Every serious decision
about your business
starts with a number
you don't have yet.
Independent business valuation for UK owners. Excel model and written memorandum. Delivered in 2 working days. Built by a practising M&A analyst — FMVA, CBCA — with 30 years of UK deal experience across £5m–£75m enterprise value.
Book your free discovery call → 15–20 minutes · No obligation · NDA if neededFixed Fee — confirmed upfront
30 Years UK deal experience
FMVA CBCA — Corporate Finance Institute
You already have a number in your head.
That's the problem.
- An unsolicited approach from a buyer
- A shareholder or co-founder conversation about value
- An exit timeline that has moved closer than expected
- A refinancing or capital raise that requires a valuation
- A board or investor discussion that will ask for numbers
Owners don't avoid valuation because they don't care. They avoid it because it's awkward. You don't want to anchor your team to a figure you can't defend. You don't want to start an exit conversation before you're ready. You don't want to be talked down by a buyer who "knows the market."
So you carry a private number. It usually comes from a rule-of-thumb multiple, a competitor's rumoured sale, or what you'd like retirement to look like.
That's fine until a real decision lands.
An unsolicited offer. A shareholder conversation. A refinance. A growth plan that needs capital. An exit timeline that suddenly feels close.
At that point, guessing becomes expensive. The gap between a mental number and a defensible one isn't academic — it shows up directly in negotiation outcomes, missed exit windows, and decisions made on assumptions no one has tested.
What an unmodelled valuation actually costs
The gap between a mental number and a defensible one has a price. It appears in three predictable ways.
You leave money on the table
An owner carrying a £3m number in their head accepts an offer at £2.8m because it feels close enough. An independent model might show maintainable earnings support £3.4m on conservative multiples. That's a £600,000 gap — invisible until someone builds the model and makes the assumptions explicit.
You reject a good offer for the wrong reason
You turn down £4m because your mental number is £5m. But your mental number includes a revenue line that's customer-concentrated, a salary cost below market, and working capital that flatters the cash position. A normalised model might show that £4m is a strong offer — and walking away costs you the exit window.
You walk in without a defensible position
Whether it's a buyer, a lender, a co-shareholder, or an investor — the first question is always "how did you arrive at that number?" If the answer is a multiple you heard someone use, the conversation goes against you immediately. A model with visible assumptions and tested sensitivities changes the dynamic entirely.
What we actually do
We take the information you already have — accounts, management numbers, and a short commercial picture — and build an independent valuation model that makes the assumptions visible and the logic defensible. Every figure in the memorandum is supported by the model. Every assumption can be interrogated.
No optimistic assumptions. No guaranteed price. No regulated advice. An independent sanity check — so the next conversation you have is based on numbers that can survive scrutiny.
The three items below are included in every engagement at every fee tier. No hidden charges. No hourly billing.
Independent Valuation Memorandum
A presentation-grade PDF — built for boardrooms, lender meetings, shareholder discussions, and buyer negotiations. It explains the value range, the key drivers, the sensitivities, and the logic in plain language.
Plain-English Narrative
Covering the valuation methodology, the adjustments, the risk factors, and the decision points — so you can use it in real conversations without needing to interpret a spreadsheet.
Locked Excel Model
Clear inputs. Normalised earnings. Sensitivity toggles. Explicit assumptions you can interrogate. The model supports every figure in the memorandum.
Two owners. Two different outcomes — both better for knowing.
An owner approached by a trade buyer. Turnover £4.2m.
The owner's number was £3m — a rule-of-thumb multiple a contact in the same sector had mentioned. The buyer's opening offer was £2.4m. The owner felt lowballed but had no model to counter with.
When we normalised the earnings — correcting the below-market salary to a commercial replacement cost, removing non-recurring project income, and adjusting working capital timing that was flattering the cash position — defensible EBITDA came back at £510,000, not the £620,000 implied by the accounts.
But the model also showed that on an appropriate sector multiple — supported by comparable transactions — the defensible valuation range was £2.8m to £3.2m. The buyer's opening offer was below the floor. The owner presented the memorandum, showed the assumptions, and renegotiated.
Renegotiated from £2.4m to £3.05m — a £650,000 improvement on the opening offer, secured by having a defensible model to put on the table.
Total time from engagement to report: 2 working daysAn owner planning an exit within 18 months. Turnover £7.5m.
The owner was carrying a valuation of £6m from a conversation with their accountant two years earlier. They were about to engage a sell-side adviser at that expectation.
The independent model revealed two issues. First, 38% of revenue was concentrated in a single customer — a risk factor that would suppress any buyer's multiple. Second, the owner was drawing a salary £85,000 below market rate for a replacement managing director. Once that cost was normalised, maintainable EBITDA dropped from £780,000 to £640,000.
The adjusted valuation range was £3.5m to £4.2m — materially below the owner's expectation. That was uncomfortable. But it gave the owner 18 months to act on it: diversify the customer base, hire a commercial manager to reduce key-person risk, and re-test the valuation before going to market.
