How To Sell Your Business For A Higher Multiple

Attracting a good sale price when you sell your business is similar to getting a high score from all the judges in a beauty pageant or an Olympic event.

Buyers will base the value of your business on a two-part formula: 1) your company’s pre-tax earnings, 2) a multiple. The former is up to you as the business owner. Think of pre-tax earnings as your Olympic performance: It is influenced by how skilfully you’ve run your business over the years. The first part of the value equation is firmly within your control.

The multiple is more like the European judge and his scorecard. The multiple for your business should fall within an expected range given the size of your company and its industry. A recent BizExchange report showed EBITDA multiples ranging from 2.1.6 to 5.9 for businesses with $1M-$15M in annual sales across hundreds of businesses sold. Like a judge’s score, where the multiple lands within a range is a matter of the buyer’s opinion.

If your goal is to sell your business for the highest possible multiple, here’s how to bump up your score:

Minimize Risk

If you’ve run your business for any length of time, you’ve probably gotten used to the risk associated with owning it. Potential buyers are highly sensitive to risk, and will make their own assessment as to any apparent or potentially hidden risks that may jeopardize their investment. The antidote to risk is often diversification. Businesses that have diverse customer segments, product assortment, service offerings, suppliers and revenue streams have the ability to command a higher multiple.

Dominate a Niche in Your Industry

I recently spoke to the owner of service business. Over the past twenty years the company has developed a niche by offering round-the-clock expedited service to customers in the health industry.  Another business man I know specializes in packaging temporary and contract staff for the health industry. Dominating a niche in a wider industry goes a long way towards increasing the multiple when you sell your business.

Create Recurring Revenue

Generating sales is one of the most vital endeavours at any business, regardless of industry. If you have to beat the bushes for every new customer, however, that endeavour is viewed as risky in the eyes of a buyer. If you as the owner have been bringing in new customers at your business for the past twenty years, how will the buyer do it without you? GMO recently assisted in the sale of a computer bureau business whose owner  had “evergreen” contracts in place with his customers. The contracts would renew annually until cancelled, something only one percent of his customers did. He really has recurring revenue to sell and GMO obtained a great price from a qualified buyer as a result.

Suffice it to say that buyers love businesses with a recurring revenue model and pay handsomely for them.

Show Consistency or Improvement

No matter how much a judge may admire an Olympian’s performance, any stumble is reflected in their overall score. If your business experiences a dip in sales or profitability, it is likely to affect your multiple and valuation. There may be a perfectly plausible reason why your numbers were down two years ago, but it’s the rare buyer who will overlook a blip in your company’s performance.

Olympians do their utmost to peak at the right moment — not too early or too late, but at the precise moment when it matters most. The ideal scenario is to take a business to market when it has been showing consistent, or better yet, improving financial performance for the past three to five years. Ironically one of the weaknesses of entrepreneurship is that this is also the time when most owners are least likely to sell.

Outperform Industry Averages

When you sell your business, buyers will compare financial metrics at your company — gross margins, net margins, major expenses like rent or wage costs — to averages for your industry. One of the businesses I mentioned had pre-tax profit margins that were almost four times the industry average. That is eye-popping performance and was reflected in the value of the business, which sold for a multiple at the highest end of its range.

You typically get one chance to sell your business, if you’re lucky. The process isn’t unlike world-class athletes who train for decades and have just minutes to convince the judges they deserve gold. Earning high marks is a daunting task, but it can be done — as long as you figure out how to impress those darn judges, the Buyer and his advisors.

 

Want to learn how you can sell your business for a higher multiple? Talk to GMO.

Graham O’HehirGMO Managing Director

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Whether you dream of buying a business, want to sell your Perth or WA business, or want to know the value of your company – GMO’s business brokers and valuers are here to assist you. We have won the City of Perth Award for Business Excellence and our Managing Director has been elected as a fellow of the Australian Institute of Business Brokers. Whether you are a buyer or a seller, GMO can introduce you to the right person.

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