Guides for selling your business
Practical guidance on selling, valuing, and preparing your business for sale.
Is Your SEN School Ready to Sell? Five Things Buyers Will Scrutinise
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Is Your SEN School Ready to Sell? Five Things Buyers Will Scrutinise
Specialist educational needs schools are experiencing unprecedented buyer activity and capitalization in the last decade. Proper preparation eighteen months before a sale adds more value to the final price than any negotiation choice made during the process.
Selling a Language School: Twenty Years of ELT Deals in One Article
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Selling a Language School: Twenty Years of ELT Deals in One Article
Two decades of advising language school owners on sale processes, distilled into the things I'd tell any owner thinking about a transaction. I built and sold Pilgrims at a then-record P/E multiple. This piece is the long version of that experience, written for anyone considering the same journey.
Selling a TICC Business: What the Specialist Consolidators Are Actually Buying
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Selling a TICC Business: What the Specialist Consolidators Are Actually Buying
Testing, inspection and certification (TICC) rarely appears in the business press. It should. The sector is one of Europe's most actively consolidated specialist service markets, multiples paid for the right businesses are among the highest, and well-funded buyers are currently active.
Selling a Fire and Security Business: The Strategic M&A Guide
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Selling a Fire and Security Business: The Strategic M&A Guide
The fire and security sector is one of the most actively consolidating service markets in the UK. The dynamics are well understood by professional buyers, less well understood by the owner-managers selling to them. This is the long version of the conversation.
The Fire and Security Market Is Consolidating. Here's What That Means for Owners Sitting on the Fence
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The Fire and Security Market Is Consolidating. Here's What That Means for Owners Sitting on the Fence
PE-backed buy-and-build platforms are now driving around 70% of UK fire and security M&A (Grant Thornton, 2025). For owner-managers, the next eighteen months is probably the most competitive window the sector will see for some time.
Why Private Equity Is Paying Record Multiples for Fire and Security Businesses
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Why Private Equity Is Paying Record Multiples for Fire and Security Businesses
The headline numbers being paid for UK fire and security businesses look high compared with most service sectors. They are. There are good structural reasons for that — and they tell the owner-manager something useful about what to do between now and a sale.
How to Buy or Sell a Care Business in Europe: A Practical Guide for UK Operators
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How to Buy or Sell a Care Business in Europe: A Practical Guide for UK Operators
Continental European care groups are serious acquirers of UK assets. Meanwhile, UK operators increasingly view Continental deal flow as acquirers, joint venture partners, or sellers into European platforms. This guide explains what is genuinely different about cross-border care deals.
How to Make Your Domiciliary Care Business More Sellable Over the Next Two Years
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How to Make Your Domiciliary Care Business More Sellable Over the Next Two Years
We speak to domiciliary care owners regularly who feel that what their business sells for in 2026 is materially below what they think it should be worth. The answer is rarely to find a different buyer — it's to build a better business in the two years before the sale.
Who Actually Buys Care Homes in 2026? A Tour of the Buyer Universe
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Who Actually Buys Care Homes in 2026? A Tour of the Buyer Universe
When a care home owner first calls us about selling, the second question after price is almost always some version of: who would actually buy this? The real buyer universe in 2026 is wider, more international and more polarised than most owners realise.
What Is My Care Home Actually Worth? A Realistic Guide to Valuation
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What Is My Care Home Actually Worth? A Realistic Guide to Valuation
Online calculators will give you a number. Whether the number is right depends on three things they don't ask about: your CQC rating, your normalised EBITDA, and the segment of the buyer pool your business actually sits in.
Who Is Buying Small Businesses in the UK Right Now — and Why? The Rise of the Acquisition Entrepreneur
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Who Is Buying Small Businesses in the UK Right Now — and Why? The Rise of the Acquisition Entrepreneur
Five years ago, the buyer for a £3m UK regulated business was a trade competitor or a PE platform. Today it is likely to be an experienced operator stepping into ownership for the first time — funded, prepared, and competing on equal terms with the institutional money. This shift matters for sellers
Five Things That Will Kill Your Business Sale Before You Even Go to Market
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Five Things That Will Kill Your Business Sale Before You Even Go to Market
Most failed business sales do not fail in due diligence. They fail before the first buyer is even contacted, and the cause is almost always something the seller could have fixed if they had known to look.
The Owner-Manager's Exit Checklist: What to Do in the Twelve Months Before You Sell
Read moreThe Owner-Manager's Exit Checklist: What to Do in the Twelve Months Before You Sell
The work that moves your exit price—often by 15–20% for owner-managed businesses—is almost all done in the twelve months before market. Here is the checklist our team would give any owner thinking about a sale in the next year or two, in the order we would work through it.
