Business Valuations

WHY DO YOU NEED A VALUATION?

We are experienced in all aspects of valuing businesses for companies, partnerships and individuals, and our comprehensive service provides valuations for a variety of reasons including:

• Transactions, strategic reviews and capital investment appraisals
• Corporate restructuring
• Share issues and employee incentive schemes
• Tax purposes
• Understanding the value of intangible assets
• Market testing
• Performance benchmarking and profit growth rate
• Divorces and matrimonial disputes
• Dispute resolution
• Probate
• Forensic investigations
• Regulatory purposes

You may be seeking a valuation to support a wider exercise, such as informing your business strategy. This is where our team’s broad spread of experience, and their collaboration with all our other experts across sectors and services, proves especially useful.

With several different approaches to valuations, the actual figures could be disputed. We can act as negotiators, working to a strategy agreed with you and based on your priorities.

DELVING INTO THE DETAIL

When valuing your business, we’ll look at the business in the context of your industry sector and the competition within it, how the sector as a whole is performing and the value drivers. We’ll explain our methodologies, any assumptions made and of course, the figures and factors that determine our valuation.

Undertaking and reviewing business valuations for tax purposes is a complex area, which requires a thorough understanding of case law, recent HMRC cases and practicing tax knowledge. Tax issues can include Capital Gains disposals, IHT planning, and valuations for share options and management incentives. Our detailed approach will help provide the confidence you need to make key business decisions.

DEALING WITH DIFFICULT AREAS

Dispute resolution and forensic investigations frequently require valuation services. We are often called on to act as an expert witness, as independent experts appointed to determine a value or as advisors to one of the parties in an expert determination. These can typically be disputes involving shareholder actions, partnerships or divorce or commercial matters such as breach of warranty claims.

STANDING UP TO SCRUTINY

We’ll support you with regulatory and accounting advice on valuations required by Financial Reporting Standards, including purchase price allocation, impairment review and valuation of financial instruments, including share options.

Share valuations are frequently requested for various reasons. Apart from tax aspects, they may be required by the company’s Articles of Associations, under shareholders’ agreements in divorce proceedings or because of insolvency or bankruptcy.

Finally, the results of a company valuation can be used to motivate your staff, particularly if they can show incremental improvements in your company’s performance. A valuation is essential if you are intending to incentivise your key people with an employee share option scheme, but have to be sure you don’t give away too much equity or dilute its value.