Guides
Guides for owners preparing to sell
Plain-English guides to how buyers value and examine a UK business, written by an owner who has bought, built and sold. No jargon left unexplained, no figure without a source.
All guides
How to value a business, and what yours is worth
How a buyer actually builds a price for a UK owner-managed business, step by step, and why the number on the offer letter is not the number that reaches your bank.
Read the guide, 5 minEBITDA multiples in the UK
Why two businesses with the same profit can sell for very different prices, and the seven levers a buyer tests before deciding what yours is worth.
Read the guide, 3 minAdd-backs: what buyers accept and reject
Every pound of adjustment is worth several pounds of price. Here is how to claim them so that they survive due diligence.
Read the guide, 3 minBusiness Asset Disposal Relief, explained for owners
What the relief once called Entrepreneurs' Relief is worth now that the rate has risen to 18%, who qualifies, and the two-year conditions that catch owners out.
Read the guide, 4 minSelling to your management team
How a management buyout works, how it is funded, and the questions to answer honestly before you agree to sell your business to the people who run it.
Read the guide, 3 minEmployee ownership trusts, after the relief was halved
How selling to an employee ownership trust works, what changed in the November 2025 Budget, and the questions that decide whether it still makes sense for you.
Read the guide, 3 minHow to sell your business in the UK
The routes to sale, the stages every deal goes through, the advisers you need, and the work that decides the outcome long before a buyer is involved.
Read the guide, 3 minEarn-outs: what they are really worth
Why buyers propose them, how to value an earn-out against cash on the day, and the terms to negotiate so the money you are promised is money you can actually earn.
Read the guide, 2 minSuccession planning for business owners
Who takes over, when, and on what terms. How to choose between family, your team and an outside buyer, and what changed for inheritance tax in April 2026.
Read the guide, 2 minBusiness exit planning, step by step
An exit plan in three seasons: make the business clean, make it valuable, then make it sold. What to do in each, and in what order.
Read the guide, 2 minThe due diligence checklist
What a buyer will ask to see before they commit, why they ask, and the ten folders every data room needs, so you can start building yours before anyone asks.
Read the guide, 2 minHeads of terms: the document that sets your deal
The short, mostly non-binding agreement in principle that comes before due diligence, and why the terms you agree here are the hardest to improve later.
Read the guide, 2 minLocked box or completion accounts?
The headline price is only the start. How the final figure is fixed decides whether the number you agreed is the number that reaches you.
Read the guide, 2 minAsset sale or share sale?
Selling the company and selling what the company owns are two different deals, with different risks, different paperwork and very different tax.
Read the guide, 2 minVendor due diligence, explained
Finding the problems in your business before a buyer does, so they become things you fixed rather than reasons to cut your price.
Read the guide, 1 minSame profit, twice the price
Two businesses with the same profit, valued very differently. A worked example of where the difference comes from, and how much of it the owner controls.
Read the guide, 2 minTax on selling your business
This page will not do your tax return. It sets out the decisions that change the answer, so the conversation with your accountant starts earlier and goes further.
Read the guide, 4 minHow long does it take to sell a business?
Ask five owners who have sold and you will get five different answers. Here is why, and a realistic range for each stage so you can plan backwards from your own date.
Read the guide, 3 minTrade sale or private equity?
Two kinds of buyer, looking for very different things. Knowing which one you are talking to changes what the price actually means.
Read the guide, 3 minNew to the vocabulary? The glossary explains every deal term in plain English.
General information to help you prepare, not tax, legal or financial advice. Take advice on your own circumstances.
See where your business stands.
Put a number on it with the free valuation calculator, then find the levers that move it.
Try the valuation calculator