The Business Broker’s Blog
A resource to help you sell your business successfully
In our Blog, we aim to bring you a variety of articles to help you further down the road to selling your business successfully, from
our view on the general economy and its current impact on business mergers and acquisition activity, to our spotlight on the issues
faced by SME businesses and the help available. We also highlight our “Business of the Month” and give advice
on how to prepare your business for optimum sale.
We hope this is a useful resource for you and would appreciate your feedback. As always, please do contact us if you have any questions
Tue 09th January 2024
Which businesses will sell well in 2024?
Whatever the economic conditions and global outlook, when it comes to sales, mergers and acquisitions of Owner Managed SME businesses, certain factors hold true, perhaps now more than ever. Businesses which sell well typically have the same traits, they: Operate in a niche market with strong barriers to entry Have consistent recurring revenue, with clients...
Tue 09th January 2024
Will 2024 be a good year to sell your business?
The last 3 years have certainly been busy years for the sale and acquisition of Owner Managed SME businesses. It has recently been reported in the press that M&A deal values dropped by 33% to $265bn in 2023 compared to 2022. This has been put down to rising interest rates and a concerning outlook for...
Mon 13th November 2023
What info is required to apply for funding?
Guest article written by Christian Elson of White Oak For owner managers of SMEs businesses, access to finance is integral, especially in these challenging times. If cash is available for use, then that is an option, but for most SMEs such funds are vital for investing pragmatically within their own businesses, so a variety of...
Mon 17th April 2023
Hornblower at Accountex 2023
We are pleased once again to be exhibiting at the trade show for accountants, Accountex 2023 at the Excel Centre in London. Denise Prentice, Derick Humphrey and myself (Henry Campbell-Jones) will be at Stand 585 on Wednesday 10th and Thursday 11th May, so do come and see us. Over the years, we have built relationships and...
Mon 20th February 2023
Funding Outlook for 2023
Adapting to game changing events News cycles last year provided ample content for anyone seeking doom and gloom. 2022 was supposed to be the year of post-pandemic re-openings but it became the year of war, persistent high inflation and global energy crises. It was also a year which saw a major shift at central banks...
Tue 10th January 2023
Will 2023 be a good year to sell your business?
2021 and 2022 have both been busy years for the sale and acquisition of SME businesses. Despite the challenges in the economy and outlook for 2023, we continued to complete a good number of sales through Q4 2022. Coming into 2023 we look forward to bringing a number of new sale mandates – well established,...
Tue 06th December 2022
Planning to sell your business? Who’s help do you need?
If you are contemplating the sale of your business, preparation is key. Having the right team in place to guide you throughout the process will make the process a whole lot less stressful and enable you to achieve full value for your business. So who do you need on your business sale team? A good...
Tue 06th December 2022
Selecting a commercial lawyer and keeping transaction costs down
So you have agreed a deal with a buyer, you have signed heads of terms and have a headline figure in mind for the deal value, you may even have calculated the final value after tax; but what will the final value be after the legal bill? How do you ensure you receive good legal...
Thu 01st December 2022
Can I sell my business in a flat economy?
Article updated December 2022 Despite the media headlines in the last quarter, the UK’s economy recorded some of the strongest economic growth across the world in 2022. According to the IMF (International Monetary Fund), real GDP (Gross Domestic Produce) growth was 3.6% in 2022 – but it forecasts that the UK economy will flatline in...
Thu 17th November 2022
Impact of Inflation and Interest Rates on Deal Making
We are often asked by business owners who are contemplating the sale of their business, “What is the market like for selling businesses at the moment?” or “Is now a good time to sell my business?”. A valid question in any economic climate but one we are hearing more in these times with the increased...
Thu 01st September 2022
Is an acquisition right for your business?
Is an acquisition right for my business? According to figures from the Office for National Statistics, business acquisition in the UK was valued at £4billion in the first quarter of 2022. With such value, you may be wondering whether an acquisition is right for your business? Buying another business to integrate into your own is...
Tue 07th June 2022
Business Valuation Training for Accountants
We very much enjoyed exhibiting at the Accountex 2022 Show in May. It was great to see and meet so many people from the accountancy profession, so thank you to all those who came by our stand. At the show, we launched our Business Valuation Training course for partners and client manager teams at accountancy...
Wed 04th May 2022
Hornblower at Accountex 2022
We are pleased once again to be exhibiting at the trade show for accountants, Accountex 2022 at the Excel Centre in London. Denise Prentice, Derick Humphrey and myself (Henry Campbell-Jones) will be at Stand 110 on Wednesday 11th and Thursday 12th May, so do come and see us. Over the years, we have built relationships...
