"What is my company worth?" rarely has a single answer. Value is not a fact waiting to be looked up; it is a range that shifts with the method used, the buyer at the table, and the purpose of the exercise. Understanding why is the first step to defending your number.
Practitioners typically triangulate across three approaches rather than relying on one.
Discounted cash flow (DCF). Projects the business's future free cash flows and discounts them to today at a rate reflecting their risk (the WACC). It is the most fundamental method, but also the most sensitive to assumptions — small changes in growth or discount rate move the answer materially.
Comparable companies. Applies valuation multiples (such as EV/EBITDA or EV/Revenue) observed across similar listed companies to your figures. Quick and market-grounded, but truly comparable peers can be hard to find for a private business.
Precedent transactions. Looks at the multiples paid in actual acquisitions of similar businesses. This captures what buyers have really paid — often including a control premium — though deals are infrequent and disclosure is patchy.
Most of these methods produce an enterprise value — the value of the business operations. To get to equity value (what shareholders actually receive), you bridge across net debt: subtract debt, add cash, and adjust for items such as minority interests. A business with a healthy enterprise value but heavy debt can deliver far less to its owners than the headline suggests.
Beyond the maths, value is driven by the quality of the earnings: growth rate, margins, how recurring and predictable revenue is, customer concentration, the strength of the management team, and how clean and well-documented the financials are. Two businesses with identical EBITDA can be worth very different amounts if one has long-term contracted revenue and the other depends on a single customer.
A strategic buyer who can extract synergies may pay more than a purely financial buyer. And the purpose changes the standard required: a valuation to raise capital, to sell, to settle a dispute, or for internal planning each calls for a different level of rigour and independence. The same company, valued for two different reasons, can legitimately carry two different numbers.
Get an instant indicative assessment from the IMAS Advisor — with financial and legal/structuring flags — or book a 20-minute consultation.
Related service: Modelling & Valuation →