Understanding how a business is valued, and the levers that can be adjusted to influence a valuation is critically important when scaling a business for an exit.
As a shareholder in a business being sold, it can be easy to let personal bias cloud your judgement when valuing the company. Even if you strongly believe the business has the potential to be successful, it’s important to set that feeling aside and analyse the company objectively, as a potential investor would do.
Everyone will have a view over which items are the most important when valuing a (recruitment) business, but from an investor, acquirer or purchaser perspective there are a core set of metrics that can influence that valuation.
A simple rule of thumb relates to applying a market-influenced multiple to the EBITDA of a business. That multiple is typically influenced by a range of factors – and we\’ve summarised the main ones here.