Why Spence Valuation Group?

The Spence Valuation Group is a leading valuation firm that provides a wide range of valuation services to businesses, individuals, and lawyers. Founded in 2004 by Donald Spence, the firm has since grown to become a trusted and respected name in the valuation industry. In this blog post, we’ll explore the services offered by the … Continue reading »

Business Valuations

Business valuations are essential for business owners who want to buy or sell a company, secure funding, or bring on new investors. Business valuation is the process of determining the worth of a business using various methods, such as asset-based, income-based, and market-based approaches. In this blog post, we will explore business valuations in more … Continue reading »

Pre-Revenue Valuation Techniques

The more common valuation techniques used in practice today focus on the cash flows or earnings generated by a business; however, how does one value a business that doesn’t even have any sales yet, let alone positive cash flows? This is a frequently encountered issue when valuing start-up businesses who may have a great idea … Continue reading »

Valuation glossary

In a valuation report there may be some valuation-specific terms that you may not be familiar with if you have not previously reviewed a valuation report. Therefore, we thought it would be helpful to set out some of the key terms that you will likely encounter in a valuation report. “En Bloc” fair market value … Continue reading »

Why is the price paid for a business sometimes different than the value determined by a business valuation?

When we prepare valuation reports, we most often do so under the standard definition of Fair Market Value (FMV). The actual price paid for a business may differ from its FMV. A detailed analysis of the standard definition can illustrate why these differences may have arisen. The standard definition of FMV is set out below: … Continue reading »

Loss of “Business Income” Calculations

Over the years we have been hired to calculate losses of income suffered by businesses affected by events beyond their control. Some of the more common “unforeseen” events include: Owner/operator suffered injuries in a motor vehicle accident; The business had to move due to an expropriation of some or all of its premises; An event … Continue reading »

Forecasts – Reality vs. Fantasy

We generally request management forecasts to assist us in preparing a valuation of a business. The forecast helps us gain a better understanding of the expected trends of the business. For those businesses that are in start-up mode or going through some significant changes, we would ideally like to have a two or three year … Continue reading »

The Importance of Shareholders’ Agreements

If you are considering establishing, buying into, or bringing a new shareholder into, an incorporated business, we strongly suggest that you get a shareholders’ agreement at the outset of the relationship. Shareholders’ agreements, among other things, set out how key business decisions are to be made, define how the shares of the company are to … Continue reading »

What are Non-Operating Assets? How do they Affect Value?

From a business valuation perspective, non-operating assets (often referred to as “redundant” assets) are assets owned by a company, but not used in the day-to-day operations of the business. Common redundant assets include cash, marketable securities, loans receivable, unutilized equipment and vacant land. The identification of non-operating assets is an important step in the valuation … Continue reading »