A common phrase you hear in business is “you have to spend money to make money.”
Unfortunately, too many small business owners spend more money than they actually have…all in the name of getting their company off the ground or taking advantage of the next perfect opportunity. They hope that the money they bring in tomorrow will cover the money they’re spending today.
The end result of that kind of business strategy is a lot of debt.
One company owing money to another isn’t a cardinal sin of doing business. It happens all the time. For this post, we want to focus on how much debt is reasonable as a percentage of a company’s overall EBITDA (a common measure of cash flow derived as earnings before depreciation and taxes, depreciation, and amortization).
What if you had a quick way to measure how your company is performing from year to year?
An often-used phrase in business is that you can only “expect what you inspect.” If you aren’t regularly checking to see how well your company is doing, you are missing out on valuable information and quite possibly setting yourself up for trouble.
By using your business value as a benchmark, you can quickly check the pulse of your company and tell if it is generally healthy and improving year by year or has problems that need to be addressed.
2020 dealt a significant blow to nearly every sector of the U.S. economy, and bank stocks were possibly the hardest hit. While the overall stock market began to improve in the second half of the year, the banking sector continued to suffer.
Concerns over low interest rates and loan losses from struggling businesses created a lot of uncertainty. The result was that bank stock prices did not climb along with the rest of the market.
2020 was a pretty wild ride for all kinds of businesses.
While we’re all glad to see it in the rearview mirror, there are some after-effects regarding valuations that you might want to consider.
Many businesses report “goodwill” on their balance sheets. Goodwill is an intangible asset on a company’s books that reflects the amount of the purchase price paid for a company’s net assets above the fair value of acquired tangible and other intangible assets in a sale transaction. Unlike some other assets, goodwill does not necessarily amortize over time, but it can be worth less than its original value. (More on that in a minute.)
When it comes to the process of selling your business, there are several things that can ruin an otherwise good deal.
Over the years, we have seen plenty of deals go off the rails. It’s always an unfortunate event. Like we mentioned in our previous post, it can happen when owners and buyers can’t see eye-to-eye on the value of the business. When owners are unwilling to budge in spite of all the evidence pointing to a lower value, many buyers will simply walk away.
There are plenty of other factors that have the potential to wreak havoc on a transaction, including but not limited to:
Southard Financial was proud to be a Bonze Sponsor of The ESOP Association Annual Conference in 2021, 2022, and 2023
Southard Financial was proud to be a Platinum Sponsor of the New South Chapter of The ESOP Association in 2020 and 2021
Southard Financial was proud to be a Member Bank Sponsor of the Ole Miss Banking & Finance Symposium in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022, and 2023
Southard Financial was proud to be a Co-Sponsor of the National Center for Employee Ownership ESOP Nuts & Bolts Event in 2018
Southard Financial was proud to be a Corporate Sponsor of the Mid-South Minority Business Council in 2017 and 2018
Dave Harris attended The ESOP Association Annual Conference in 2018, 2019, 2022, and 2023
Dave Harris attended The ESOP Association Professionals’ Forum in 2019, 2020, 2021 (virtual), and 2024
Dave Harris attended the National Center for Employee Ownership Annual Conference in 2015, 2016, 2018, and 2019
Mark Orndorff and Matthew Jakes attended the National Center for Employee Ownership Annual Conference in 2017
Southard Financial attended the National Center for Employee Ownership Annual Conference in 2020 (virtual) and 2021 (virtual)
Mark Orndorff attended The ESOP Association Professionals’ Forum in 2023
Southard Financial facilitated the sale of Flint Hydraulics to Hydraquip, Inc.
Southard Financial facilitated the sale of Memphis' own Cooper Glass Company
David A. Harris and Mark A. Orndorff spoke at the 2019 Annual Fall Conference of the New South Chapter of The ESOP Association
David A. Harris and Mark A. Orndorff spoke at the 2019 Annual Fall Conference of the New South Chapter of The ESOP Association held in Orlando, Florida on October 16-17. They gave a presentation titled “Can Employees Really Impact Company Value?”
Southard Financial facilitated the sale of Memphis' own TOPS Bar-B-Q chain
David A. Harris and Matthew L. Jakes spoke at the 2019 Spring Workshop of the New South Chapter of The ESOP Association
David A. Harris and Matthew L. Jakes spoke at the 2019 Spring Workshop of the New South Chapter of The ESOP Association held in Atlanta, Georgia in February, 2019 on the topic of “Valuation Appraisal Checklist – 10 Things Your ESOP Appraiser Should be Doing”
David A. Harris spoke at The Fall ESOP Forum of the NCEO
David A. Harris spoke at The Fall ESOP Forum of the NCEO (National Center for Employee Ownership) held in Albuquerque, New Mexico in October, 2018 on the topic, “Communicating Valuation: Tools, Tips, and Examples”.
Southard Financial negotiated the sale of and was the exclusive financial advisor to Southern Systems, Inc.
David A. Harris spoke at the 2018 Annual Fall Conference of the New South Chapter of The ESOP Association
David A. Harris spoke at the 2018 Annual Fall Conference of the New South Chapter of The ESOP Association held in Birmingham, Alabama in September, 2018. He led a workshop called “The People’s Roundtable Interactive Workshop – A series of ‘Build to Last’ activities that focus on developing successful communication and team building programs for employee owners of all generations.” Speakers included Dolores Lawrence, Blue Ridge ESOP Associates; Lindsay Baublitz, SCandH Capital; David Harris, Southard Financial LLC
Mark A. Orndorff spoke at the ESOP Nuts & Bolts Seminar of the NCEO
Mark A. Orndorff spoke at the ESOP Nuts and Bolts Seminar of the NCEO (National Center for Employee Ownership) held in Indianapolis, Indiana in August, 2018 on the topic of “What’s Your Company Worth? – ESOP Valuation.”
Southard Financial helps Transnetyx expand with growth capital
Mark A. Orndorff spoke at the American Booksellers Association Winter Institute
Mark A. Orndorff spoke at the American Booksellers Association Winter Institute 2018 held in Memphis, TN in January, 2018 on the topic of Succession Planning titled “What is Your ‘End Goal’?”
