In many cases, the sale of a small company is “event” driven. That is, the reason for sale is health, divorce, partnership issues, even decline in business. A challenging reason is one in which the owners want to retire and live happily ever after. Here is the problem: The owners have a very prosperous distribution […]

A buyer was interested in a building products manufacturer that did $70 million a year in sales.  Although the business was profitable, it seemed that their margins were lower than they should have been for this industry. The buyer asked the seller how they priced their products.  As the seller was explaining his pricing strategies, […]

There once was a family-owned bakery that had sales in the millions. The bakery sold bread to restaurants, supermarkets and some retail outlets. The founder gave each of his 5 children 20 percent ownership of the business.  The kids really didn’t want to work in the business, so they turned the operation and management over […]

Much has been written about “fairness opinions” due to the financial manipulations among companies such as Enron, Tyco and others.  The conflict in the use of fairness opinions  was (and is) that an investment banking firm not only handled the sale of a company,  but also got paid for doing a fairness opinion.  For example, […]

This is just a partial list: Church’s Chicken, Uno Chicago Grill, Charlie Brown’s, Domino’s Pizza, Burger King, Cinnabon, Sizzler.  The first response would be that they are all in the food business, and that’s correct.  Now name the second thing that they all have in common?  Give up?  Well, they (and many others) have been […]

If Starbucks raised the price of a cappuccino, sales most likely would not be affected. If your attorney raised his or her hourly rate, would you switch law firms?  If a company or service firm does not have pricing power, then its value is less than it should be. Here are a few ways to […]

A recent article in INC magazine titled”Street Smarts,” by Norm Brodsky (his column is worth the price of the magazine) addressed the subject of the title above.  However, in the very first paragraph of the article, Mr. Brodsky stated, “Unfortunately, most of them [business owners] have grossly inflated notions of what their companies are worth.” […]

Does your business have an orphan product or service that is doing okay, but doesn’t seem to fit into your core business?  Many companies, private equity groups and even some individual buyers are seeking product lines to augment existing ones, or even to build a business around.  Here are just a few of the reasons […]

Companies can be in trouble or headed for it for many reasons.  However, most of them can be linked to one or more of the following: • Lack of proper focus • Poor management • Poor financial controls • Loss of key employee(s) • Loss of important customer(s)/client(s) • Not keeping up with technology • Quality control or other operating issues • Legal […]