Mon 14th February 2022
Business Exit: What you need to do before selling
Selling your business is not a regular activity. And when it does happen, you want your exit to be as smooth, efficient and profitable as possible. Before you begin the process of reviewing options to sell, preparing for sale, and the sale itself, there are important steps you need to take as part of your...
Sat 05th February 2022
How to calculate surplus cash vs working capital ?
Many business owners allow cash to build up within their company over the years. Sometimes this is to keep their personal income tax below the higher thresholds if they do not need the income, sometimes it is to build cash reserves for a possible downturn. Within reason, surplus cash can also be added to the...
Mon 10th January 2022
Will 2022 be the right time to sell your business?
2021 was another busy year for the sale and acquisition of SME businesses. Appetite for acquisition remained strong with plenty of well-funded buyers in the market. At the same time, we were able to bring to the market a good number of businesses for sale in our core sectors, with many business owners deciding to...
Thu 18th November 2021
Glossary of Frequently Used Terms When Selling Your Business
If you are just starting out on your journey to sell your business, you may need to get to grips with some of the new language you will hear. So we have prepared a glossary of the most commonly used terms in the mergers and acquisitions process. Acquisitions A transaction where a buyer (most commonly...
Fri 22nd October 2021
How much is your business worth and is this enough?
If you find yourself asking this question, you’re probably interested in learning more about: The types of buyers for small businesses How small businesses are valued What aspects of a business will drive valuations up or down; and What is involved in the process of selling In a recent webinar with the London Chamber of...
Thu 30th September 2021
When should you tell your staff about the sale of your business?
Another question we are often asked by business owners considering a sale of their business is, do I inform the staff about the sale? And if so, when? In most cases, the staff are told in the few days prior to completion of the deal, or even just afterwards. This is on the premise that...
Mon 30th August 2021
Growing your business through acquisition: The pros and cons
Growing a business is normally done in one of two ways (or a combination of both). Organic growth – where the business naturally gets bigger thanks to winning more business. And growth through acquisition – where a company buys other companies to grow their offering, staff and customer base more quickly. In this article, we’ll...
Mon 19th July 2021
Why keeping records helps you sell your business
Business owners fail to sell their business by not taking critical steps, a survey has found. And if they do manage to find a buyer, it may not achieve its full value, the report claims. The findings of the survey of business owners by the Exit Planning Institute (EPI) were reported in Forbes magazine. According...
Mon 10th May 2021
Has the pandemic affected my business valuation?
This is a question we are frequently asked at present. It really depends on how your business has fared through the lockdowns and the prospects for an upturn as the restrictions on our movement start to relax. We tend to classify businesses into 3 main categories: Businesses which have seen consistent, if not growing sales...
Mon 12th April 2021
Selling Your Business: How Long Will You Remain Involved Post-Sale?
Once a business sale has completed, many business owners want to know how long they will remain involved in their company. To a large extent this will depend on the deal structure that is agreed as the buyer’s strategy for the business post completion will be linked to the type of deal structure they propose....
Tue 09th February 2021
Do I sell my company now, in 2021, or build it for 2 years more?
This is a question often posed by owners contemplating the sale of their business in good economic times. Whilst the long-term impact of the Covid-19 lockdowns on many SME businesses remains to be fully assessed, this question will become much more prevalent in the coming months for those who were considering the sale of their...
Sat 11th July 2020
Selling to an Employee Ownership Trust (EOT)
On 26th June, we celebrated Employee Ownership day in the UK. It was marked by a number of highly informative webinars organised by the Employee Ownership Association. The webinar recordings are available on the EOA website along with a lot of must-read articles and information about how Employee Ownership works in practice. Selling to an employee...
Fri 15th May 2020
5 benefits of merging your IT & managed services business
Consolidation and growth opportunities in 2020 We can be in no doubt that the impacts of the Covid19 pandemic on the economy will be felt for some time to come. At a macro-level there has been much talk of various profiles for the recovery, as we look to come out of lockdown, whether this be...
Fri 01st May 2020
Why buy a business during a crisis?
Across the media, from tabloids to broadsheets and online, we are bearing witness to very real business casualties of the Covid-19 crisis. The lockdown has, as everyone knows, resulted in unprecedented fiscal stimulus package from the government to shore up the economy and try to prevent a recession at the levels of the Great Financial...
Thu 23rd April 2020
How to build a business worth multi-millions in 3 years?
