There is a famous Aesop’s fable about a race between a tortoise and a hare. The race starts and the hare races ahead and soon leaves the tortoise far behind. Confident of winning, the hare takes a nap towards the end of the race and when he awakens, he finds that he has lost the race.
A valuation can be one of the most important tools in a business. It can help you with business strategy and planning, it can guide the decision to sell your practice and retirement planning. Somehow though, there is little understanding among vet practice owners surrounding:
For every good practice that Practice Sale Search has for sale in one of the state capitals, we have many buyers competing with each other to submit a winning bid…and yet…when the practice is located in a regional or rural centre, the demand often dwindles …
A popular exit plan for many vet practice owners is known as the Delayed Internal Sale.
When you ask someone about the variables involved in establishing the value of a veterinary practice, they will usually list the quantity and quality of the equipment, the turnover, the profit, the location, the size of the patient base and the demand for practices in the area. All of these factors (and more) are, of course, huge indicators of the expected price.
On August 6, 2018, the “Queen of Soul” Aretha Franklin died at aged 76, after a lengthy battle with cancer. Not married, Franklin left behind four sons, aged between 48 to 63, a long-term de facto partner, an estate worth about $80 million…and no will.
Despite the best of intentions, even once the framework of a practice sale is agreed, it is often still very hard to predict the exact date that a deal will settle. Even with the buyer and seller doing all that they can to prioritise and expedite the deal, a transaction can be at the mercy of the availability and circumstances of many other people’s lives, including:
In Greek mythology, the story of Icarus illustrates the folly of aiming too high. Facing imprisonment in Crete, Icarus was given wings made from feathers and wax, in order to help him escape. During the escape, Icarus ignored the warnings that came with the wings and flew too high in the sky. The higher he flew, the closer he got to the sun…which melted the wax holding the wings together. As a result, Icarus fell to his death.
The stakes are high in practice sale transactions. You are possibly selling a practice with clients of long standing, who you have nurtured for many years, or you are purchasing a practice which you hope will provide the best opportunity for you, so that you can enhance its potential and your income, in your own comfort zone.
For many contracted veterinarians, their planned path to ownership involves the buy-in or buy-out of the practice they are already working in. It should be the ideal buy-in scenario… They have effectively taken the practice for the equivalent of a test drive and know it inside-out, so the purchase involves far less risk than buying any other practice. They already know, hopefully get on with, and are accepted by clients and staff; they know the quality of the equipment, and there is a mutual respect with the vendor.