60-second check
Free Valuation Eligibility Checklist
The free indicative valuation is built for UK SMEs with real trading history. The full eligibility framework, who's a fit, who isn't, and why we say so directly.
Bottom line up front
We turn down between 15% and 20% of free valuation enquiries because the situation calls for a different specialist, and saying so on day one is the honest answer. The free indicative valuation is built for UK incorporated SMEs with two years of accounts, turnover broadly between £500k and £50m, a real trading history and a real reason for the enquiry. Six categories sit outside that scope and are better served elsewhere. The checklist below sets out both lists transparently, with the staged alternative for every owner who lands outside the core fit.
Treat this page as the doorman's list at a private members club. The criteria exist not to look exclusive but because the methodology behind the free indicative valuation is calibrated for a specific category of UK SME and does not adapt well to the situations outside that category. An indicative range produced against the wrong methodology is worse than no range at all. It is a misleading number with our name attached to it. Refusing the engagement when the underlying business is out of scope is the structurally honest answer, and most owners who are pointed to the right specialist on day one thank us for it months later.
You're a good fit if
- UK incorporated entity. Limited company, PLC, LLP or Scottish equivalent.
- At least two full years of statutory accounts filed at Companies House.
- Annual turnover broadly between £500,000 and £50m at the most recent year-end.
- Currently trading, with reported EBITDA either positive, near break-even, or with a credible twelve-month bridge back to profitability.
- Owner-managed or closely held shareholding. Five or fewer principal shareholders is typical.
- A real reason for the enquiry. Sale, EOT, MBO, succession, retirement, shareholder event, divorce planning, probate planning or strategic benchmark.
Probably not a fit if
- Pre-revenue start-ups and early-stage ventures with no trading history. A venture capital scoping valuation is a separate discipline.
- Regulated entities requiring specialist actuarial or regulatory-capital input (insurers, banks, registered pension schemes).
- Property investment vehicles where NAV alone drives value. A chartered surveyor RICS Red Book valuation is the right product.
- Businesses in active insolvency, administration or distressed wind-down. The appropriate professional is a licensed insolvency practitioner.
- Professional practices below £200k of recurring fee income, where the value is essentially the goodwill of a single principal.
- Businesses already in a formal sale process with another corporate finance adviser, except by written invitation from that adviser.
Why each exclusion exists, and the right specialist instead
| Situation outside scope | Why the SME methodology misfires | Right specialist to call instead |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-revenue start-up | No trading history to normalise; value is option-based, not earnings-based. | An early-stage VC scoping adviser or sector-specific angel network. |
| Regulated entity (insurance, banking, pension scheme) | Requires actuarial input and regulatory-capital modelling outside our remit. | A specialist actuarial firm with a regulated valuations practice. |
| Property investment vehicle | Value is NAV-driven from underlying assets, not maintainable earnings. | An RICS Red Book chartered surveyor. |
| Active insolvency or distressed wind-down | Value framework is realisable estate, not going-concern earnings. | A licensed insolvency practitioner. |
| Sub-scale professional practice (<£200k fees) | Value is essentially the principal's personal goodwill; non-transferable. | A sector specialist with local market knowledge of practice goodwill. |
| Live sale process with another adviser | Parallel work risks compromising your existing engagement. | Speak to your existing adviser first; we'll act on written invitation only. |
The 18-month execution blueprint if you're eligible
For owners who qualify, the free indicative valuation is the starting diagnostic in a staged programme. The blueprint below sequences the work in the order it pays back.
| Window | Workstream | Typical impact |
|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1–3 | Free indicative valuation. Establish the range and the two structural items costing the most multiple. | Diagnostic that calibrates the next 17 months. |
| Months 1–6 | Normalisation discipline. Evidence each add-back, restate owner remuneration, unwind related-party items. | +8% to +25% on adjusted EBITDA at completion. |
| Months 4–10 | Customer mix and contract base. Reduce top-customer share below 25%. Convert PO to framework agreements. | 0.4 to 0.8 turns of EBITDA multiple uplift. |
| Months 6–12 | Management depth. Promote or hire a credible second-line. Demonstrate the owner can be absent. | 0.5 to 1.0 turns of multiple uplift. |
| Months 10–15 | Buyer-grade QoE preparation. Pre-empt diligence questions with evidenced adjusted EBITDA schedule. | Protects 5% to 15% of headline value. |
| Months 15–18 | Formal valuation report and equity bridge cleanup. Confirm BADR per shareholder, schedule debt-like items. | +4% to +10% on net-of-tax proceeds. |
Anonymised case study. A borderline South East logistics enquiry
Drawing on our aggregate UK transaction data, a representative borderline case. A South East specialist logistics business, £680k turnover, reported EBITDA of minus £35k after a difficult year, single founder-shareholder aged 49 who had received an unsolicited approach from a regional consolidator and wanted to know whether the offer was sensible before responding. On the headline criteria the business was below the £500k turnover comfort band and was loss-making at EBITDA level. Two of our usual amber flags in the same enquiry.
