What's my business worth?
A buyer pays for profit they can rely on, times a multiple. There's no official multiple, so ours is a starting assumption you can change. This is a rough guide, not a valuation.
Your answer
Enter your profit before tax for the latest year.
About this calculator
For the owner of a small UK company who wants a rough idea of its value: before talking to a buyer, planning an exit, or thinking about Inheritance Tax.
It's a rough guide, not a valuation. For a sale, a sale to an Employee Ownership Trust, Inheritance Tax or share options, get a professional valuation. For Inheritance Tax and EMI share options, HMRC's Shares and Assets Valuation team can consider the value of unlisted shares.
What happens to your answers
We don’t keep them. Your answers go to our server to do the sums and aren’t stored or logged. If you copy a link to your answers, they’re in the link itself, so only share it with people you trust.
How it’s worked out
We start with profit before tax and add back interest, depreciation and one-off costs (that gives EBITDA). We swap your salary for a market salary for your role: a buyer has to pay someone to do your job, so if you pay yourself less, the value goes down.
We weight the years (3, 2, 1 by default, latest heaviest) and multiply by 3×, 4× and 5×: our starting assumption for a small owner-managed business, not an official figure. Each multiple moves by the same amount: down 0.5× if the business leans on you and 1× if it depends on you, up 0.5× if half your sales recur, down 0.5× if one customer is over 20% of sales, and up or down 0.5× for growing or falling profits.
That's the value of the business. We add surplus cash and take off debt to get the value of the shares, then work out Capital Gains Tax on selling at the middle value with Business Asset Disposal Relief (18% on the first £1m of gains).
Worked example
As a rough guide, your company might be worth about £706,565 to a buyer (between £560,662 and £852,468), based on about £145,903 of profit a year it can keep making.
3.5× / 4.5× / 5.5× profit · weighted over 3 years · one owner · shares that cost nothing · 2026/27 rates
| Latest year: profit before tax | £180,000 |
|---|---|
| Add back interest | £5,000 |
| Add back depreciation and amortisation | £15,000 |
| Take off what a manager would cost above your pay | − £47,430 |
| Add back one-off costs | £20,000 |
| Latest year: EBITDA, weight 3 | £172,570 |
| Year before: profit before tax | £150,000 |
| Add back interest | £5,000 |
| Add back depreciation and amortisation | £15,000 |
| Take off what a manager would cost above your pay | − £47,430 |
| Year before: EBITDA, weight 2 | £122,570 |
| Year before that: profit before tax | £140,000 |
| Add back interest | £5,000 |
| Add back depreciation and amortisation | £15,000 |
| Take off what a manager would cost above your pay | − £47,430 |
| Year before that: EBITDA, weight 1 | £112,570 |
| Weighted average over 3 years (weights 3 / 2 / 1) | £145,903 |
| Starting multiples, low / middle / high (our assumption, not a rule): 3× / 4× / 5× | 4× |
| Business leans on you a little: every multiple − 0.5× | −0.5× |
| Recurring sales 60% (50% or more): every multiple + 0.5× | +0.5× |
| Biggest customer 15% of sales (20% or less): every multiple no change | 0× |
| Profits growing: every multiple + 0.5× | +0.5× |
| Multiples after adjustments: 3.5× / 4.5× / 5.5× | 4.5× |
| Value of the business (enterprise value) at 4.5× | £656,565 |
| Add surplus cash | £100,000 |
| Take off debt | − £50,000 |
| Value of the shares, middle (equity value) | £706,565 |
| Capital Gains Tax selling at that value, with Business Asset Disposal Relief (18% on the first £1,000,000) | £126,642 |
| You'd keep | £579,923 |
Our stated approach (maintainable earnings × a multiple), not an official method. Capital Gains Tax worked out using HMRC's 2026/27 rates and Business Asset Disposal Relief.
Questions people ask
Why don't you use an official multiple?
There isn't one. Buyers pay what the business is worth to them, and that varies a lot by sector, size and how much the business depends on you. Our 3× to 5× is a starting assumption: change it if you know what businesses like yours sell for.
Can I use this figure for Inheritance Tax or share options?
No. Inheritance Tax uses the price the shares might fetch on the open market, and HMRC can challenge it. Get a professional valuation; HMRC's Shares and Assets Valuation team can consider the value of unlisted shares, and agrees share values for EMI options (form VAL231).
Why does my low salary bring the value down?
A buyer will need to pay someone to do your job at a market salary. If you pay yourself a small salary and take dividends, your company's profit looks higher than a buyer would see, so we take off the difference.
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