Going to market at £6m with a £4m business would have burned the exit window. Knowing 18 months early meant time to close the gap before committing to a process.
Total time from engagement to report: 2 working daysThe memorandum and model, in the format you'll use them.
A redacted sample of the Independent Valuation Memorandum delivered to clients. All data is fictitious. The working model delivered to clients contains full assumptions, scenario toggles, and sensitivity analysis specific to the target business.
The sample gives an indication of the format and depth of analysis included in every engagement.
See an example of the report →Fixed fees. No surprises.
A fixed fee means you know the cost before you commit — no hourly billing, no scope creep, no invoice you didn't expect. We price by turnover because it's the simplest proxy for the scope of work. Every engagement delivers the same output: Independent Valuation Memorandum, written report, and locked Excel model.
Independent Valuation Memorandum Written report Locked Excel model 2 working day delivery
Independent Valuation Memorandum Written report Locked Excel model 2 working day delivery
Independent Valuation Memorandum Written report Locked Excel model 2 working day delivery
Independent Valuation Memorandum Written report Locked Excel model Fee confirmed before engagement
Find out what's involved. 15–20 minutes, no obligation.
Book your free discovery call →Four steps. Two working days.
The clock starts when your documents land.
Free discovery call
15–20 minutes. NDA if needed. We clarify what the valuation needs to do — offer evaluation, exit planning, funding preparation, shareholder alignment, or board reporting. If it's a fit, we lock the engagement and scope.
Lock engagement + info request + payment
You receive a tight document list. You send what you already have — accounts, management numbers, commercial overview. The clock starts when payment is received and all required documents are in.
Build the valuation model
We normalise maintainable earnings, correct add-backs and adjustments, apply appropriate valuation methodologies, and make every assumption visible. The model is built from your specific data — not from a template.
Deliver
You receive the Independent Valuation Memorandum (presentation-grade PDF), the written report, and the locked Excel model — with clear assumptions, sensitivities, and decision points ready to use in the next conversation.
Why this — and why now
Your accountant could attempt a valuation. Some do. But accountants are trained to prepare accounts — this is deal modelling. The skill sets, the outputs, and the purpose are different. The typical route is hourly billing, open-ended timescales, and a deliverable that wasn't built for a buyer's scrutiny or a lender's questions. We charge a fixed fee and deliver in 2 working days.
Because we work on live M&A transactions continuously, we know what buyers are currently paying, what multiples the market supports, and what lenders are looking for right now. That live market context isn't something you get from a desktop exercise or a two-year-old conversation with an adviser who isn't on active deals.
And there's the objectivity question. When it's your business, it's very easy to model the outcome you want rather than the outcome the earnings support. That's not a failing — it's human. An independent model removes that risk.
Let me be direct about what this service is, and what it isn't.
I'm Mark Ross Roberts. I run Achieve Corporation. I'm a practising M&A analyst — not a consultant who does valuations occasionally, and not a firm that delegates work to junior staff. I build these models for real deals.
This valuation service is an extension of exactly what I do when I'm preparing a business for a full sale mandate: normalise the earnings, test the assumptions, and produce a document that can survive a buyer's due diligence.
The difference is simple: you get a model and a memorandum built by someone whose only interest is giving you the accurate picture — not selling your business, not earning a commission, and not telling you what you want to hear.
Who this is for — and who it isn't.
Owners planning an exit (6–36 months out)
You want a real baseline before engaging an adviser, approaching buyers, or setting expectations with family, shareholders, or the board. Know the number before you commit to a process built around it.
Owners who've received an offer
You need to know whether the number on the table is fair, low, or better than you think. The answer changes what you do next — whether that's negotiating, walking away, or accepting quickly before circumstances change.
Owners considering funding, de-risking, or growth
A defensible valuation underpins investor conversations, refinancing, shareholder buyouts, and any decision that puts a price on the business. A model your finance director can interrogate is different from a number you produced yourself.
Owners who need board-ready or partner-ready numbers
You need a model your finance director can interrogate and a memorandum your co-shareholders can read without a translator. The memorandum is built to be used in those conversations directly.
If you want a rubber-stamp valuation to justify a number you've already decided, this isn't the right service. If you want someone paid on commission for the outcome, we're not that firm.
This is for owners who want to know the real number — even if it's not the one they were hoping for.
Questions owners ask before they commit
Bring whatever you already have. We'll tell you if it's enough.
If you've had an offer, you're planning an exit, or you're making a decision that puts a price on your business — accounts, management numbers, an offer letter, questions. In 15–20 minutes, we'll confirm whether this valuation is the right tool for your situation, what documents we'll need, and whether the 2 working day turnaround works for your timeline.
No obligation. No sales pressure. NDA if needed.
Book your free discovery call → 15–20 minutes · No obligation · NDA available