The discovery call surfaced the missing context. The £35k EBITDA loss reflected a one-off £180k investment in a new fleet management system that had been written off through P&L rather than capitalised. Underlying normalised EBITDA was £145k positive. The customer book contained two long-standing prime customers responsible for 64% of revenue, both on three-year framework agreements signed eight months previously, neither of which appeared in the statutory accounts narrative. The business was meaningfully more attractive than its reported numbers suggested.
We accepted the engagement on the basis that the recovery thesis was credible and the underlying earnings could be evidenced. The indicative valuation, completed in seventeen calendar days, produced a central range of £580k to £720k against the consolidator's verbal indication of £350k. The owner used the indicative range to decline the consolidator approach, spent twelve months bedding in the framework agreements and restoring the reported P&L, and completed a sale at month sixteen at £760k cash consideration. The free indicative valuation, which had only just qualified for the engagement on day one, secured a £410k uplift on the original offer.
The other side of the same case study. In the same year we turned down a free valuation enquiry from a sole-practitioner consulting business with £140k of fee income, pointed the founder to a sector-specific goodwill adviser, and heard back six months later that the practice had transferred on a clean retirement basis at £95k goodwill. The right specialist had done the right work. Both outcomes are the eligibility framework doing its job.
What to do if you're outside the core scope
Send the enquiry anyway. The cost is zero and we will respond the same day with a direct answer. In roughly two-thirds of borderline enquiries the situation turns out to be in scope on closer inspection and the engagement proceeds. In the remaining third we point the owner to the right specialist by name. Either outcome is a useful piece of information that the owner did not have an hour earlier. The eligibility check is deliberately structured so that no one who reaches out leaves without a clear next step.
Eligibility FAQ
The questions UK SME owners ask before submitting a free valuation enquiry.
What if my business is on the edge of the size band?
The £500,000 to £50m turnover band is a guide, not a hard threshold. Businesses with turnover of £350,000 to £500,000 and credible profitability can usually still be valued meaningfully; we will say so on the discovery call. Businesses above £50m are also welcome, although the work tends to need additional senior input and the indicative format becomes the precursor to a paid scoping engagement rather than a free standalone.
Can I request a free valuation if my business is loss-making?
Yes, if there is a credible twelve-month bridge back to profitability or if the underlying asset base has clear standalone value. We will produce a two-scenario indicative range, recovery case and orderly disposal, with explicit assumptions. Genuinely distressed businesses with no recovery thesis are better served by a licensed insolvency practitioner; we will say so directly rather than waste your time.
What if I don't have management accounts up to date?
The last full set of statutory accounts plus a verbal year-to-date update is usually enough to produce a useful indicative range. The accuracy improves materially once management accounts are available, so it is worth getting them in order before the engagement starts in earnest. We can run the discovery call first and start the document review once the management accounts are ready.
Why exclude professional practices below £200k of fee income?
At that scale the value is essentially the goodwill of a single principal, which transfers poorly to a third party and is best valued by a sector specialist familiar with the local market and the regulator. A general SME valuation methodology overstates transferable value in those situations and would mislead the owner; refusing the engagement is the honest answer.
What if I am already in a sale process with another adviser?
We do not run parallel engagements that could compromise a live process unless the existing adviser invites a second opinion in writing. If your relationship with the existing adviser has broken down and you want an independent view before terminating, we will take the call but ask you to make the position clear in writing before any work begins.
Will you tell me if I'm not a fit?
Directly and the same day. We turn down between 15% and 20% of free valuation enquiries because the situation calls for a different specialist. Pre-revenue venture, regulated entity, property holding company, distressed business, sub-scale professional practice. In every case we point the owner to the right discipline by name. The free valuation only works as a planning tool if the underlying business is in scope.
What happens if I am eligible?
The four-step engagement begins. Online enquiry, NDA-backed discovery call within five working days, document review over one to two weeks, written indicative valuation range with a 30-minute follow-up walk-through. End to end the cycle is two to three weeks and costs nothing. The full walkthrough is on the how the free valuation works page.
Looks like a fit?
Request your free, confidential indicative valuation. Direct with Tony Vaughan.