Think i'm gonna sell

[aplayer_uk]

ok i think i've made my mind up to sell my business and would appreciate some help.

background.

It's a poker business which runs both on and off-line, it's fairly new as only started officially in March 2006.

It hosts live games in the region for charities, clubs and good causes, also coroprate events.

the website has around 1000 members and growing.

The reason i have decided to sell is time!!

I don't have enough of it!

This is where i need help, i'm a sole trader and the turnover so far has been about £22000 with a profit of about £12000 since March.

However i have spent a lot of money on this before March and intotal have invested around £20,000 into it.

It's only really beginning and all the hard work is done so someone could just take over and run it as it is, or preferably make more of an effort than i have been able to and make a huge success of it.

As regard to asking porice how do i work this out?

With the potential it has especially the next year as the leader board starts again then which means a lot of revenue from on-line poker rooms.

Can ask a good price and explain the potential or just value on its performance to date?

perhaps its a niche market and the buyer will need to understand it and be a keen player themselves.

Assets are 10 tables = £500 each plus poker chips = £500, member list of 1000 local players= priceless :-)

Contacts and goodwill are included obviously and bookings can be made upto 12 months in advance for the buyer, i tend to leave them until a month before hand as they are very easy to come by for me.

This gives me the option to pick and choose more.

Any idea what i could sell it for, i am wanting a quick sale aswell as my last gear for 2006 is december and would preffer the new owner to take control for next year.

Any help, advice or insults welcome

Thanks

[squalid]

this is something i have pondered on..

somewhere i read that doug richard from dragons den said that the business valuation should be 10 x your income (- though i cant locate where i read it just now..)

which had me thinking as I wouldnt sell for less, but wonder whether a multiple of 10 is a bit too much ?

(ps i know that its not just on multiples and that there are other aspects)

[aplayer_uk]

Thanks for that,

I do personally think 10 x the income is way too expensive i would never pay £200,000 for something that makes £20,000 a year!

i always thought the turnover over a business in 1 year is what the asking price should be, but same as you i read that somewhere years ago and it kind of stuck in my mind.


It is really tricky for me to get a guide price on this as i said the potential is huge, if someone has more time than myself to run the business to its full potential they will do extremely well.

Makes me wonder why i don't take extra help on, but ive been there done that and just wasnt a quiet life :-)

[squalid]

okay, i found the bit re 10x and it goes that 'if public company 10x' and copied and pasted below.

i have never believed in 1 or two times income - more 5/6 at the very least. But - if i was offered 5/6 x tomorrow I wouldnt accept as the potential is worth so much more than that.

It would take an offer of at least 10x to make me even think about it - thats cause it is my full time work and I havent got enough imagination to think about doing anything else...

Copy and Paste Starts here -..................

Let's look at the numbers. First, how much do you really think their company's worth? Well. we've been told that they are asking for £200,000 for 15% interest in the business.

To determine the value of the business prior to the investment, known as the "pre-money" value, one asks what is the total worth if 15% is worth £200,000? The answer is £1.3m plus change. Then we must deduct the investment itself, which reduces the value to £1.1m and change. So are they worth £1.1m?

Well helpfully enough they've also told us that they produce a profit, presumably before tax, of £60,000 on revenues of £390,000 which translates into approximately 15% profit. A quite nice profit. Assuming that that includes the directors' salaries (which for some reason people exclude) then their net profit after tax would be approximately £40,000.

Well, if they are a public company then the most typical value is ten times their earnings which would value them around £400,000: about one third of the value they have placed on the business.

They, on the other hand, have valued their business at a whopping 27.5 price/earnings ratio. This is Google and eBay territory. No wonder Richard Farleigh was stunned.

Richard has valued their business at approximately £460,000 before the investment; much closer to typical valuations and from an investment point of view, where investors normally end up with at least one third of the business, a very reasonable investment offer.

[aplayer_uk]

Thanks for that very interesting.

I also agree that if i was to sell then what am i supposed to do for work and therefore money.

But from my point of view i'll always do something else and am currently doing other things which is why the lack of time to fully commit to this business.

I was also thinking of selling all my websites which are the same as the business i 1st mentioned except they need to be promoted from scratch, this is because i can't handle sitting infront of my pc day in day out, but suppose if it pays the bills then it's got to be done.

Thanks again

[aplayer_uk]

on the above subject would you think these were fair prices for websites and domains?

Again the ones that have content do need promotion and seo.

It works like this.

If say you used ladbrokes to hold the private games for members of the regional site you get in total either £100 or 25 to 35% revenue for then life of the player.

I preffer the £100 as the following year you cqan change to another poker room and start over again.

They do generate a lot of interest and players love the concept, getting them to join is fairly easy, a bit of radio or newspaper advertising works wonders.

Thanks again, any help appreciated.

Blackpoolpoker.com

Tables4poker.com £400
Cockneypoker.com £1200
Cockneypoker.co.uk goes with above
Cornishpoker.com £2000
Corishpoker.co.uk with above
Cdlt.co.uk (no idea)
Lancshirepoker.com £2500
Lancashirepoker.co.uk with above
Yorkshirepoker.com £2500
Yorkshirepoker.co.uk with above
Bustedstraight.co.uk £100
Foldempoker.co.uk £200
Holempokerroom.co.uk £150
Localpokerguide.co.uk £250
Northeastpoker.co.uk £400
Onlineteampoker.co.uk £500
Pokercounty.co.uk £200
Schoolsclosed.co.uk (no idea)
Scotlandpoker.co.uk £500
Scousepoker.com £200
Scousepoker.co.uk with above
Susexpoker.co.uk £200
Teampokerchampionship.co.uk £100
Teampokerchampionships.co.uk £100
Thegrinder.co.uk £200
Thepokerbiz.co.uk £100
Tournamentguide.co.uk £350
Ukpokermagazine.co.uk £500
Ukpokermagazine.com £500
Walespoker.com £500
Yourpokerbusiness.co.uk £250
Pokerteamchampionships.co.uk £100
Yourpokerclub.co.uk £500

Am i being optamistic?

Based on the revenue you can generate i think its more than cheap to be honest 25 players = £2500

All prices however may go up or down after any comments on here or an appraisal by an expert, have already had some offers on some of the above without trying...they contacted me !
thanks again

I really have no idea about website and domains so any advice here really is appreciated