Sell With Us

WHY SHOULD YOU USE UNITED FOR YOUR BUSINESS SALE?

When you work with United, you’re working with a team who are professional, knowledgeable and experienced. We work with you to sell your business for the best price possible, as quickly as possible. After all, your success is our success.

Selling a business is a complex process. There are many stages during the process where if a structured process were not followed, a sale can fall over. It doesn’t take much for a buyer to lose confidence in a business if; information is not available, the information provided is unclear, or simply doesn’t add up. The most common reasons that a business won’t sell is typically due to poor preparation, poor marketing, or simply not pricing the business correctly. United Business Brokers understand how to see business sales through to settlement and follow a structured process.

THE SALE PROCESS

1. ANALYSIS

The first step toward selling your business is taking a good look at the numbers. We analyse income and expenses, look at add backs and other non-recurring expenses to help determine the true profitability of the business. We also consider non-financial aspects such as the goodwill of the owner, your industry, where your business is in the business life cycle, dependency on clients, suppliers or key staff and how attractive your business would be to potential buyers.

2. APPRAISAL

Working with industry rules of thumb, data on businesses sold that are similar to yours, local market intel and detailed knowledge of your specific business, we create a professional market appraisal on your business to help determine the probable selling price of your business.

3. AGENCY AGREEMENT

We create an agency agreement so that we can represent your business as exclusive agent / broker.

4. BLIND PROFILE / TEASER

Designed to pique the interest of potential buyers while maintaining confidentiality. This is typically a short 3 or 4 page overview as well as a video teaser. A blind profile can be an effective way of attracting buyers without revealing your business name or any confidential information.

5. BUSINESS PROFILE / INFORMATION MEMORANDUM

Once a potential buyer has completed a Confidentiality Agreement we provide them with a professionally written business profile / information memorandum on your business. This document includes; financial information, your position in the market, non-financial factors such as staffing and opportunities that purchasers could capitalise on. Our information memorandums are bespoke, as we realise that not all businesses are the same.

6. PROMOTING YOUR LISTING

We advertise your business sale via all of the top industry web sites. We also promote your listing through social media postings on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, etc, as well as including it on our regular updates to our database.

7. SHARING YOUR LISTING

We share the story of your business with qualified buyers. Our brokers know the high points of your business and work with buyers to help them understand your business and to see themselves as the new owner.

8. FINDING THE RIGHT BUYER

Maintaining your confidentiality, United interviews potential Buyers to determine financial capability and matches up the interests and the needs of the buyer to your business. This helps to ensure a successful sale and transition.

9. MANAGING THE CLOSING PROCESS

Once an offer has been accepted by the business owner, we work with the business owner to create a Heads of Agreement, which outlines the terms of the sale. This forms the basis of the contract of sale which we then communicate to both the business owners’ solicitor as well as the buyer’s solicitor. We also manage the due diligence process and see the closing process through to settlement.

FAQ’s can we have the FAQ’s as a separate title under the SELLING YOUR BUSINESS heading?

How do I know how much my business is worth? What is a business appraisal?

A business appraisal provides a business owner with an indication of the amount a business could sell for using three valuation approaches.

• Market approach – based on comparable sales
• Income approach – based on the net profit of the business and ROI to a purchaser
• Asset approach – the value of the assets held by the business

Other considerations in appraising a business are:

What are the barriers to entry? Would it be easy for a competitor to become established in this industry?

What is the risk profile of this business? eg. Relies on 1 or 2 clients, supplier contracts not in place, relies on owner etc.

How long has the business been established?

How unique is the business? Does the business have a well-defined "niche"?

What is the risk profile of the industry? Where is the business located?

What is the likely buyer demand?

What information is required to list my business for sale?

• Development Application (DA) Approval (if applicable)
• Rental invoice
• Copy of your Lease
• Relevant licences
• Roster for average week, including Owners Hours
• Lodged Financial Statements the past 3 and current financial years Including Profit & Loss
• BAS Statements past 3 years
• PAYG Summary
• Equipment List

A completed business profile questionnaire

More information can be required depending on the type of business.

How long will it take to sell my business?

This depends on many factors. However, it ultimately comes down to how well the business is prepared for sale, if it’s priced in line with the market and buyer demand. A detailed information memorandum and all financial information must be ready before a business goes to market, without this, buyers really won’t have confidence in making an offer on a business. We find that on average it takes 6 to 9 months from listing a business for sale to settlement. Obviously, this can vary from industry to industry and the gap between what a vendor expects for their business, versus what the market is prepared to pay.

What is EBITDA and PEBITDA?

The true earning ability of the business is the adjusted maintainable net profit for the working owner (PEBITDA) or after a management wage (EBITDA).

PEBITDA = Proprietors Earnings before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortisation EBITDA = Earnings before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortisation. PEDITDA is sometimes referred to as SDE (Sellers Discretionary Earnings). Regardless of the acronym, it is essentially the net benefit to an owner operator.

EBIT & PEBIT are as above, but do not include Depreciation or Amortisation.

A Broker may use one or more of these of these measures to help appraise your business.

What is an “Add-back”?

As with all businesses, some expenses paid by the business are either of a personal nature or are a one-off expense, ie. an expense that is extraordinary, and in normal trading periods will not be incurred again. Add-backs normally include private financing costs, owners’ salaries, and depending on the type of business depreciation allowances. All financial institutions, including banks, take into account and fully accept items listed as add-backs, providing the add-backs can be verified and are reasonable. An add-back schedule will allow a prospective purchaser and their advisers the ability to recognise the actual operating profits of the business before personal expenses and salaries of the business owners.

What’s the difference between an Appraisal and a Valuation?

The appraisal produces the capitalisation rate and multiplier of the adjusted EBIT, with return on investment based on the ‘Worth’ of the business. We use your financial statements, complete a business appraisal questionnaire, which also includes a SWOT analysis on your business. The appraisal produced gives you a range that we anticipate that your business could sell for in the current market.

A Valuation is a similar process to the above, however it can be costly, take several weeks to complete and must be carried out by a registered business Valuer. A business valuation is typically required for family law matters, or if there is a breakdown in a business partnership. United Business Brokers do not provide business valuations directly, we refer clients that require valuations to one of the trusted valuers in our network.

If you are planning to sell your business, a business appraisal is typically more appropriate than a business valuation.

To See Where your Business fits in call United Today on 1300 955 170 or email peterf@ubba.com.au