2018 On Pace to Surpass All Previous Years in Small Business Sales
We have been forecasting an increase in business sales for years, and a recent Biz Buy Sell report seems to indicate that this prognostication may finally be coming to fruition. The number of businesses sold by quarter has steadily increased since the fourth quarter of 2015, with the second quarter of 2018 bringing a record number of businesses being sold.
A total of 5,383 businesses were reported sold in the first two quarters of 2018, putting the year on pace to surpass 2017’s record-high of 9,919 transactions. This growth can be attributed to baby boomer retirements, a strong economy, strong business revenues, and aggressive bank lending.
Additional report nationwide highlights through the second quarter of 2018 include:
- Baby Boomers own a majority of small business (approximately 53%)
- Approximately 60% of these Baby Boomers plan to sell their businesses within the next two years.
- Approximately 32% of all current small business owners plan to sell in the next two years.
- Median revenues of businesses sold in the second quarter reached a new high of $526,048 annually, an increase of 7.4% from last year.
- Median cash flow grew by 3.4% to $120,000
- Asking prices increased by 4% from the previous quarter to $260,000, while sales prices increased by 4.4% to $239,000.
- The number of businesses listed for sale increased by 5.1%
Tampa Bay specific highlights from the report include:
- Small business listing metrics for second quarter 2018
- Businesses listed for sale: 1,035
- Average listing price: $219,000
- Average annual revenue: $420,000
- Average cash flow: $102,139
- Closed small business transaction metrics for full year 2017
- Number of business sales: 487
- Average sales price: $295,000
- Average annual revenue: $457,609
- Average cash flow: $122,253
The future looks positive for business sales as sellers will continue to get higher multiples and higher sales prices, while buyers will continue to have access to a higher number of quality businesses listed for sale. If you are thinking about exiting your business sometime in the near future please get in touch with us as we would enjoy the opportunity to learn more about you, your business, and discuss how we can help.
If you would like to read the entire Biz Buy Sell report, feel free to click on the following link. https://www.bizbuysell.com/news/media_insight.html
One of the Most Active Business Brokerage Firms in Florida VR Business Sales has been the leader in the business brokerage industry for over thirty-five years and consists of approximately 50 independently owned and operated offices worldwide. VR Business Sales located in Tampa/Apollo Beach was founded in 2012 and offers VR’s exceptional brokerage services to the Central Florida market. We represent a wide variety of business owners operating within a wide range of industry segments. Our office consistently ranks within the Top 10 offices in the VR network, and in 2016 we were the #3 office in commissions earned and had the #1 office owner and #3 sales associate; and in 2017 we had the #10 officer owner. Call us at 813-260-3127 to arrange a meeting.”
