Every week we speak to owner-managers who've been "about to sell" for the past three years. There's always a reason. Results aren't quite where they need to be. A big contract has just been won and needs bedding in. The new machine comes online in Q3. A family member might yet want to take over. Interest rates should come down. The buyer pool will be stronger in 12 months. Taken individually, each reason sounds rational. Taken together, they form a pattern. And the pattern co

"The business did £850k EBITDA last year." That's how most seller conversations open. And in our experience, the number that ends up in a Sale and Purchase Agreement often looks very different from the number first quoted. It isn't that owners are being dishonest. It's that they've rarely looked at their own accounts through a buyer's eyes. Here's what trade and private equity buyers are actually doing when your accountant sends over three years of management information. 1.

On 6 April 2026, Business Asset Disposal Relief jumps from 14% to 18%. For anyone sitting on a qualifying £1m gain, that's an extra £40,000 gone. Not a rounding error. Not something to "look at after Easter." Forty grand, on the difference between completing a deal on the 5th of April and the 6th. And yet I'm still having conversations with owner-managers who think they've got time. A quick recap of how we got here. BADR used to be called Entrepreneurs' Relief. Back then, you