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How To Sell A Loss Making Company At A Profit? How Much Can You Get? The Theory: My company is a loss making business and has made losses for several years. If someone buys us out they can use these losses against their own profit and save a lot of money in Corporation Tax.The Logic: […]
Continue readingListed A Business For Sale With A Broker And Getting No Calls? Here’s Why. IntroductionThis light hearted look at the world of business brokers was written pre 2010 and when I was actively looking to buy businesses. The below is what buyers like me used to typically experience when we contacted business brokers to enquire […]
Continue readingShareholder Disputes – How To Resolve Them If You Want To Sell Your Business What if all the shareholders are not in agreement with respect the sale of the business (or the valuation)? Unknown to most business owners, a minority shareholder can hold up a deal as buyers do not want to get involved in […]
Continue readingHow To Successfully Sell An Insolvent Business The latest figures released by the Insolvency Service for the first quarter of the year show that corporate insolvencies rose 4.5% compared with the final quarter of 2016, and were 5.3% higher than the same quarter last year. The official figures also indicate that Q1 2017 was the […]
Continue readingAsset Sale Vs Share Sale: Does Selling Assets Get A Better Price Than Selling Shares? If a business is a Ltd company, the sale can be structured in one of two ways – by selling the shares or selling the assets. (This doesn’t apply to sole proprietorships or partnerships as these businesses don’t have shares.)While […]
Continue readingA Detailed Guide To Selling A Business By Yourself & Doing A Better Job Than A Business Broker WouldEverything you need to know about selling a business but which no business broker will tell you. By Clinton Lee (LinkedIn profile) How to sell my business? There are two ways to go about the sale: 1. […]
Continue readingHow To Impress Investors To Buy Your Business (Or Finance It) How to get an investor to invest in your business? I present some uncomfortable truths.This has been written mainly for business owners attempting to sell their businesses themselves (without a business broker). But most of it is also applicable to those business owners seeking […]
Continue readingHow To Choose The Right Business Brokers To Sell Your Business? This page is about choosing a business broker to sell a small business (under £500K in net profit per year). Larger businesses, so called ‘mid-cap’ businesses, are not typically sold by business brokers. They require a higher level of skill and are typically handled […]
Continue readingAvoiding Trips and Traps in ValuationBy Chris Thorne There are many reasons why a business owner needs a valuation ranging from wanting to sell whole or a part, negotiating a merger, creating new shares through to calculating capital tax liabilities. For a typical small business, the events that trigger the need for a valuation will […]
Continue readingBusiness Valuation Myths: 10 Things You Really Must Know About Business Valuation There are many myths surrounding valuation as it relates to small and micro businesses. This post attempts to dispel the more common ones.Businesses are not worth a “multiple of turnover”Business are not worth a “multiple of profit”There is no such thing as an […]
Continue readingWhat Business Brokers Say & What They Really Mean Let’s say you haven’t used this advice on choosing brokers and you’ve found a business broker or business transfer agent in Google and believed the broker’s claims. Maybe you did worse and didn’t find them in Google but, instead, fell innocent victim to a seductive-sounding cold […]
Continue readingJobs and Careers In Business Broking Looking For A Job As A Business Broker Taking Up A Career As A Business Broker Setting Up In Business As A Business Broker Looking For A Position In A Business Broker Firm?Are you looking for a job as a business broker? Business Transfers Agents are often called business brokers. […]
Continue readingClient feedback on business brokers & business transfer agents they used Update: This page has, quite unexpectedly, become the most viewed page on this site! Our summary advice for any small business owner (sub £2 million in turnover) is to not use a business transfer agent or broker to sell your business. You’re better off […]
Continue readingBusiness Sales Agents / Business Transfer Agents – All You Need To KnowWhat is a business sale agent? What is a business broker? Some FAQs What is a business transfer agent / business sale agent? There is no textbook definition for ‘business transfer agent’ (business broker). However, anyone who calls himself a business transfer agent […]
Continue readingSave thousands of pounds – motivate business brokers to do a better job at a lower price It’s not cheap to hire a competent business broker (business transfer agent) to sell your business. In fact, it’ll cost you between 5% – 10% of your selling price (read more about business broker costs & fees). Yes, […]
Continue readingThe Myth: A business is worth only what someone will pay for it The first question raised by business owners looking to sell their business usually revolves around valuation: “What is my business worth?”And the most common answer they get is that a business is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. […]
Continue readingUK directory of business brokers (business transfer agents)? …and why you’ve got very little chance of finding the most competent ones in Google or in business directories. Update: Dated Feb 2020This page was created five years ago. There is now a UK National Directory of Business Brokers. It has separate sections for business brokers who […]
Continue readingIs this how YOUR business broker values businesses? For many businesses, a business broker is the first port of call to get an idea of how much their business is worth. That’s not necessarily the best place to start for a valuation. There are three reasons: Brokers are generally not qualified valuers and this is […]
Continue readingKeeping confidential the impending sale of your business Part 3 of 3: << Part 2 THE CONFIDENTIALITY RISK (Part III of III) The Immediate Risk For YouBusinesses that provide vendors with exit related services stand to gain from knowing, before other firms do, that you’re in need of their services.They can then get in there […]
Continue readingConfidentiality in the impending sale of your business Part 2 of 3: << Part 1THE CONFIDENTIALITY RISK (Part II of III) Precautions That Technology Has Forced On UsHitherto cutting edge advice on, for example, picking up answerphone messages before staff do and moving the fax machine into our private office are hopelessly outdated.To protect against […]
Continue readingConfidentiality In Business Sale SituationsYou’ve told nobody about the impending sale of your business, not even your partner / spouse. You think nobody knows? You’re probably wrong. What’s worse is that these people who’ve been spying on you are extremely dangerous and can severely damage the value you’ve built in your business. THE CONFIDENTIALITY RISK […]
Continue readingI’ll buy your business for double whatever valuation you have Yes, I’ll pay you double whatever your business is worth. And I’m making that offer blind as I’ve no idea what figure you’ve got on the table.But it doesn’t matter about the figure.It doesn’t matter if your figure is a million pounds or a trillion […]
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