Company Valuation webinar series: The data and stories emerging from the last 3 months of UK valuations’, from our experts at Price Bailey.

1. Valuation Webinar
December 2023

2. Poll Question
Do you think that the number of deals completed in the most recent quarter has:
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Increased against the last quarter
Decreased against the last quarter
Stayed the same as the last quarter
C)
B)
A)

3. An overall slowdown in M&A extends to transactions
with UK-based targets
Between November 2022
and October 2023, there
were 209 reported UK
acquisitions made by
trade and PE.
Of these, 118 were
profitable, reported an
EBITDA multiple and
were not considered
outliers (Multiple >25x).
Nov 22 – Jan 23 had the
most transactions at 59.
Aug 23 – Oct 23 had the
fewest transactions at 44.
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Outliers are companies that did not report an EBITDA multiple, were loss-making or had
an EBITDA multiple in excess of 25x.
59
51
55
44
35
28 28 27
41 40 41
33
21 19
16 18
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Nov22 - Jan23 Feb23 - Apr23 May23 - Jul23 Aug23 - Oct23
No. of Transactions - UK Targets
All Transactions All Transactions exc. Outliers
Sub £50m Sub £50m EV exc. Outliers

4. Poll Question
Do you think overall EBITDA multiples are:
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Increasing – showing an upward trend
Decreasing – showing a downward
trend
Remaining consistent – showing a flat
trend
C)
B)
A)

5. EBITDA Multiples have shown a sizeable decline
through the last 12 months
EBITDA multiples have
started to decline
through the last twelve
months – valuation
multiples were elevated
through the pandemic
period.
A higher proportion of
targets under £5m EV
has substantially reduced
the overall median
multiple in the most
recent quarter.
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Outliers are companies that did not report an EBITDA multiple, were loss-making or had
an EBITDA multiple in excess of 25x.
9.6
8.155
8.365
5.36
7.69
6.79
5.60
5.04
5
5.5
6
6.5
7
7.5
8
8.5
9
9.5
10
Nov22 - Jan23 Feb23 - Apr23 May23 - Jul23 Aug23 - Oct23
EBITDA Multiples by Quarter
Median EBITDA Multiple
Median EBITDA Multiple (Sub £50m EV)

6. Growing EBITDA has an outsized impact on valuations
We would typically
expect that a larger
company would warrant
a higher EBITDA multiple
owing to factors such as
increased market share
and pricing power
(amongst many other
factors).
There is a clear valuation
gap shown, with the
effects most prominent
in smaller businesses.
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Outliers are companies that did not report an EBITDA multiple, were loss-making or had
an EBITDA multiple in excess of 25x.
4.215
7.97
10.06
7.355
13.19
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
Less than
£5m
£5m - £25m £25m - £50m £50m - £250m Over £250m
Median EBITDA Multiple by EV

7. Declining multiples have increased the volatility of
valuations within sectors.
After removing those
transactions described as
outliers, a wide spread
exists within individuals
industries.
Financial services
remains one of the
highest value sectors at a
median of 11.82x, but it
and TMT have shown
high volatility.
Median multiples across
a range of sectors has
dropped to between 5.8x
and 6.6x.
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Outliers are companies that did not report an EBITDA multiple, were loss-making or had
an EBITDA multiple in excess of 25x.

8. US continues to dominates overseas acquisitions of
UK companies
Overseas transactions
are typically reserved for
the most valuable
companies – in part due
to the complexity of
completing the deal and
managing operations in a
foreign jurisdiction.
Of 74 transactions valued
at under £50m EV, only
19% were acquired by an
overseas entity,
compared with 29% of all
UK-based targets.
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Acquirer Base
No. of
Transactions
Median EV
No. of Transactions
(Sub £50m EV)
UK 149 £5,700,000 60
US 22 £130,847,500 4
France 6 £659,735,000 1
Australia 5 £13,849,290 2
Canada 3 £2,200,000,000 0
Sweden 4 £12,500,000 1
Germany 2 £333,900,000 1
Other 18 £63,921,010 5
Total 209 £12,000,000 74

9. Limitations
Financial information may be incomplete for some entries – Our sources
of information are limited to the disclosures made by either party in a
particular transaction, or through investigative journalism conducted by
our data providers or other reputable news source in discussion with
either company participating in the transaction.
Financial information is subject to restatement – A subject company may
restate various financial data at a date later than the analysis was
conducted.
Various deals may not be captured by the above search criteria –
Reasonable efforts have been made to ensure that the entries included
within the dataset are appropriate, but we cannot ensure that all
relevant details are captured, as this is influenced by the classification
techniques of our data providers and by the disclosures made by
transacting companies.
Previous deal data may not be indicative of future market trends –
Valuations (and multiples) may fluctuate with the economic cycle.
Adjustments made to Enterprise Value are subjective – The adjustments
made to the Enterprise Value to arrive at Equity Value will depend on
the particular companies and transactions in a number of respects.
We note that the data analysis may be naturally limited in some respects.
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10. True Venture deals are showing a similar decline in
volumes returning to pre-pandemic levels
In our upcoming True
Venture report, we look
at the equity fundraise
market focusing on
Companies that are:
1. Unquoted (a limited
company).
2. Previously had
aggregate funding of
less than £1.5m.
3. Have conducted a
raised of at least
£2m.
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100
90 89
112
124 121
117
112
155
98
150
120
93
97
112
126
160
166
197
190
177
142
158
134
127
112
50
70
90
110
130
150
170
190
210
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2
2017-18 2018-19 2019-20 2020-21 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24
Previous report Current report
Number
of
deals
Financial year/quarter/report
Quarterly Deal Volumes in True Venture

11. True Venture deals are also showing declining pre-
money valuations
In our upcoming True
Venture report, we look
at the equity fundraise
market focusing on
Companies that are:
1. Unquoted (a limited
company).
2. Previously had
aggregate funding of
less than £1.5m.
3. Have conducted a
raised of at least
£2m.
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£8,000,000
£9,000,000
£10,000,000
£11,000,000
£12,000,000
£13,000,000
£14,000,000
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2
2021 2022 2023
Years/Quarters
Median Pre-money Valuation for True Venture

12. Next webinar: 5 March 2023
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