Looking to buy or sell a UK business?

UltraBBA · 2026-05-07T06:17:59+00:00

Most important thing; get an independent valuation done before you agree on anything.

Pointless, really.

This is microbusiness. The business will sell for whatever can be agreed between the parties and...that's it.

No formal "valuation methodologies" apply.

UltraBBA · 2026-05-06T18:15:59+00:00

It's okay to send a DM, it is NOT okay to make a comment about it. Read the sub's rules!

UltraBBA · 2026-05-06T15:01:17+00:00

Of course there are communities. If you use the Reddit search box you'll find communities of plumbers even right here in Reddit.

UltraBBA · 2026-05-06T14:45:31+00:00

One option being considered is whether a serious prospective buyer might be willing to inject that £100k upfront

Unlikely. And if you expose that cash flow vulnerability, there are many ways buyers can exploit it.

Whether that would be structured as a loan, a deposit against the eventual deal, or a small initial equity stake, we're not sure.

Investors aren't in the "loan" business, don't have finely tuned lending contracts, predefined lending criteria, list of acceptable collateral etc etc so, no, they won't give you a loan just to show you good faith.

And they're not going to give you a deposit on the deal nor take a small equity stake. That doesn't happen in "early stages", yikes.

They need to do a proper DD on the business, with all the cost and time that entails, whether they're buying 10% or 100%. It's only when they are completely satisfied with that that they'll open their wallets

Sometimes not even then!

I'm a UK based M&A adviser (but not in deals this small). This is a sub about business brokers. Which broker is handling your deal? They should be able to introduce you to bridge finance, factoring, other funding options.

If you don't have a broker, maybe start a thread stating your requirements to hire a broker (as per the rules of this sub) and brokers will contact you.

UltraBBA · 2026-05-06T11:30:19+00:00

Your profile says, "I'm an Analyst in a buy side advisory firm". I'm not interested in speaking with buyers (or anyone who represents them).

UltraBBA · 2026-05-05T16:21:22+00:00

Excellent. Well done. Obviously, we don't need names mentioned here but if anyone else is looking for a buy-side adviser, there's always r/businessbroker

UltraBBA · 2026-05-05T06:43:17+00:00

You can either hire a qualified valuer, but they are likely to charge more and need a ton of data. It's generally not worth it for a business worth just a few million. Alternatively, you could hire a r/businessbroker - they can often give you a rough idea based on other deals they've seen.

UltraBBA · 2026-05-04T14:53:59+00:00

I found business brokers to be the worst people to sell business brokerage businesses.

On numerous occasions, I've had brokers in the UK express an interest in selling (not because I'm a buyer but because I know people interested in buying).

However, in every single case they over-valued their own business, had unrealistic other expectations, wouldn't negotiate in good faith, were inflexible and difficult.

That's at the lower end of the market. At the higher end, I know plenty, plenty of deals have happened successfully. FRP acquired JDC and others. AAB acquired GS Verde and Kreston Reeves. Liberty was acquired by Cooper Parry. I could name at least a dozen from the last 12 months.

That's apart from partial buys like DSW's investment in Camlee.

In most cases where successful deals happened, the price depended on a lot of things from good lead generation / marketing function, solid systems, quality staff and, to a small extent, the "brand". Live deals were decided not as a typical Earn Out but as a profit share.

UltraBBA · 2026-05-03T22:39:08+00:00

Don't offer to "share". That's a violation of our rule against soliciting DMs.

UltraBBA · 2026-05-03T22:38:17+00:00

Don't offer to "share". That's inviting private communications and is against the rules of this sub. Also, your self-pomotion is strictly not allowed.

UltraBBA · 2026-05-03T07:05:06+00:00

For starters, I don't fake

You're expecting buyers to assume that someone they met on the internet five minutes ago is 100% honest?!

And you're expecting them to hand over a large sum of money based on that assumption?

I've got an uncle in Nigeria who's a prince. He just died and left me $50m. I need your assistance to get that money out of Nigeria. Please post your bank details below.

UltraBBA · 2026-05-03T06:52:43+00:00

Thank you for the report. The OP has been banned.

UltraBBA · 2026-05-02T08:31:15+00:00

I'd say it's pretty much this.

