Begin With a Price Range
Owners decide to sell for very different reasons. One is ready to retire, one is tired of seven day weeks, and one just received an offer nobody at the table could judge.
Each needs the same first fact: what a stranger with cash and no history with the company would pay. Ask too much and the listing sits. Ask too little and the buyer keeps the difference.
A broker who sells companies in central Kentucky can show you a realistic range and what moves it up or down.
Buyers Pay for Provable Profit
Sales volume does not set the price. A company with seven million dollars in sales can still sell for around two million if margins are thin.
Small and midsize companies are usually priced on what one working owner could take home, then multiplied. Most Main Street businesses sell for roughly two to three times that cash flow.
Where yours lands depends on risk: how much rests on you, how many customers share the revenue and how clean the books are. Our guide on SDE versus EBITDA shows the math.
Central Kentucky Has Its Own Buyers
The Bluegrass runs on horse farms, healthcare, the university, bourbon, auto suppliers, warehouses and a long list of local trades. A boarding stable and an HVAC contractor attract very different buyers.
Our industry playbooks explain what each kind of buyer checks first.
Kentucky Adds Its Own Paperwork
A sale here can involve the Kentucky Department of Revenue, the Office of Unemployment Insurance, the Lexington Division of Revenue and, for bars and restaurants, the ABC offices. Knowing the order saves weeks.
Start with the filing guides, which take one step at a time.
What Buyers Ask First
Serious buyers screen fast. They ask how much one working owner takes home, how many customers carry the revenue, how long the lease runs and how many employees will stay.
They also want three to five years of financials and a believable reason for the sale. Retirement, health or a new chapter sounds right. Trouble in the business raises doubts.
Why Owners Use a Broker
A broker reaches buyers you could not find alone and keeps your name private until a buyer proves the money is real. Word of a sale travels quickly through a county where everyone knows everyone.
A broker also stands between you and buyers who have done this before. Most sales that close take seven to nine months, and a good broker says so at the start.
Signs You Are Ready to Ask
- Profit has held steady for three years or longer.
- Your managers can run a week without you.
- No single customer or contract is more than a fifth of revenue.
- You want a plan, whether you sell this year or in five.
If two or three fit, a short call shows where you stand. Companies with about one million dollars in yearly sales or more draw the most buyer interest.
Waiting Seldom Raises the Multiple
Many owners wait for a better year. Market multiples hardly move over time, so waiting rarely changes the number, though better profit and cleaner books can.
Where Your Details Go
Your answers go to one brokerage partner, and nothing about your company reaches a buyer without your approval. Read how we get paid for the full picture.