It is important to be clear about the difference between asset values and business values. The method used in this appendix has been to value a business as a going concern: that is to value a whole collection of assets, tangible and intangible, together as an entity in their current business use. Asset value alone is not the same as business value, because asset value alone can be more or less than the value of the business in which it is currently being used.

If the assets alone are worth more than the total business value, it is worth considering whether the business should sell its assets and close down, or whether some of the assets could be sold and the business continued without them.

Our approach here has been to value a whole business, or company. If one wished to arrive at the theoretical value of each share in the company, it is obvious that one could divide the total value of the company by the number of shares on issue. However, in private companies this does not necessarily hold true. A minority shareholding (or a minority parcel of shares) in a private company does not always have the same value pro rata as the value of the total shareholding.

Comments are closed