Valuing a business

A question about : Valuing a business

We are thinking of retiring & have run our retail/online business for over 30 years. Have now realised we have not thought through our exit strategy!!! Anyone have any ideas how I could get it valued?

Best answers:

• Firstly, talk to your own accountant.
  Then talk to a few LOCAL business sales agencies.
  You'll then have a few ball park figures to kick around and should have a better idea of not just a sensible starting asking price, but also some of the other aspects, such as the split of the asking price between intangibles (goodwill, websites, etc), and tangibles (equipment, vehicles, premises), and also the value of stock to be sold, any obligations such as leases, staffing liabilities, etc. It all has to go into the mix when setting an asking price and better to have it all in mind at the start rather than having to backtrack once you've got someone hooked.
  Please be aware of some of the national business agents - some are well known for drastically over-estimating the value of the business, making promises that they have databases of people wanting a business "just like yours", etc. They do it to hook you in and persuade you to pay high up-front fees. In my experience, more often than not, they don't come up with any buyers, often don't even produce any viewings.
  You may also like to do some personal research as there are a lot of businesses for sale on the various websites, such as Daltons, and others - just google UK businesses for sale and you're spoilt for choice of website directories, many of which contain links to businesses being sold by business sales agents.
• Is the business a limited company?
• It's all about turnover and profit, once this is established a ballpark figure can be reached.