Support Services

Our support services sector team combines an extensive range of experience across the consulting, recruitment, aviation, warehousing, transport, freight, rolling stock and ports industries. 

Members of our advisory team have worked in an operational, management or advisory capacity for a wide variety of companies in this broad sector, including:

The following 3 graphs will give private business owners a broad indication of the value of their business:

1. The Enterprise Value to EBITDA* multiples on which comparable listed companies are trading

At the end of H1 2021, the global, all market average Enterprise Value to EBITDA  multiple for listed Support Services companies was 15.9x.† This is an increase on the previous six months, when listed Support Services companies were trading on a multiple of 15.7x. Within the Support Services sector, trading multiples varied between 14.6x and 23.3x across the range of sub-sectors. Smaller businesses generally traded on lower multiples.
* EBITDA is Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortisation
† Note, the Enterprise Value to EBITDA multiples above are for listed businesses. By comparison privately owned businesses are generally valued at a discount. Listed company data was accurate at 05/07/2021.

2. The multiple of EBITDA paid by acquirers of comparable businesses

The average multiple† of EBITDA* paid globally in Support Services transactions has decreased over the past six months. It currently stands at 11.3x. Although this is lower than the multiple of 12.6x seen in H2 2020, the current multiple is in line with historic averages and is significantly higher compared to the multiple seen in H1 2020.

When reviewing these multiples we break out businesses in the range $5-150m, as they tend to have unique attributes which affect their valuation. The multiple for these lower mid-market transactions has seen a large reduction in the past six months, currently standing at 5.8x. This perhaps reflects the continuing uncertainty caused by Covid for lower mid-market businesses.
* EBITDA is Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortisation
†Note, the transaction multiples above are calculated from raw historic data. This typically understates profits and therefore valuations actually achieved are generally at lower multiples of “normalised” profits.

3. The volume of M&A transactions and acquisitions

In H1 2021, there were 3,329 transactions globally in the Support Services sector. This is an increase on the preceding six months, when there were 3,122 transactions. The number of transactions has remained fairly consistent over the last seven years and this stability in transaction volumes suggests there are still plenty of interested buyers in the market.

For further information as to how these valuations and statistics are computed, and their impact on your transaction, please contact us.