What Does a Business Broker Actually Do? The Sale Process Explained, Start to Finish
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What Does a Business Broker Actually Do? The Sale Process Explained, Start to Finish
Most people sell a business once or twice in their lives. The advisor sitting on the other side of the table has done it dozens or hundreds of times. This is the explainer we wish we could hand every owner who calls us for the first time.
Why Selling Your Business Without an M&A Advisor Usually Costs You Money
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Why Selling Your Business Without an M&A Advisor Usually Costs You Money
If your business is worth more than a million pounds, the question is not whether you can sell it without an advisor — it is whether you can sell it well without one. In most cases the honest answer is no, and the gap shows up in the price.
What Happens After I Accept an Offer? A Seller's Guide to Due Diligence
Read moreWhat Happens After I Accept an Offer? A Seller's Guide to Due Diligence
You've accepted an offer and signed heads of terms. The next eight to twelve weeks decide whether the deal completes — at the price you've agreed, or at a price that gets renegotiated. Here is what to expect, and where the work actually is.
How much is my business worth?
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How much is my business worth?
A plain English guide to how businesses are valued in the UK, what EBITDA multiples actually mean, and what drives your number up or down.
How to make your business run without you
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How to reduce owner dependence before selling your business
Owner dependence is the single biggest reason SMEs sell for less than they should. Here's how to identify it, measure it, and fix it before you go to market.
What buyers actually look for
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What buyers look for when buying a business
The factors that matter most to acquirers, from earnings quality to team stability. Based on real conversations with buyers across care, education, and services.
Getting your business ready to sell
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How to prepare your business for sale
A practical guide to getting your business ready, from cleaning up accounts to building a team that can run without you. What to do 12–24 months before going to market.
Understanding the tax implications
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Tax implications of selling a business in the UK
Business Asset Disposal Relief, CGT rates, share sales vs asset sales, and how deal structure affects your tax bill. What every seller should understand before completing.
The value of a business broker
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Should I use a broker to sell my business?
An honest look at when a business broker is worth the fee, when it's not, and what to look for if you decide to appoint one.
Mistakes that kill deals
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Common mistakes that kill business sales
The most common reasons business sales fall through, from unrealistic pricing to poor preparation. Based on real experience of what costs sellers the most.
What happens during due diligence
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What happens during due diligence when selling a business?
A practical guide to the due diligence process from the seller's side. What buyers will ask for, how long it takes, and how to avoid the most common problems.
A practical guide to the sales process
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How to sell a business in the UK
A guide to selling your business, from first thoughts through to completion. Based on real experience of what works, what doesn't, and how long it actually takes.
Keeping the sale confidential
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How to keep a business sale confidential
Why confidentiality matters, what happens when it breaks down, and how to manage the process so staff, clients, and competitors don't find out before you're ready.
CQC registration and your sale
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How CQC registration works when you sell a care business
CQC registration can't be transferred to a new owner. Here's how the process actually works for share sales and asset sales, what the timelines look like, and how to avoid the problems that delay or derail care business transactions.
How you actually get paid
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Deal structures when selling a business: how you actually get paid
Not every business sale is a clean cash deal. A guide to earn-outs, deferred payments, seller financing, and the structures you're most likely to encounter.
Selling a home care franchise
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How being a franchise affects the sale of your home care business?
Franchise royalties, franchisor approval rights, and agreement terms all shape how your care business is valued and sold. What franchise owners need to understand before going to market.
Ofsted and your nursery sale
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What happens to your Ofsted registration when you sell a nursery?
Ofsted registration doesn't automatically transfer when you sell your nursery. Here's how it works for share sales and asset sales, what the timelines look like, and what to watch out for.
Creating an Information Memorandum
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What is an information memorandum and how do I create one?
What goes into an information memorandum when selling a business, why it matters, and how to present your business to buyers in a way that's honest, compelling, and complete.
Accreditations and your sale
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How accreditations transfer when you sell a fire, security or safety business
BAFE, NSI, SSAIB, ISO and CHAS don't all transfer the same way when you sell. Here's how each accreditation works in a share sale vs an asset sale, and why it matters for your price.
Selling an education business
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How to Sell an Education Business in the UK and Ireland
Education businesses sell differently depending on the type, the location, and how well the fundamentals are managed. Here's what drives value and how to prepare for a successful sale.
Selling a Language School
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How to Sell an English Language School in the UK
Selling an ELT school involves challenges most brokers never see. Here's what drives value, who's buying, and how to avoid the mistakes that cost language school owners money.