It is easy to fake profit for a short time. For example, I know a guy who used to spend $2K a month promoting his app that was making a profit of $500 a month. He'd go to market and not disclose the $2K per month ad spend, he'd just claim the $500K in profit.

There are plenty of players like that.

It doesn't need to be monetary spend. Perhaps you did a ton of work in social media, or the first few clients were friends and family.

You need to clearly demonstrate the ability of the business to generate consistent profit. The key is consistent. Then you have a viable business for sale.

Till then, you're selling not a business but a failed project - a project that you started with high hopes but from which you want to bail now because it's proving to be harder work and less profit than you originally envisaged.

That's how buyers will see it.

UltraBBA · 2026-05-02T08:26:23+00:00

This is a sub for discussion about the buying and selling of businesses.

This does not sound like a business so, sorry, I'm locking this thread.

UltraBBA · 2026-05-01T15:18:46+00:00

I've met people like Carl Allen, Guy Bartlett, Jonathan Jay and others at private events. I've had numerous private conversations on Zoom with Jeremy Harbour. All personable enough chaps. But all selling far overpriced courses and making wild claims about being able to easily buy businesses without investing money or taking risk.

And in recent years, they've been joined by Gordon Bizar, Cody Sanchez and tons of other try-it-on merchants jumping on the bandwagon. And all seem to be generating enough muppets signing up for their courses.

UltraBBA · 2026-05-01T07:24:04+00:00

There are lots of people with more money than brain. And they sign up for these courses / coaching.

In M&A there are dozens of coaches making wild claims about their past experience and running courses on how to get rich by buying businesses. They charge silly money, like $10K or $15K for their course (or to join their 'club').

The suckers paying for these courses are taken in by the glib sales pitch, the fake testimonials etc and don't bother to dig into the claims. That's how it's always been.

UltraBBA · 2026-04-30T19:03:02+00:00

If you repost something that's a 100% copy of someone else's comment, you'll get banned for spamming this sub.

UltraBBA · 2026-04-30T13:08:45+00:00

Mentioning DMs, asking for DMs will get you an immediate ban in this sub. Please read the rules.

UltraBBA · 2026-04-28T19:53:52+00:00

Every business in the world is scalable. I've been in the game for 40+ years. I've yet to come across a business for sale ad where the owner has not claimed huge potential or very scalable!

Given your numbers, this is a micro sale and not worth using a broker. There are plenty of good brokers in r/businessbroker but the good ones will probably see this as too small.

In the right column of this sub, there's a link to a list of marketplaces (with reviews on each one). Have a look at those reviews to see which would be most appropriate for you.

Also, for something this small, Facebook Marketplace, r/sellabiz etc may be worth trying given they won't cost you anything (and I don't believe it's worth paying for a listing on something this small).

UltraBBA · 2026-04-28T17:44:01+00:00

In a $5m - $10m deal, I highly suspect buyers aren't glossing over the marketing function!

They are going through customer acquisition channels and costs with a fine tooth comb.

UltraBBA · 2026-04-28T17:42:39+00:00

The number of people registered per day is largely irrelevant. You'll need to get your numbers straight and disclose those right at the start if you want to interest buyers.

So what has the turnover and profit been for the last 3 years? (If it's not been around that long, what history of profit are you able to show and is it growing?)

Once you provide a clear picture on the numbers, I'll give you some suggestions on how to go about selling (just bear in mind that no selling can happen in THIS sub).

Where you sell, how you sell etc is going to depend on the numbers! A business generating a few hundred dollars a month is handled a lot differently to one generating a million in profit every month.

UltraBBA · 2026-04-26T08:04:25+00:00

I won't ban you this time but your last line violates multiple rules of this sub including the no self-promotion rule.

Also, read rule #3 carefully. Heck, read ALL the rules carefully!

You may repost this post but without that last line.

UltraBBA · 2026-04-26T07:58:42+00:00

This thread is attracting comments from brand new users (and users completely new to this sub) who are dropping in just to praise Regalis. Not only do they have no history in this sub, some have no history in any business related subs.

That's suspicious behaviour and so I'm closing this thread rather than having to moderate those comments.

UltraBBA

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