Q3 2009 Business Valuation Data
Sell My San Diego, CA Business
Every quarter, BizBuySell.com publishes business valuation data, and we now have their latest San Diego, California business-for-sale statistics.
Median Ask Prices for San Diego, CA Businesses
If you are interested in trends in business-for-sale asking prices, here are the median asking prices for businesses in the San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, CA metro area for the last 11 quarters.
As shown in the table, San Diego business-for-sale listings in Q3 2009 had a median asking price of $194,500.
That compares to a median ask price of $220,000 in Q3 2008. Given that San Diego, CA median business asking prices appear to be dropping, it suggests that selling San Diego businesses may be lowering their prices to make their businesses more attractive to buyers.
Revenue Multiples for San Diego, CA Businesses
Here is how median revenue multiples are trending in the San Diego area, based on BizBuySell.com's economic data.
In the San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, CA metro area, small companies will typically sell for 0.63 times the selling company's revenues. As the table above indicates, this was the mean revenue multiple for Q3 2009 in this area of the country.
In other words, a business that has revenues of $150,000 might list for $94,413. Remember, however, that this is simply an average for revenue multiples in the area. Some companies will have higher revenue multiples and others will have lower revenue multiples.
According to BizBuySell.com, the median revenues for its San Diego business-for-sale listings was $364,000 in Q3 2009.
To put this in perspective, the Q3 2008 revenue multiple was 0.73 and the median revenue for listed San Diego businesses was $360,000.
Cash Flow Multiples for San Diego, CA Businesses
The table below shows how cash flow multiples are trending in the San Diego area, based on BizBuySell.com's quarterly reports.
Flow Multiple
As you probably know, cash flow multiples are another common way to value a business.
For Q3 2009, the average cash flow multiple for listed businesses in the San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, CA metro area was 2.83.
So, a business with cash flows of $110,000 might list for $311,532. That's only if the firm complies with the local average. Most businesses will not conform to industry- or area averages.
If you are interested in what cash flows are for a business in San Diego, BizBuySell.com found that the median cash flow for San Diego area businesses was $84,500 in Q3 2009. In Q3 2008, San Diego cash flow multiples averaged 2.94 and the median cash flow was $90,000.
Number of San Diego Businesses for Sale in the Dataset
The study data comprised 372 listings in the San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, CA metro area. As such, some of the businesses used to derive the median valuation might be outside of San Diego, but they are in the area and so are likely representative of San Diego business valuations.
One year ago, in Q3 2008, the BizBuySell.com dataset for San Diego spanned 392 listings. The downward trend in the number of San Diego business-for-sale listings is indicative of the current down economy.
Can I Sell My San Diego, CA Business Now?
You can sell a business in any market if you know what you are doing. If you wait for the perfect time to sell a business, you may find that that perfect time never comes. This advice comes from Domenic Rinaldi, managing partner of Sun Acquisitions, a leading business brokerage firm.
Business Valuations for San Diego, CA Businesses
If you are contemplating buying a business or selling a business and would like to look at completed transaction sale price comparables in the area, we recommend the BizBuySell.com Business Valuation Tool. Based on your specific criteria, you can modify the company dataset that creates business valuation estimates. Access to the tool is very reasonable -- costing less than $100.
BizBuySell.com's Quarterly Reports
The BizBuySell Insight Report is a nationally-recognized economic report that tracks trends in the business-for-sale marketplace. If you find these trends interesting, take a moment to visit BizBuySell.com Insights Report for more information.
Share this article
Additional Resources for Entrepreneurs