Joe is on target here.
Business valuations are a significant part of my professional work. Most of
what I do concerns venture capital investments, which are often more of an
art than a science, but I'm familiar with standard valuation methods for
going concerns. Making assumptions about the information left out of the
ebay description, I used several methods and came up with a range of
$200K-$600K for the business. It's quite possible that the valuation is less
than the low end of that range. It's conceivable it could be higher than the
high end, but very doubtful. It all depends on the actual sales history,
gross margins, overhead, earnings, inventory, fixed assets, debt,
liabilities, capital requirements to sustain the business, etc. Also depends
on how much of the business is concentrated in amateur radio versus the
larger commercial and government sectors, and whether the revenue decline is
due to factors other than impending retirement. Very important to assess
demand for the products. Another critical factor is how much would have to
be invested in the business to grow it back to previous revenue levels or
beyond. The devil is in the details.
73, Dick WC1M
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Joe Subich, W4TV [mailto:w4tv@subich.com]
> Sent: Friday, March 07, 2008 3:58 PM
> To: 'Bill N1eY'; towertalk@contesting.com
> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] I.C.E. - Company for sale
>
>
> > No way can you sell a small business in a down sector at more
> > than 20 times the sales. Plus, we don't know what the earnings
> > are currently. Who want to buy a business at P/E of 40?
>
> Absolutely correct ... $900K is generous. On a good day, $900K
> would be 8 to 10 times gross margin on $600K in annual sales.
> Debt service on $2.7 million is more than expected gross margin
> on sales!
>
> 73,
>
> ... Joe, W4TV
>
>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: towertalk-bounces@contesting.com
> > [mailto:towertalk-bounces@contesting.com] On Behalf Of Bill N1eY
> > Sent: Friday, March 07, 2008 3:24 PM
> > To: towertalk@contesting.com
> > Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] I.C.E. - Company for sale
> >
> >
> > It is at the most absurd price. No one sells a business on Ebay,
> > either. They probably went to a business broker that said
> > perhaps 900k
> > for the business at the best. No way can you sell a small
> > business in a
> > down sector at more than 20 times the sales. Plus, we don't
> > know what
> > the earnings are currently. Who want to buy a business at
> > P/E of 40?
> > You would never make your purchase price back.
> >
> > Sorry to be so negative, but I had to look because it sounded so
> > interesting to me!
> >
> > bill
> > n1ey
> >
> >
> > Barry wrote:
> > > That's a lot of bandpass filters :.)
> > > Barry W2UP
> > >
> > > Terry wrote:
> > >
> > >> And they accept PayPal if you decide to buy it! :-)
> > >>
> > >> 73 de Terry KK6T
> > >>
> > >> Greg Clark wrote:
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>> Saw this today, on eBay of all places. Take a look at eBay
> item:
> > >>> 250221413049
> > >>>
> > >>> Or, do a general search on eBay for Industrial Communications
> > >>> Engineers.........starting bid, $2.7M.
> > >>>
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > TowerTalk mailing list
> > TowerTalk@contesting.com
> > http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
>
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