How much is my business worth?

A free, instant indicative valuation of your UK business, built on your own figures with the method shown rather than hidden. No signup, no email wall.

Start your indicative valuation — free, no signup, and the method is shown at every step. Open the valuation tool.

An indicative valuation, and the formal one it is not

This tool provides an instant, automated valuation. To turn your instant valuation into a formal valuation, choose that option at the end.

The formal thing has a specific meaning in Britain: a Red Book valuation, prepared by a RICS Registered Valuer under RICS Valuation – Global Standards and the UK National Supplement. It carries professional obligations, a scope of work and a level of assurance that no automated number does.

The instant figure is the right instrument for deciding whether to sell, what to expect and what to improve first. The Red Book valuation is what a lender, a court or a shareholder dispute will ask for.

What gets measured: maintainable earnings

UK practice prices on maintainable earnings — adjusted EBITDA, normalised for owner remuneration, one-off items and anything a buyer would not inherit. The question a British buyer is really answering is “what will this business reliably earn for me”, which is why the adjustment matters more than the headline profit line.

Add-backs have to be defensible. A buyer’s advisers will test each one in diligence, and an adjustment you cannot evidence usually comes straight back off the price.

Two different years, and people mix them up

The personal tax year runs 6 April to 5 April. A company’s financial year is its own — chosen at incorporation, changeable, and shown on its Companies House record. They are not the same period.

The comparable figures a buyer wants are the company’s, filed and consistent. If your year-end has moved recently, expect to be asked why.

Tax: Business Asset Disposal Relief

BADR — the relief that used to be called Entrepreneurs’ Relief — can reduce the Capital Gains Tax rate on qualifying business disposals, subject to a lifetime limit and qualifying-period conditions.

Both the rate and the lifetime limit have changed more than once in recent years, so check the current position on GOV.UK or with your accountant before you plan around it. This tool does not calculate your tax.

The first document you will be handed: Heads of Terms

Before any UK sale agreement come Heads of Terms — largely non-binding, but they fix price, structure, exclusivity and timetable, and they are difficult to renegotiate afterwards. Americans call the equivalent a letter of intent.

A share sale then completes on a share purchase agreement, an asset sale on an asset purchase agreement. British practice says “shares”, never “stock”.

⚠ Your staff transfer automatically — TUPE

Under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006, employees transfer to the buyer automatically, on their existing terms, with information and consultation duties on both sides.

This is a genuine difference from Australia and the United States, where no such automatic transfer exists. It affects price, timetable and risk, and getting the consultation wrong carries real liability — so it belongs in your planning from the start, not at completion.

Who sells it for you

In Britain the intermediary is usually a business transfer agent; “business broker” reads as an American import. Larger deals go to corporate finance advisers.

You can also sell directly. This platform supports owner-led sales and does not paywall the paperwork either way.

Common questions

Ready for the number? Value your business now — it takes a few minutes and asks for no email.

Sources

Every figure and rule on this page is attributed. Tax rates, reliefs and thresholds change — check the current position with the source or your own adviser before you act on it.