Business Valuation Services
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Trade Winds Group provides privately held businesses with valuation services. A professional valuation is essential if you are considering selling a business, planning for retirement, applying for financing, and a wide range of other scenarios. You can rest assured in the accuracy, thoroughness and professional expertise of our valuation process and reports. Our valuations are performed by professionally trained valuators and analysts that are experienced in key attributes of business valuations and business transactions. When TWG performs a business valuation, it will be independent, unbiased and a supportable opinion of value. Our valuation process is performed using the latest valuation industry guidance and standards at the effective date of value. Our valuation process typically follows the following process steps:
Preliminary -We discuss the details of the engagement with you to ensure a complete understanding of the objectives and purpose of the business valuation engagement.
Proposal - Upon gaining a complete understanding of your objectives, we will provide you with a formal proposal of services agreement. The agreement will define the scope of our services, expected timeline and fee for services.
Research and Analysis - This involves analysis of company documents, financial statements, tax returns, operational information, intangible asset definition, risk factors and other data. We research the economic factors, industry trends and influences, potential risk factors and arms-length, private company comparable industry transactions.
Presentation - The valuation report is thoroughly explained to our clients to ensure a thorough understanding of how we arrived at the opinion of value. Each report is supported by a “reasonableness test” or “sanity check. The summary report presents a hypothetical business sale utilizing our presented opinion of value as the selling price and goes through an investors “term sheet” that runs through the financial review steps a lender would perform including settlement fees, down payment, term and interest rate, monthly and annual payments, and making sure that after all operating expenses from the income and cash flow statements that a sufficient annual debt service coverage ratio meets the typical 1.20 minimum threshold percentage.
Let’s plan to have a confidential, no cost consultation to discuss what is on your mind today and for the future. Please fill out the enclosed form and we will be in touch within 24 hours.
Exit Strategy and Transition Planning
Transferring the ownership of a business can be a complex and emotional situation. Every business has a life cycle and eventually, as an owner, you will be faced with answering the question, "What's next?” The current and future decisions should be guided by facts and objectivity, and not by an unplanned and forced set of circumstances. How you exit the business may be one of the most important and critical decisions of your business life. You may have spent many years carefully planning for the growth, sustainability and profitability of your business. How much time and consideration has been given to what needs to happen before and after you leave? The number one reason businesses may fail is due to the lack of formal planning and communication by owners with family, key employees and other business partners such as the accountant, attorney and financial planner.
Many business owners do not have a formal plan and contingencies in place. Not having this key business initiative in place may result in serious and adverse consequences to the business, the owner, family members, employees and its customers. The business should be positioned to continue operations as usual in the event an unplanned or planned event occurs. Our time-tested processes and methods provide our clients with impartial and strategic guidance during and after initiating a “living and workable exit strategy and transitioning plan.” Each plan is individualized and designed to provide our clients with substantiated information and clear paths to making informed decisions including when and whom to transition to, and at what price and terms. The following are a few benefits that a well thought out exit strategy and transition plan will provide: