need a broker, we'll help you choose one.
Broker selection package
Typical upfront
£5k–£10k
payable before marketing begins
Typical broker fees
3–5%
of sale value on completion
Already been quoted terms? We'll review them and negotiate on your behalf for a better deal.
Not yet approached anyone? We'll approach brokers on your behalf and introduce you to the one best suited to your business — once the terms are agreeable to you.
As a bespoke service, our fee is agreed directly with you, transparently, before any work begins. In practice the savings more than cover it, and you gain peace of mind in both the broker chosen and the approach taken.
We never take commission from a broker for placing your business. Fully independent, unbiased.
Worked example
A business worth £500,000
Broker's original quote
Negotiated by us
Our fee
Your net saving
£6,005
plus a broker chosen on merit, not commission.
From the book
What Would a Buyer Pay?
Written by James Nelson, the valuer behind this report.
Frequently asked.
What is a valuation for sale used for?
It is an independent written valuation of your business prepared before you go to market, so you have a defensible figure to negotiate from rather than anchoring on a broker's headline estimate or a buyer's opening offer.
How much does a valuation for sale cost?
Fixed fee from £495, agreed before any work starts. Complex or multi-entity businesses are quoted individually.
How long does it take?
A written report in 3 working days from receipt of the information we need, usually your statutory accounts and recent management accounts.
Will the valuation match what a broker tells me?
Not necessarily, and that is the point. A broker's headline figure exists to win your instruction. Our valuation is independent, built on normalised earnings and comparable transaction evidence, so you can judge a broker's figure against something impartial rather than taking it on trust.
Should I get a valuation before or after instructing a broker?
Before, ideally. Going to market without your own figure means you are relying entirely on the broker's number, which may be optimistic to win the instruction. A valuation first gives you a baseline to hold the conversation against.
Do you sell businesses or take a success fee?
No. We don't sell businesses and take no commission from brokers for placing your business with them. The valuation fee is the only fee, and it is agreed before work starts.
What don't you do?
We are not tax advisers, so the report does not cover the tax treatment of a sale, and we are not RICS-regulated, so where the business owns freehold property we use an agreed value or value the business debt free, cash free, excluding the freehold.
Find out what it's worth.
A fixed-fee valuation, from £495.
Independent.We don't sell businesses. No success fee.
- 1,000+ UK business valuations
- 17 years of brokering & valuing experience
- Fixed fee from £495 — no hourly billing
- Report delivered in 3 working days