WHAT I DO
Independent business valuations in England and Wales
A defensible, professionally produced opinion of value — prepared to the evidentiary standards expected by HMRC, the courts and lenders, and written to be read by the other side’s expert.
EIGHT VALUATION SCENARIOS
What situation are you in?
You need a number you can anchor negotiations to — not a feeling, not your accountant’s year-end figure, and not a broker’s estimate designed to win a mandate. An independent valuation tells you what your business is actually worth to a willing buyer. Without it, you negotiate from weakness.
Each party has an incentive to push the number in their favour. An independent valuation gives both sides a number neither party produced — the only number a solicitor or mediator can work with credibly.
A business interest is often the most valuable asset in the case. The court needs an independent opinion from a conflict-free valuer, and the other side’s solicitor will challenge anything self-serving. Reports prepared for family proceedings are structured to the expert-evidence requirements of FPR Part 25 and PD25B, including the expert’s declaration and statement of truth.
HMRC requires a defensible market value at the date of disposal. A correctly produced independent valuation protects you if the figure is enquired into. Getting this number right costs a fraction of getting it wrong.
Lenders increasingly require an independent valuation before lending against a business asset. Financial planners and estate planners need a current, credible value rather than an assumption carried forward from a previous year.
When shareholders disagree about value, the disagreement cannot be resolved without an independent reference point — produced by a valuer with no relationship to either party and no stake in the outcome. Where the dispute is an unfair prejudice petition under section 994 of the Companies Act 2006, the basis of value, the valuation date and whether a minority discount applies at all are addressed explicitly rather than assumed — and the answer to the discount question is often that it does not.
A buyer’s opening offer is built from their model, not your business — it can sit well above or below a fair standalone value, and it quietly becomes the number every later bid moves down from. An independent valuation puts a defensible figure in your hands that did not come from the person trying to buy you.
Handing the business to family, management or a buyer over time starts from a credible current value and a clear view of what drives it. An independent valuation gives you the baseline to structure a phased exit, test partial-sale options and avoid leaving value behind when the transition finally happens.
A report built to be read by the other side
Executive summary
Headline range, value drivers and risks on one page — the page solicitors lift for court briefs.
Five-year financial analysis
Revenue, gross profit, EBITDA and normalisation with plain-English interpretation after every table.
Methodology and multiple selection
Which method, why, and how the multiple was selected. Every assumption documented and sourced.
Risk analysis
Owner dependency, customer concentration, sector risk — assessed once and reflected once, not counted twice.
Environmental, social and governance factors
Which ESG factors were considered, which were significant to value and how each was reflected — and, where a factor was found immaterial, the record that it was considered. Required of every IVS-compliant report.
Transaction observations
Likely buyer types, deal structure and what to do before going to market.
Signed conclusion
An independent, signed opinion prepared to the evidentiary standards expected by HMRC, the courts and lenders.
Where a report is prepared for proceedings
The rules that govern expert evidence are not the same in every court. Civil claims are governed by CPR Part 35 and Practice Direction 35. Family proceedings, which is where financial remedy work sits, are governed by FPR Part 25 and its practice directions, principally PD25B for the expert’s duties and the contents of the report, and PD25D for financial remedy and the use of single joint experts. A report written to the wrong rule set can be excluded regardless of how good the valuation underneath it is. I confirm which rules apply before drafting, and the report carries the declaration and statement of truth those rules require.
The 50 questions an opposing expert will ask about your valuation
The questions I would ask if I were instructed on the other side — and where the answers should live in the report. Free, no email required.
The first conversation is free
Tell me what you need the valuation for and I will tell you honestly whether it makes sense.