What is a company worth, and why do two serious buyers arrive at different numbers for the same business? The posts under this tag walk through valuation as it is practised in small-company transactions: the profit figure a buyer starts from and the adjustments made to it, the multiples paid for owner-run companies in Germany by size and sector, how dependence on the owner or on one customer moves the price, and how a discounted cash flow compares with a multiple in practice. Each post includes a worked example with the inputs stated so that a reader can substitute their own figures. The perspective is that of a buyer who holds companies permanently, so the emphasis is on what the business will earn in the years after the handover rather than on a headline number. Nothing here replaces a formal valuation for tax or legal purposes.
We buy companies at €300,000 to €1M in Rhein-Main and hold them permanently. Before we talk about price we read four things in a fixed order. That order is the checklist for any owner who wants to sell a small business in Germany, with the numbers on multiples, seller loans, and transaction costs.
Selling a company in Rhein-Main: what a buyer reads first →