Interview with an entrepreneur who has achieved just this – by Hornblower Business Sales & Acquisitions Consultant, Sian Murray We, at Hornblower, first met Sue Nelson at a networking event in October 2016 when she suggested that the business was about a year away from selling. When I asked her for her three years of...
Wed 15th April 2020
Were you planning to sell your business in 2020? – 6 ways to deal with black swan events
After 3 years of uncertainty caused by the ‘B’ word, the election result in December 2019 seemed, to many, to give a clear way forward. The endless commentary on Brexit seemed to go quiet. Brexit was getting done. Business too was getting done. The FTSE was on a high, business was ramping up and for...
Mon 30th March 2020
Support for SME businesses through Covid-19
The Government has announced an unprecedented level of support for businesses, employees and the self-employed. Full details can be found on the UK Gov website, see: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-to-employers-and-businesses-about-covid-19/covid-19-support-for-businesses Hornblower can help too. And we are offering our time free of charge, no strings attached. Applications for Government’s Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme The Coronavirus...
Fri 27th March 2020
Impact of COVID-19 on SME business sale activity
With a large part of the world in lock-down and the unprecedented disruption to the economy caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, M&A and SME business sale activity is likely to be impacted for some time. The majority of our Vendor clients are focused on how to manage their companies through the coming weeks and months,...
Fri 07th February 2020
Who will buy my business?
Should you decide it’s time to sell your business, one of the questions you might ask yourself, or your broker, is: who will buy my business? It’s important to think about this before you make the decision to sell. A better understanding of the types of buyers out there, and the ones best suited to...
Fri 07th February 2020
Why sell my business?
If selling your business has been on your mind, asking yourself why you want to sell is an important thing to do. Not only is it a worthwhile question to answer for yourself, it’s also one of the first questions a potential buyer will ask and your response can have a major impact on the...
Fri 07th February 2020
Business Sellers and Entrepreneurs’ Relief
As the upcoming Budget planned for the 11th March 2020 approaches, business sellers are faced with the question of whether to sell in order to capitalise on Entrepreneurs’ Relief (ER) in its current form. Speculation on the future of this particular tax break originated from the Conservative Party election manifesto where ER was targeted as...
Fri 03rd January 2020
Will 2020 be good for selling your business?
Brexit and the elections dominated the news in 2019, and Brexit part 2 – “the trade deal” will be a feature of 2020. However, with a general loosening of austerity post-election, some commentators in the investment community are predicting the UK economy may get a boost in 2020. The election result also removes market fears...
Tue 03rd December 2019
Negotiating a business sale: 4 myths debunked
When it comes to selling your business, both you and the potential buyer want to get the best price. So there’s often a fair amount of negotiation involved to land on a price that both sides deem fair. Negotiation can be a tricky thing to get right and, to compound matters, there are a number...
Wed 13th November 2019
When is the right time to sell your business?
This is a question that’s often posed by business owners who are deciding between selling their business now or waiting to achieve a potentially higher valuation. It’s a tricky decision to make but, to be blunt, unless you’re selling your business because you’re looking to retire, or for other personal circumstances, there are only two...
Sat 02nd November 2019
Seeking help to prepare your business for sale
We are often asked by business owners, what should I do to make my business sellable at the best price? Our response is make sure the business is sustainable. Make sure the business can run without you, develop your management team, identify a key person(s) as a potential general manager or MD replacement. Reduce customer...
Wed 09th October 2019
Are you a Leveraged Buy-Out (LBO) buyer?
Over the last year we have received an increasing number of enquiries from individual investors and investment groups, who are looking for leveraged buy-out (LBO) deals. Such deals can work in cases where there are significant balance sheet assets and a business owner/director who is open to taking the risk on the deferred element of...
Mon 09th September 2019
Don’t Fall for Attractive Valuations
Selling your business can be a challenging process. For most business owners, it’s likely to be the first and only time that you will be doing so. Taking the decision to sell and engaging the services of a business broker to determine the value of your business is the first step into unknown territory, requiring...
Tue 09th July 2019
Can anyone buy a business?
Over the last year we have received an increasing number of enquiries from individual investors and investment groups, some of whom are open to putting equity into a deal and some who are looking for a purely leveraged buyout. Many deals will involve an element of deferred payment and/or earnout. However, a purely leveraged buyout...
Wed 05th June 2019
Selling a business check list
If you are thinking about selling your business, It’s important to first work through the details that will help you maximise the value and make your business more attractive to potential buyers. We have identified 10 points to consider before and during the sale of your business. 1. Clarify your reason for selling This is...
