Selling your business, well prepared

Especially then. A buyer can turn up unannounced, and that is the moment you want to know whether your business is ready. The same insight is worth having if you carry on for years. The Exit Scan shows what raises the value of your business and what puts a buyer off, so you can start working on it now.

Selling a business starts well before the sale, with preparation: making the business less dependent on you, getting the organisation and processes in order and knowing what kind of buyer fits. Then come finding a buyer and the negotiation. SSP helps get your business ready to sell and refers you to specialists for valuation, tax, law and M&A.

What your business is worth is decided by a valuer and ultimately the market: what a buyer is willing to pay. That value depends on things such as profitability, the risks and how far the business depends on you. SSP helps you strengthen those value drivers before you sell, and refers you to a specialist for the valuation itself.

Not necessarily. We sit beside you through the whole process and refer you to the right specialists for valuation, tax, law and M&A. Where we make the difference is in guiding you, the owner. We help get your business ready to sell and prepare you for the negotiations.

The less the better, as far as a buyer is concerned. A business that runs on the owner's knowledge, customer relationships or decisions is a risk to a buyer. The Exit Scan maps where that dependence sits and what it takes to reduce it before you go into a negotiation.

You arrange succession by choosing in good time who will carry the business on (a family member, an employee or an outside buyer) and preparing the business for that. In a family business, relationships within the family play a part too. SSP explores the options with you, prepares the organisation and refers you on for the tax and legal side.