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What determines your Business Maintainable Earnings? [infographic]

WRITTEN BYJames Price | JPAbusiness

When determining what a small to mid-sized business is worth, Business Maintainable Earnings (BME) is one of the key concepts the market will consider.

BME reflects the ability of a business to generate earnings into the future.

Remember, as a buyer you don’t want to pay for opportunity you will create in the future; unless there is a strategic element to the purchase, ideally you only want to pay for what has been built up by the vendor.

Doing the numbers

Our infographic, How to calculate Business Maintainable Earnings, sets out the calculation we use to determine BME when conducting business valuations and market appraisals on behalf of clients. It shows how to take account of abnormal fluctuations in a business’ performance (i.e. normalise) and calculate the business’ BME.

The calculation is often done on the previous three years’ performance and then looking forward – to at least the next 12 months. The results are also often weighted based on seasonality and other market and business-related factors.

The calculation involves analysis over a number of years because BME represents future maintainable earnings, and therefore the analysis needs to consider business health factors, risks and other issues that impact the business.

What determines BME?

So, what are these ‘health factors, risks and other issues’ we need consider?

The infographic below sets out some of the major ones.

6 determinants of Business Maintainable Earnings.png

If you would like assistance to determine BME for a business purchase opportunity you are assessing, contact the team at JPAbusiness on 02 6360 0360 or 02 9893 1803 for a confidential, obligation-free discussion.

How to assess business value cover 2022
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How to assess business value in small to mid-sized businesses

How do you determine what a business is really worth? This ebook asks: How much Business Maintainable Earnings does the business generate? How much meaningful information do you have on the business' performance and overall business model? What is the point of difference and competitive advantage?

About James Price | JPAbusiness James Price has over 30 years’ experience in providing strategic, commercial and financial advice to Australian and international business clients. James’ blogs provide business advice for aspiring and current small to mid-sized business owners, operators and managers.