Tue 30th April 2019
8 Reasons Why Business Owners Hold Back on Selling Their Business
In meeting and talking with business owners, we come across some quite common challenges in making the decision to sell a business. We’ve put together 8 common quandaries which often hold business owners back and have the potential to delay or even derail their retirement from the business. 1. Will everyone find out the business...
Wed 06th March 2019
5 Golden Rules for Successful Business Sales
Over the years, we’ve helped sell a lot of businesses and learned important lessons in the process – achieving an 80% business sales success rate along the way. In supporting many businesses through the sales process, we’ve distilled key elements which ensure successful business sales: we call them the 5 Golden Rules – and we’ve...
Mon 18th February 2019
Business Broker, Business Transfer Agent, M&A boutique or Corporate Finance practice?
In this article we are unashamedly doing a bit of naval gazing – considering where we fit into the world of business intermediaries and how do clients refer to us as an industry? There are a number of names for business intermediaries who are in the business of business sales, mergers and acquisitions. These include...
Sat 09th February 2019
Why use a business broker ?
After years of building your business the time might be right to sell. But how do you do that? Should you try to market it yourself, add it to a listings website or use a business broker? Selling yourself could mean you fail to achieve the full valuation of your company. And, as around 80...
Fri 18th January 2019
Will 2019 be a good year for selling your business?
Outlook for sales of owner managed businesses in 2019 Questions we are often asked by prospective sellers of businesses, are “What is the market like at the moment?” and “Is Brexit affecting buyers’ appetite for acquisitions?” From our perspective, appetite for acquisition remains strong. As of January, out of the seven new sale mandates we...
Mon 26th November 2018
Tech Buyers Be-aware: When to ask questions during the business sale process
Tech businesses tend to attract prospective buyers with a lot of questions. This observation came out of a recent conversation with my colleague, Mark Sykes, who had recently experienced an all-too-familiar scenario where a buyer who had, for a period of time, been enthusiastically asking for more information about the company – only to be...
Mon 24th September 2018
Taxes due on selling a business
Rather a dry topic, but nonetheless an important one for business owners considering the sale of their business. In considering the net value you will receive for your business, you will need to consider the taxes due on completing a sale. We are often asked by sellers whether they should sell the “business assets and...
Fri 21st September 2018
Fees for selling a business
Together with the potential business valuation, what fees you will incur in the transaction is an important factor. Fees will generally fall into three camps: accountancy, legal and broker fees. 1 – Accountancy fees: These will usually be for the additional support required from your accountant for tax planning and support during the due...
Fri 22nd June 2018
Why does selling your business become more difficult once you are over 70?
At Hornblower we sell over 80% of the business sale assignments we take on. Most of these are sold within 12 months of our starting our marketing campaigns, a third are sold within 6 months. And we have now sold all, that’s 100% of the business sale mandates we took on in 2016. Whilst a...
Sat 17th March 2018
Is 2018 a good year for selling your business?
In the first quarter of 2018 we have completed 5 deals and secured offers on another 3 mandates. There is currently strong demand for the majority of our sales mandates, and we see conditions being very much a seller’s market. There are many buyers and too few acquisition opportunities. The number of business owners deciding...
Fri 16th February 2018
Negotiating win-win business deals
This month we are sharing an article written by Terry Irwin at TCii Business Consultants and Acquisition Integration specialists. Whilst written for all business negotiations, it is particularly pertinent when negotiating a business sale. For the full article, please click here. Rather than approaching negotiations as a mutual problem-solving process, most CEOs see it as...
Fri 19th January 2018
Do I sell my company now or build it for 2 years more?
This is a question often posed by owners contemplating the sale of their business. The answer lies in whether what they are able to achieve in the next 2 to 3 years will actually add value compared to what they could achieve were they to put the business on the market for sale now. There...
Fri 18th August 2017
What is the market like for selling your business?
With the holiday season in full swing, and the occasional ray of sunshine, we often find that July and August is a time when business owners take a step back and reflect on their future, both personally and for the business, and consider a business sale. One of the questions we are frequently asked is:...
Mon 27th March 2017
Records that Convince Business Buyers to Pay Top Dollar
There’s an old adage about the ABCs of record keeping: They are a) knowing what to keep b) knowing what to shred and c) knowing the difference between A and B. In other words, don’t keep a record unless the record is earning its keep. That’s good advice as far as running a business is...
Mon 20th March 2017
Who will buy your business?
In our last two posts, we have looked at the most common reasons to sell a business and the best time to retire and exit from a business. This month we look at the other side: buyers. Who is buying businesses? The type of buyer will vary according the size and nature of the business,...
