Start With a Realistic Number
Before anything else, learn what your company is likely to sell for. Buyers pay for proven profit and for how many years of it they are willing to pay up front. Revenue alone tells them little.
A broker recasts your financial statements to show the real benefit of ownership, then compares it with sales of similar companies. Our appraisal page explains that math in plain terms.
If the range is lower than you hoped, you have two honest choices: improve the results a buyer can verify, or adjust the number. Waiting a year rarely changes the multiple much.
Get the Paperwork in Order Early
Pull together three years of tax returns and financial statements, year to date numbers, your lease, key customer and vendor contracts, equipment lists and your company documents from Sunbiz.
If any of these take weeks to find, a buyer will wonder what else is hard to find. Clean records shorten due diligence and make the price easier to defend.
Keep running the company hard. A drop in sales during the process makes buyers nervous, and so does a sudden jump right before you list.
Who Buys Jacksonville Companies
Jacksonville is the largest city by land area in the contiguous United States, and its economy is broad: JAXPORT and the railroads, the Navy, Mayo Clinic's Florida campus, finance and aviation repair near Cecil Airport.
That variety brings several kinds of buyers. Individuals using SBA 7(a) loans, which go up to $5 million, buy many companies. Competitors buy to add customers and crews. Private equity groups want larger earnings and a team in place.
Companies selling for a few million dollars or more often attract buyers from outside Florida, who are drawn partly by the lack of a state income tax.
Keeping the Sale Quiet
Your broker markets the company without naming it. A short blind profile describes the industry, region, revenue and earnings. Only buyers who sign a confidentiality agreement and show they can pay learn who you are.
Hold off on telling staff until a deal is close. Closings slip, and early news can cost you key people or customers before anything is signed.
How the Deal Is Usually Built
Most companies selling for under about $2 million are sold as asset sales. The buyer gets the equipment, inventory, name, phone numbers and customer relationships, and you keep the cash and pay off your own debts.
Larger companies more often sell as stock or membership interest sales. Many deals include a seller note for part of the price, and buyers almost always ask for a noncompete.
Florida law presumes a seller's noncompete of three years or less is reasonable, so expect requests in that range.
Florida Taxes and Closing Steps
Florida has no personal income tax. If your company is an S corporation, LLC or partnership, you pay federal tax on the gain but no state income tax. A C corporation pays the state's corporate income tax.
Within 15 days of closing you file a final sales tax return. Because a buyer can be held for your unpaid state taxes, most hold back money until you deliver a clearance. Read about successor tax liability for details.
If you carry a note, documentary stamp tax applies to it, and your reemployment tax account must be closed or moved to the buyer.
What It Costs to Sell
Brokers are paid mostly at closing as a percentage of the price. For smaller deals, fees often run around 10 percent, and larger deals often carry a lower percentage. The exact terms are set in the broker's agreement with you.
You will also pay your own attorney and CPA. Taxes are usually a bigger cost than the broker's fee, so talk to your CPA before you sign a letter of intent, not after.
For how our introductions work and who pays us, see our approach. Owners of specialized firms, such as aviation service companies, can read about their own industry too.
Ready for a private value range? Fill out the value form or call (904) 555-0129.