What Is Your Business Actually Worth Before You Sell?
Most business owners go to market without knowing their real number. They rely on what a broker tells them, accept the first offer, and leave value on the table. The ones who do not are the ones who commission an independent valuation first.
We produce ICAEW-grade business valuations for UK SME owners who are preparing to sell. You get a signed, documented report that tells you what your business is worth, what is driving that number, and where the value gaps are before any buyer sees your financials.
20-40%
Left on the Table
Big 4
Trained & Qualified
7-10
Day Turnaround
ICAEW Chartered Accountant Fixed Fees Partner-Led Signed Report
DCF · EBITDA Multiples · Comparable Transactions Partner-Led · No Junior Analysts Fixed Fees · Confidential Big Four Trained
Why Business Owners Who Value First Sell for More
You have spent years building this business. The valuation is the moment it translates into a number. Here is why the order of events matters.
You Know What to Expect
Most SME owners have no idea what their business is worth until a buyer makes an offer. By then, you are negotiating blind. An independent valuation tells you the number before the conversation starts, so you are never surprised — and never accept less than your business is worth.
You Negotiate from Strength
When a buyer challenges your price, you need more than gut feeling. A signed ICAEW valuation report gives you a documented, methodologically sound position to defend. Buyers and their advisers know what a robust valuation looks like. It changes the tone of the room.
You Close Value Gaps in Time
Every business has things that suppress its multiple — customer concentration, owner dependency, undocumented contracts, weak management depth. A valuation done 12 to 36 months before sale identifies these gaps while you still have time to close them. Done at the point of sale, it is too late to act.
Your Advisers Have a Baseline
Your corporate solicitor, your M&A adviser, and your accountant all need a credible value to work from. A signed independent valuation gives every professional in the room the same starting point. It aligns the team and avoids conflicting advice based on different assumptions about what the business is worth.
Due Diligence Is Less Painful
Buyers will instruct their own advisers to pick apart your numbers. When your valuation methodology is already documented, the process moves faster and with less friction. Buyers who can see the thinking behind your number are less likely to use due diligence as a tool to chip the price.
Tax Planning Needs a Number Too
Your tax adviser needs a reliable value to plan Business Asset Disposal Relief, structure the consideration, and manage any earn-out or deferred payment. A valuation done alongside your tax planning, rather than after the deal, means fewer surprises on completion day.
What Actually Drives Your Sale Multiple
Your EBITDA is the starting point, not the answer. Buyers apply a multiple to that number, and that multiple is determined by the quality of your business — not just its size. These are the factors our valuation analyses in depth.
Understanding which of these is working for you and which is suppressing your multiple is the difference between leaving money on the table and extracting full value from a business you have spent years building.
Revenue Recurring vs One-off Customer Concentration Risk EBITDA Margin Trend Owner Dependency Management Depth Revenue Growth Rate Contract Length & Renewals IP & Proprietary Assets Sector Multiple Range Comparable Transactions Working Capital Position Normalised vs Reported Profit DCF Sensitivity Analysis Buyer Type Considerations
What the Report Gives You
A full ICAEW-grade valuation report. Not a one-page opinion. Not a broker’s informal estimate. A signed, documented analysis you can put in front of any buyer, adviser, or lender.
Stated Open Market Value
A clearly stated value conclusion in £, with a range where appropriate. This is the number you take into negotiations.
DCF Model & EBITDA Analysis
Full discounted cash flow modelling alongside normalised EBITDA multiples, with every assumption documented and explained.
Comparable Transaction Evidence
Recent deals in your sector, referenced and weighted. This grounds your valuation in real market evidence buyers cannot easily dismiss.
Value Driver & Risk Analysis
What is increasing your multiple, what is reducing it, and what you can do about the latter before going to market.
Sector & Market Context
Current M&A sentiment in your sector, buyer appetite, and market multiples. Puts your number in the context buyers are operating in.
Signed by an ICAEW Chartered Accountant
The report is signed in the name of an ICAEW Chartered Accountant. It carries professional weight that an informal broker estimate simply cannot.
