The £2M vs £4M Sale A business owner I spoke with assumed his company would sell for around £5–6M. Revenue: £5M Profit: £700k When buyers looked at it, the offers came in around: £2M. Nothing was wrong with the business. The issue was preparation. After 18 months improving the management structure, cleaning up the financials and running a structured sale process… The same business eventually sold for just over £4M. Same company. Same profits. Preparation doubled the valuation. Most business owners only sell once in their lifetime, and many leave millions on the table simply because they don’t understand how buyers think. I’m running a free webinar on how owners can maximise the value of their business before selling. Comment EXIT if you'd like the details.

Last week I ran a live four hour training on how business acquisitions actually work. We recorded the entire session. It’s almost four hours long and covers the practical side of buying businesses — from finding deals through to structuring and funding them. Topics covered include: • How to position yourself as a credible buyer — even if you’ve never acquired a business before • How to find motivated sellers directly (without brokers or auctions) • What to say on first calls so owners actually want to sell to you • Handling seller objections and building trust during negotiations • How to quickly assess whether a deal is worth pursuing (structuring) • How leveraged acquisitions really work in the lower mid-market • Structuring offers that get accepted without overpaying • Term sheets and negotiation tactics used in real transactions • How deals are actually funded (including low or no equity structures) • Due diligence — what really matters vs what wastes time • The legal process explained in plain English • How to grow and derisk a business after acquisition This training is not theoretical — it’s focused on how acquisitions are actually executed in today’s market, with real examples and case studies. If you’d like access to the recording: Share this post and comment “FREE TRAINING” and I’ll send it to you.

Most business owners we approach aren’t ready to sell, and that’s completely normal. But something interesting has happened over the past year… Many of those same owners later came back to us not to sell to us but to get structured sell-side support to maximise their valuation and create a competitive buyer environment. So we formalised a Sell-Side Advisory Program designed for founders who want to: ✔ Control the process ✔ Position their business for a premium valuation ✔ Attract strategic (not just financial) buyers ✔ Create competition to drive offers up ✔ Achieve a strategic exit — not a transactional one And we’ve backed it with a performance guarantee: 👉 5 qualified offers within 12 months — or we continue working free. Recent outcomes: Construction firm — 5 offers, 28% above broker appraisal Marketing agency — 5 offers in 10 weeks, sold to UK PE Engineering services — exit in 8 months, 80% cash at completion If you’re thinking about valuation, timing, or positioning even 12–24 months out — I’m happy to share a snapshot of how the process works. Just comment “Checklist” and I’ll send you the 10-point Exit Readiness Checklist. 📘 My book “Built to Sell Well” covers how to prepare early so you exit on your terms: https://mybook.to/builttosellwell

Every day I get deals emailed to me sometimes from brokers. Yesterday I got a 3M revenue business with 278k of EBITDA . Balance sheet is worth 668k so you could sort of justify 2-3 x + net assets to get to 1.5m. Broker wants 3.5M justifying it as net assets plus 4.5x the “adjusted EBITDA” of 750k. Even if accepting of the adjustments then that’s still rich for a small small business. Oh and the seller wants 2.5M at least upfront and the cash. But the only assets to leverage is P&M and receivables which may amount to 500k. On cash last year business had 3.5m of cash which they took 2.5M as a dividend on advice of their accountant (who is also brokering this deal). After paying the government their almost 1M of tax they netted 1.5m. They think the 1M they left behind is “surplus” and should be taken too by the seller. Notwithstanding taking 1M gives a negative net asset position, how does the company cover working capital (which is 350k) or the 750k of liabilities (deferred tax, corp tax, other liabilities). Oh and on the adjustments there is an add back of 200k owner salary but no replacement cost ! This business came across my desk last year when profits and margins were better, the deal didn’t work then and it still doesn’t work now. This seller is paying this advisor for bad advice that’s cost them a) at least a year of what could of been retirement b) what will likely be another few years before they realise they won’t sell on such ridiculous terms c) the 1m tax which in my structure would have only cost them 400k and gave them an extra 600k d) performance has declined in the last year probably because owner lost focus and already mentally check out - devaluing the business and if trend continues will continue to devalue. But of course the accountant advisor who has worked for him for ten years knows best - of course he does he’s charged them around £75k in fees so far to help them sell their business which is on top of the 18k a year they spend for general accounting.

That’s the value of four term sheets issued in the last two weeks for four deals - four different industries, a US deal, Ireland, UK and Australia. Two accepted with due diligence now under way. Two in negotiations . Term sheets are a great way to capture the core components of a deal and something that can be referred back to in the event of any disagreements later down the line. We generally present them after a formal presentation is gone through with the seller(s) that doesn’t just go through the financial and legal components of the deal but sells us a buyer (track record, future plans for the company etc). It’s a simple 4/5 page document - If anyone is interested in having a copy of the template we use like this post or comment and I’ll send it to you.