Most calculators multiply the profit you type in and stop there. This one values your business the way a buyer would: on maintainable earnings rather than your best year, and against the companies you actually compete with.
Enter your trade, your latest turnover and EBITDA, and your headcount. Add the two prior years and the valuation switches from your latest year to maintainable earnings, weighted across three years towards the most recent. That is what a buyer pays for: earnings they expect to repeat, not the best single year.
The result is an enterprise value range, calculated by applying an EBITDA multiple for your trade to those maintainable earnings. It is what the business is worth before your cash and debt are settled.
Two figures cannot tell a trend from a one-off. A business that earned 100,000 pounds and then 400,000 might be growing fast or might have had one unusual contract, and nothing in those two numbers separates the two. So below three years we value on your latest year alone and say so, rather than reading a trend that may not be there.
At three years the picture is different. Steady earnings barely move the valuation, a genuine climb is discounted modestly because a buyer pays for what repeats, and a decline is visible in both the earnings and the multiple.
We hold filed accounts for 3.7 million active UK companies. Your EBITDA per employee, EBITDA margin and turnover per employee are compared against the typical business in your trade, and that comparison moves your multiple by up to 15 per cent either way. Businesses that outperform their trade command higher multiples, and this is the same adjustment our paid reports use.
Peer comparisons are available for 117 trades, each with at least 100 scored companies behind it. Where a trade has fewer, we show no comparison rather than one we cannot stand behind.
The valuation applies an EBITDA multiple for your trade to your maintainable earnings. It is enterprise value: what the business is worth before your cash and debt are settled. It is an indication for your own planning, not a professional valuation, and no buyer is bound by it.
Peer figures come from filed accounts for 3.7 million active UK companies. Most small companies do not file a turnover figure, so where turnover is needed we use ExitRadar's estimate. EBITDA per employee and return on assets are filed on BOTH sides of the comparison, which is why we lead with them. Turnover per employee and EBITDA margin depend on estimated turnover, so treat them as indicative. Your position is approximate, and we describe it in words rather than percentiles for that reason.
The comparison set is companies in your trade that we actively score, not every company registered under it.
Small private companies are bought on a multiple of their earnings, with cash and debt settled separately. The multiple depends on the trade, and the earnings figure a buyer uses is maintainable earnings rather than the best single year.
It depends on the trade. Ranges across UK SMEs run from roughly 3 times earnings for labour-heavy trades to 10 times or more for software. Performance against the trade norm moves it further, which is what the benchmark on this page measures.
No. It is an indication for your own planning. A formal valuation considers contracts, customer concentration, working capital, property and the terms of the deal itself, and no buyer is bound by a figure from a calculator.
Because a buyer pays for earnings they expect to repeat. With three years we value on a weighted average rather than your latest year, which lowers the figure for a business that has just had its best year and raises it for one whose latest year was unusually weak.
ExitRadar scores UK companies on exit readiness and sells the analysis to acquirers. The same model that produced the range above sits behind those reports. How we score companies.
Buying a business rather than valuing your own? Use the buyer's calculator.
This tool gives an indication for your own planning. It is not a professional valuation, not advice, and no buyer is bound by it. Figures you enter are not stored unless you ask us to store them.