skybluefred
New Member
The problem around the valuation of a business is that it's an art as much as a science - if you got 10 accountants to value a business you'd probably get at least 20 valuations and most of those would be ranges rather than figures!
Broadly speaking there are two fundamental ways of valuation.
The first is that you calculate the current value of the businesses future cash flows. This obviously involves predicting the future which (with the exception of Mystic Meg) is a pretty tricky business. You then have to decide at what rate you "discount" these future cash flows - as having a pound now is worth more than the promise of getting one in, say, 10 years.
The second is that you look at the net asset value of the company. This will generally be used when it produces a higher value than the first method, for example with a business that is making losses (so effectively has a negative value with the first method) but has a factory/building etc that could be sold to raise cash.
Or you get a bit of a mixture of the two methods e.g. the projections in method 1 might look a bit aggressive, but you get some comfort from the asset value backing in method 2.
So, lots of variables which bluntly come down to the fact that a deal only happens when the buyer and seller's valuations meet.
But ACL's only asset is a lease on the Ricoh which only has 40ish years left to run.