From Enquiry to Defensible Report
Three steps. 7-10 days. A number that holds up in any room.
01
Tell Us About Your Business
Describe your situation — size, sector, timeline, and what you need the valuation for. Kishen reviews every submission personally and responds within one business day.
02
ICAEW-Grade Analysis
DCF modelling, normalised EBITDA, comparable transactions, and sector multiple analysis — calibrated to your business and your buyer market.
03
Your Signed Report
Delivered within 7-10 days. Signed by an ICAEW Chartered Accountant. Ready for your broker, your solicitor, your lender, and any buyer.
Why Partner-Led Changes Everything
At large firms, your valuation goes to a junior analyst who builds a template, passes it to a manager, and eventually gets a partner to sign something they have skimmed. You pay partner rates for analyst work.
At Consult EFC, Kishen reviews your financials personally, builds the model himself, writes the report, and signs it. There is no handoff. The person who understands your business is the person whose name is on the report.
That matters when a buyer’s adviser pushes back on your number. You need someone who can defend every assumption — not someone who is reading the report for the first time in the meeting.
ICAEW MemberBig Four Trained (Deloitte)12+ Years ExperienceInvestment Banking Background
Kishen Patel
Founder, Consult EFC · BFP ACA
ICAEW Chartered Accountant. Big Four trained at Deloitte. 12+ years across Investment Banking, Big Four audit, and UK SME corporate advisory. Personally leads every engagement from first call to signed report.
“We had a buyer approach us and had no idea what to counter with. Consult EFC turned around a full valuation report in nine days. The report gave us a documented position we could defend, and the eventual sale price was significantly above the buyer’s initial offer.”
DM
David M.
Founder & CEO · Technology Services Business
Frequently Asked Questions
This depends on a combination of your normalised EBITDA, the multiple that applies in your sector and at your size, the quality and predictability of your earnings, and a range of risk factors that buyers will assess during due diligence. For most UK SMEs, sale multiples range from 3x to 8x EBITDA, though businesses with strong recurring revenue, low owner dependency, and documented processes can command considerably higher multiples. Our valuation gives you a specific, documented number rather than a range plucked from a sector average.
Yes — arguably more so. An unsolicited offer is almost always an opening position. Without an independent valuation, you have no objective basis to counter it and no documented position to defend. Buyers who approach sellers directly know that most owners have no independent view of value. A signed valuation report changes the dynamic immediately. It tells the buyer that you know what the business is worth and that you are prepared to justify it.
A broker’s estimate is usually designed to win your instruction, not to reflect open market value. It may be optimistic and is rarely documented in a form that survives buyer scrutiny. Your accountant knows your numbers but may not have the M&A market data or valuation methodology to translate those numbers into a defensible multiple. We produce a full ICAEW-grade report — DCF model, normalised EBITDA, comparable transactions, documented assumptions — signed by a Chartered Accountant. It is a different class of document.
Ideally 18 to 36 months before you want to complete. This gives you time to act on what the valuation reveals — addressing customer concentration, reducing owner dependency, tidying up the accounts, locking in recurring revenue, or building out the management team. A valuation done at the point of going to market can only tell you what your business is worth today. A valuation done 24 months earlier gives you a roadmap to increase that number before any buyer sees your financials.
Typically three to five years of statutory accounts, the most recent management accounts, and a short brief about the business — sector, trading model, key customers, and the circumstances of the sale. We send you a clear document request list at the start. Most clients have everything we need within a day or two of the initial conversation.
We work on a fixed-fee basis agreed before any work begins. The fee depends on the size and complexity of the business. For most UK SME sale valuations, fees start from £1,500 plus VAT. We confirm the fixed fee in writing during the initial conversation so there are no surprises. For a business that could sell for £2m, £5m, or £10m, the cost of an independent valuation is a very small investment relative to the value it protects.
Whatever the situation — the number has to be right.
No obligation. Fixed fees. ICAEW Chartered Accountant. Response within one business day.