Mon 20th February 2017
Why would you sell your business?
The reason for sale is one of the first questions asked by buyers and it can have a major impact on the sellability and value of a business. If the reasons do not stack up, it can give the perception that the seller is selling because the business is in trouble. In deciding whether to...
Fri 20th January 2017
Will 2017 be a good year for selling your business?
2016 was another good year for Hornblower and the M&A market in general. We have been busy especially during December and January so far reaching heads of terms on four of our sale mandates. The number of business owners deciding to sell has remained steady, but at the same time there is an increasing number...
Thu 13th October 2016
How Long Will It Take To Sell My Business?
(updated 19th November 2023) One of the first questions we get whenever we talk to potential clients about this is, “how long is this whole process going to take?” And we get it – it’s a massive decision to sell your business and knowing typically how long the process is going to take can help...
Thu 28th July 2016
Will Brexit affect the sale of your business?
It is now over a month since the Brexit vote and we have seen many changes in the political landscape. However, on the ground in the world of selling owner managed businesses, there seems to be little impact so far. Despite the usual slowdown in activity over the summer, we continue to receive a good...
Wed 10th February 2016
Finding an international buyer for your business
In the past few months, we have concluded a number of M&A deals with overseas buyers – and we are continuing to receive interest from international buyers for a number of our UK based clients’ businesses which we are marketing for sale. Recent deals include: The sale of a £2m Commercial Cleaning Company to an...
Mon 26th January 2015
Will 2015 be a good year for selling your business?
2014 was another very good year for Hornblower and the M&A market in general. The number of business owners deciding to sell continues to increase, and at the same time there is an increasing number of active buyers with funds. We are very positive about 2015 and here is why: Positive growth forecasts for the...
Thu 11th December 2014
When valuing your business, how much is enough?
‘Achieving financial independence’ is the most common long-term objective of entrepreneurs. Any business owners contemplating the possible sale of their business probably have a figure in mind which they feel represents a fair valuation for the business, but the true value will only be confirmed as what a buyer eventually pays. However, it is far...
Wed 24th September 2014
Is now the right time to sell your business?
The timing of the sale of your business is closely linked with the reasons for selling. The reasons why to sell a business can be personal, due to retirement or ill health, or led by the business cycle and your investment objectives. (Click here to read the article: “Why do business owners sell their businesses?”)...
Thu 27th February 2014
Selling a business – 4 more myths
In meeting and talking with business owners, we often come up against certain preconceptions about the process of selling a business. We wrote about some in a recent article you can find here, but it turns out there are enough for a second article! It’s important for us to make sure that any successful business...
Thu 31st October 2013
Growing your business through acquisition & Maximising your exit
Choosing when to sell in order to maximise your exit value The reasons why a business owner might choose to sell are varied but there is usually a clear rationale for doing so. Often it comes down to capital requirements: either that additional financing will be needed to take the business forward but is not...
Tue 15th October 2013
Selling a business – 4 common myths
In meeting and talking with business owners, we often come up against certain preconceptions when it comes to selling a business. So we thought we’d put some of the common ones together in a list and share our thoughts. 1) I can sell my business myself Some business owners believe that they can sell their...
Fri 27th September 2013
Who is buying businesses?
In our last two articles, we have looked at the most common reasons to sell a business and the best time to retire and exit from a business. This month we look at the other side: buyers. Who is buying businesses? The type of buyer will vary according the size and nature of the business,...
Thu 25th July 2013
What is the right age to retire?
(updated September 2022) What is the best age for business owners to retire? Many business owners expect that when they reach a certain age, they can simply sell up and retire. But a recent study by business adviser BDO found that 15% of SME directors in the UK are over the age of 66 –...
Tue 16th July 2013
Why do business owners sell their businesses?
The reason for sale is one of the first questions asked by buyers and it can have a major impact on the sellability and value of a business. If the reasons do not stack up, it can give the perception that the seller is selling because the business is in trouble. In deciding whether to...
Wed 17th April 2013
How to sell your business internationally
Have you considered selling your business internationally? While there are lots of potential buyers in the UK, your company may achieve a better sale price if you sell to an overseas business. The world’s economy has been interlinked for many years now, which means you have more options available. In fact figures show that more...
Wed 19th December 2012
Is property investment a good reason for selling your business?
Selling your business when you’re ready to retire is something you might expect an entrepreneur to do. But for some business owners, boredom or a desire for change means they decide to sell. According to an article by Cranfield University’s David Molian, a bored entrepreneur ‘is a dangerous beast’. He says, “They are dangerous because...
