How much is my business worth?

The method in one line

Your indicative range is adjusted EBITDA multiplied by a range taken from published sector and size tables, with your position in the range set by a short list of facts about your business. Code does the arithmetic from our tables. AI never picks a number.

The quick calculator is free and needs no account. It saves your name, email, figures and result so you can pick up where you left off. It gives a first range from a few figures. The Sale Pack works out a fuller valuation from three years of figures you check and confirm.

Start with checked earnings

Adjusted EBITDA for each year is operating profit, plus depreciation and amortisation, plus explained one-off add-backs. The working owners' actual pay cost, meaning salary, employer National Insurance and pension, is added back. The market cost of employing someone to do each owner's job is then taken off.

You enter a replacement cost for every working owner, even if it is zero. Without one, no figures are shown. This keeps the earnings honest about what a new owner would have to pay to run the business.

Maintainable earnings

The Sale Pack uses the last three confirmed full trading years, weighted 1, 2 and 3 from oldest to newest. With two full years it uses weights 1 and 2. Maintainable earnings are the lower of that weighted average and the latest year's earnings. It is a defined calculation, not a forecast.

In the fictional Kestrelmoor example, adjusted EBITDA is £184,000, £202,000 and £248,000. The weighted total divided by six is £222,000. Because the latest year is higher, £222,000 is the maintainable figure.

The range from our tables

Our tables hold a range for each sector and a range for each turnover size band. Where the two ranges meet by enough, the range used is where they overlap. If they barely overlap or do not overlap, the lower of the two applies. Some sectors are priced on the sector range alone. The quick calculator and the Sale Pack use the same rule and the same tables.

Kestrelmoor is in manufacturing and engineering, with a sector range of 3.5x to 8x. Its latest turnover of £1,410,000 sits in the £1m to £3m size band, 3x to 4.5x. The range used is 3.5x to 4.5x adjusted EBITDA.

Your position in the range

A short list of facts about your business moves you within that range, never outside it. Each fact scores a whole number. A largest customer above 20% of turnover, a working owner over 30 hours a week with no named cover, fewer than five years trading, falling turnover, current trading below trend or a short lease each count against you. Recurring revenue over 50%, repeat revenue over 60%, two years of rising turnover and long-serving key people each count for you.

The scores are added to a net score. Minus 2 or lower places you in the lower part of the range. Minus 1 to plus 1 places you in the middle. Plus 2 or higher places you in the upper part. Kestrelmoor has repeat revenue above 60% and two years of rising turnover, so its net score is plus 2. Its most likely multiple is 4.25x, which gives a business value of £780,000 to £1,000,000, most likely £940,000.

From business value to a transaction price

For a share sale, the bridge considers cash, borrowings, corporation tax owed and working cash based on one month of latest costs. Those balances must be supplied, including zero where none applies. An asset sale keeps cash and debts with the seller and treats included stock separately. A freehold needs its own valuation by a RICS surveyor rather than being guessed by this method.

Some businesses get no figure. These are businesses with no maintainable profit, those without two confirmed full years of figures, start-up or early stage businesses and a pub, restaurant or hotel sold with its freehold. Your pack still builds without a valuation section. For turnover of £10m or more the range comes with a note to treat it with extra care.

Build free, pay when you are ready

The Sale Pack starts with your own answers and accounts. You check the figures, explain the business and decide what is included in the proposed sale. You can see the indicative valuation and marketing documents in a protected preview without paying. Legal documents are named in the preview contents, rather than shown as free legal drafts. Pay £495 only when you are happy, then download and use the documents. No VAT is charged. There is no broker commission.

The price is for one business and one deal. It does not include finding buyers, negotiation, portal listing fees or professional advice. Your solicitor and accountant remain separate from the product. The service is self-serve. Support is limited to payment, login, upload faults and data requests. No one checks the commercial merits of your proposed deal for you.

Keep control of the information

A public advert or blind teaser should not name your business or give away identifying details. The named Information Memorandum can contain more information, but it belongs behind the confidentiality process you choose. Website-sourced logos, colours and photographs are restricted to that named document. Do not put them in a blind teaser. A buyer room is a paid feature and the seller controls access after email verification and a signed NDA.

Before sharing a pack, read every document and check it against your records. A tidy layout is not evidence that a statement is correct. Explain gaps rather than filling them with guesses. Keep seller-only valuation information out of documents sent to buyers. Ask your own advisers about tax, legal effect, employee matters and any regulated part of the transaction. The product does not rank buyers or tell you which offer to accept.

Common questions