As late as January to February 2022, all the signals were pointing to "corona madness" and the fear and uncertainty that was being conveyed to the population about health policy issues was of course reflected in the reluctance on the transaction market.
At the beginning of March, the first slight easing could be noticed, which in turn had a positive effect on the M&A market. This trend continued into the summer, despite the start of the Ukraine conflict.
Of course, it must be noted that all companies that had business contacts with Russia were no longer in demand on the market or that these companies tried to replace the Russian business with something else. Others have severely scaled back this business or are in the process of doing so. With less sales and earnings, there is also a decline in company values, which in some cases was significant and even made it impossible to sell. As I said, this of course only applies to specific sectors, but it shows how volatile the market is.
On the other hand, the market for company sales related to energy supply and sustainability has surged. This also applies selectively to organic companies, provided that they are not too dependent on personnel costs.
But even for these small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) we do not see any huge increases in company value on the market. For such companies, it tends to move in the direction of the upper value range of a normal company valuation.
It should not be forgotten that from autumn 2022 our government has made it clear that it also wants to massively reduce dependence on China. We are not yet seeing any losses in the value of goodwill for companies with relationship to China, but this will certainly only be a matter of time.
If you want to sell your company, you should do so yesterday rather than today, because new messages can be expected in these turbulent times at any time in the near future.
In conclusion, it can be said: “Time is money and life punishes those who wait too long.” Professional preparation and professional M&A management when selling a company is therefore indispensable.
PS ... this also applies to company acquisitions, because experience shows that companies are not sold at all if the prices offered are too low.
The management
Rolf Popp Pro Consult GmbH
Your Business Broker, Deal-Maker and SME specialist