How promo and print businesses are actually valued
Most owners have a number in their head. It usually comes from a mate's sale, a broker's teaser or years of sweat translated into what it should all be worth. Buyers work differently, and knowing how they think is worth real money when the conversation gets serious.
Buyers pay for earnings, not effort
The starting point is nearly always normalised profit: the true annual earnings of the business once you add back the owner's salary, one off costs and anything personal running through the books. Brokers call it SDE or adjusted EBITDA. Whatever the label, it is the number a buyer believes the business will hand them next year.
That number then gets multiplied. The multiple is where negotiation actually happens, and it moves on risk: how certain the buyer is that the earnings survive the handover.
What pushes the multiple up
- Repeat customers who reorder every year without being chased, especially on uniforms and workwear programs
- Revenue spread across many clients, with no single account dominating the book
- A team and processes that run the week without the owner touching everything
- Clean, current books that match the story being told
- Supplier and decoration arrangements that transfer with the business
What quietly drags it down
- The owner is the sales team, the quoting desk and the key relationship all at once
- One client is a third of revenue
- Ageing equipment with a replacement bill the buyer inherits
- A shed of slow moving stock counted as an asset but priced by the buyer at close to nothing
The asset most owners undervalue
It is not the press, the embroidery heads or the van. It is the customer list and the reorder pattern inside it. Production can be replaced by any capable supplier. A decade of local businesses that ring you first cannot. When we value a business, that list and its behaviour is where we spend most of our time, and it is usually worth more than the owner thinks.
Know your number before you need it
A valuation costs nothing and commits you to nothing. The owners who get the best exits are the ones who knew their number two years early and spent that time nudging the levers above. If you want yours, with the workings shown, ask for a free valuation and we will walk you through it.
General information only, not financial advice. Talk to your accountant or adviser about your own situation.