Business valuation services for South African SMEs.
An independent, market-related view of what your business is worth — evidenced well enough to survive a buyer's accountant, a shareholder dispute or a SARS review.
Free basic valuation returned within 24 hours. Formal reports from 10 working days.
Midpoint R9.8m · Manufacturing · R24m turnover
Unlike a price estimate, a valuation has to hold up.
Informal estimates lean on emotional attachment and whatever the neighbour sold for. A professional valuation gives you a market-related figure you can defend line by line.
Negotiate on evidence
Independent valuations support mergers, asset splits, due-diligence processes and statutory reviews on the basis of fact rather than assumption — which matters most when the other side has advisors and you don't.
Satisfy the authorities
Knowing the true worth of a business is necessary during estate wind-ups and tax assessments. A figure without visible workings tends to invite exactly the scrutiny you were hoping to avoid.
Support the raise
A credible valuation underpins fundraising and investment proposals by giving potential investors defensible data on performance and prospects, instead of a number you'd have to justify on the call.
Five things we work through, every time.
No mandate skips a step, and every assumption that moves the number appears in the report.
Financial performance and earnings potential
We analyse historical and projected earnings, cash flow and working capital to estimate the company's sustainable profit — stripping out the once-off items and owner adjustments that distort a headline figure.
Market conditions
Industry trends, economic outlook and competitive positioning are built in so the valuation reflects the market as it is, not as it was three years ago. Our research networks underpin the evidence base behind each mandate.
Asset and liability review
Tangible and intangible assets, liabilities and off-balance-sheet commitments are assessed to establish the underlying net worth. Leases and guarantees are where uncomfortable surprises usually live.
Multiple valuation methods
Income, market and asset-based techniques are applied in parallel and cross-checked against one another. A single method produces a number; several methods produce a range you can trust.
Clear, actionable reports
Reports are succinct and written in plain language, setting out the underlying assumptions and sensitivity analyses so that a business owner — not only an accountant — can act on them.
Most owners discover what their business is worth at the worst possible moment — mid-negotiation, with a buyer holding the only set of numbers.Pravata
Four moments worth commissioning a valuation.
The requirement typically arises around asset splits, due-diligence processes, estate wind-ups, statutory tax reviews or corporate actions.
Selling all or part of your business
To set a realistic asking price and hold it under pressure. Sellers who open with a defensible range concede less ground than those who open with a hopeful one.
Buying in or entering a partnership
To test whether the price is fair relative to earnings potential — before the deposit, the exclusivity period and the sunk legal costs make walking away expensive.
Raising finance
To demonstrate value to investors or lenders with numbers that survive their own analysis rather than collapsing under the first round of questions.
Succession and estate planning
To ensure equitable distribution among heirs. Families argue about businesses far less often when an independent third party has already established the value.
What's actually in the report.
A valuation you can't interrogate isn't much use in a negotiation. Everything below is written to be read by the owner, not filed unopened.
Valuation range
A low, midpoint and high figure, with an explanation of what drives the spread between them.
Method reconciliation
Each method applied, the result it produced, and why the methods disagree where they do.
Normalised earnings
The adjustments made to reported profit, itemised — so a buyer's accountant can follow the same path.
Assumptions register
Every material assumption stated plainly, including the ones that would be convenient to leave out.
Sensitivity analysis
How the value moves if growth, margin or the discount rate shifts — the section buyers turn to first.
Value drivers
Which parts of the business create the value, and what would raise the number over the next 24 months.
We apply five recognised methods across the income and market-based approaches, cross-checked against one another:
What changes once you have the number.
Confidence in negotiations
You negotiate sale terms from knowledge rather than guesswork, and you know in advance which concessions you can afford to make.
An independent perspective
An external valuation reduces the risk of overstating value on the strength of emotional investment — the single most common reason SME sales stall.
Strategic insight
Understanding what actually drives value tells you where to focus operationally. Several clients commission a valuation years before selling, purely for this.
Valuation questions we're asked most.
How much does a business valuation cost in South Africa?
Fees depend on turnover, the complexity of the business and what the valuation is for. We quote a fixed fee after the scoping conversation, so the cost is known before any work starts and there are no hourly surprises.
How is a small business actually valued?
We apply income-based methods such as free cash flow and excess earnings, market-based methods using comparable listed companies and completed transactions, and an asset and liability review. The results are reconciled into a range rather than forced into a single figure.
Is a valuation the same as an asking price?
No. A valuation establishes a defensible range of value based on evidence. An asking price is a commercial decision that may sit above or below that range depending on urgency, competitive tension and how the deal is structured. Knowing the range is what lets you set the price deliberately.
Will SARS accept your valuation?
Valuations prepared for statutory purposes set out the methods applied, the assumptions used and the sensitivity of the result to those assumptions — which is what a reviewing authority expects to see. We scope the mandate against its intended purpose from the outset, because a valuation prepared for a shareholder buyout is not automatically fit for a tax review.
Do you work with businesses outside the Western Cape?
Yes — we take valuation mandates in Cape Town and Pretoria, Johannesburg and nationally. The work is document-led, so most of it happens remotely, with management interviews by video call or on site where the mandate warrants it.
More on how valuation works.
The essentials of company valuation
The five factors that drive what a business is worth, and what a profit multiple really tells you.
Company valuationEleven uses for a private company valuation
Sales, capital raising, disputes, business rescue, tax and reporting — and why the purpose changes the exercise.
An indicative range, back within 24 hours.
Give us your sector, last year's turnover and your rough operating profit. We'll come back with a range and the assumptions we used to get there.
- A range, not a single number — with the workings
- Read by a person before it reaches you
- No obligation and no third-party sharing