Premium Price for UK Companies

In M&A deals, small UK businesses are valued on average at a 15% premium to small French businesses; this is the key finding of the first comparitive study of SME valuations in France and the UK presented by Frenger International and Epsilon Corporate Finance Services, who specialise in European private company M&A deals.

The study sample was made up of 103 French and 162 British small businesses (with an equity value of between €1m and €80m) acquired between 2003 and the first quarter of 2005. These transactions were selected from 1,329 French and British SME deals referenced by Epsilon's partner firm Corpfin Worldwide, a leading M&A intelligence provider. The Epsilon research team analysed each deal in detail and systematically checked the target company accounts to ensure accurate and consistent historical multiple calculation (e.g. restatements for exceptional items and accounting specificities such as French "employee participation").

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