Business Resources
Tuesday
03Nov2009

Capital Gains Tax Changes

Capital Gains Tax rules are changingThe March Group, a private mergers and acquisitions firm specializing in the sale of middle-market companies, is advising business owners to sell their companies to do so before 2011, when capital gains taxes will take a steep rise.

Effective from January 1st, 2011, capital gains taxes on the sale of assets held longer than a year - and this includes a business - will increase from the current 15 percent rate to 20 percent for most taxpayers, according to the nonpartisan Tax Foundation.

Rates will go up because a key piece of legislation - the Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act of 2006 (TIPRA) - will expire at the end of 2010. TIPRA extended tax breaks that were granted in the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief and Reconciliation Act of 2003 (JGTRRA), which lowered capital gains taxes to 15 percent for higher income taxpayers through 2008.

Click to read more ...

Thursday
29Oct2009

Business Valuation - Young Companies

From Forbes: How to Value a Young Company

Say you're lucky enough to find a willing investor in your young company. At some point (sooner rather than later), the guy will want to know: "How much do I have to pay for a slice of the pie--and how big a slice can I get?"

Placing a valuation on young companies is a tricky, subjective game, but it's one small-business owners have to know how to play, especially when investment capital remains stubbornly scarce. Quote too low a figure, and you'll give away the store; shoot too high, and the investor may blanch at your grasp of the underlying economics of the business.

Here are three techniques, some broken into parts, to help you put a value on your company. Your best bet is an amalgam of all of them. When it comes to impressing investors, the more ways you can speak their language, the better.

Technique No. 1: Asset Valuation

Of all valuation approaches, the asset approach--placing dollar values on all the assets on a company's balance sheet and adding them up--is the most concrete.

Start with physical assets, including machinery, office furniture, computers, inventory, prototypes (and the cost to develop them). Young companies tend not to have much in the way of physical assets, but add up what you do have.

Read the full article at Forbes

Thursday
22Oct2009

How Much is my Business Worth?

The California Association of Business Brokers (CABB- a non profit trade organization) says if a small business owner is looking to sell their business but is waiting for the economy to turn around, use this time to start preparing. One of the most vital steps in this process is to understand what the business is worth.

Ron Hottes, president of CABB and of several Business Team Business Brokerages says that a business broker’s opinion of value can provide small business owners with an objective view of what a business is worth and is an important piece in determining the asking price. “A business broker’s opinion of value gives you a realistic starting point to work from and can give small business owners direction when determining the right time to sell.”

Click to read more ...

Thursday
15Oct2009

Selling a Military Defense Business

With the United States fighting two wars simultaneously and continuing to improve homeland security, defense-related products and services are in high demand. The U.S is the principal determinant of the current world trend, as its military expenditure now accounts for just under half of the world total (41.5 percent).

Says CEO/President of The March Group Bob Scarlata, "Based on the defense-related deals we have active right now, we are seeing significant and solid interest from defense-related buyers - both strategic and financial. Essentially, any company involved in any way with defense - either military or homeland defense - is hot property right now.”

Click to read more ...

Wednesday
14Oct2009

Business Sales Success Strategy

The March Group, a private mergers and acquisitions firm, has recently brokered the sale of healthcare busness Accurate Homecare. Here's the story of how the deal unfolded:

Amy Nelson was only 18 years old when she started a Minnesota-based home health care business. In describing the events that led up to it, Ms. Nelson said, “I had previously worked for two other home care agencies and saw what they were doing wrong and had a passion to fix it. Because I wasn’t the owner in those two agencies, I didn’t have the power to do that.”

Her original plan was to first get her nursing degree, but, she explained with a smile,”[Starting the agency] happened a little sooner than that.”

Click to read more ...