Research
Valuo Business Value Monitor
A research programme on what Australian private businesses actually sell for. The method is published first; numbers follow only when licensed data supports them.
- Written for
- Business journalists, accountants, brokers and industry associations.
- Answers
- What does properly sourced transaction evidence say about the value of Australian private businesses?
No findings published yet. The Monitor publishes figures only when the underlying data is licensed for publication and meets the standards below. Until then this page sets out the method, so that it can be examined before any number appears.
What the Monitor is for
Australian business owners, advisers and journalists are often given numbers about what businesses sell for: rules of thumb, asking prices, broker estimates and valuation conclusions. These are different kinds of evidence and are routinely mixed together. The Monitor's aim is a properly sourced, repeatable view of what private Australian businesses actually sell for, with the definitions and limits stated.
Evidence standards
| Evidence type | What it shows | How the Monitor treats it |
|---|---|---|
| Completed transactions | A price a buyer actually paid, on stated terms | The core dataset. Reported only with sample size, date range and earnings definition. |
| Asking prices | What sellers advertised | Reported separately, if at all, and never labelled as sale prices. |
| Valuation opinions | Valuers' conclusions, including Valuo's | Never reported as transaction evidence. Valuo's own conclusions are excluded from transaction statistics. |
| Listed company deals | Acquisitions disclosed to the ASX | Used only where consideration and earnings are disclosed; usually larger businesses, flagged as such. |
| Context series | Official statistics (business counts, interest rates) | Background only. Never used to imply a price or multiple. |
Definitions that must match
Multiples are only comparable when they are built the same way. Each transaction record must state the following, and records that cannot be aligned are excluded rather than adjusted by guesswork.
| Field | Definition |
|---|---|
| Evidence type | Completed transaction, asking price, valuation opinion or listed-company deal. |
| Sale date | Settlement (completion) month. For listed-company acquisitions, completion date per announcement. |
| State | State or territory where the business mainly operates. |
| ANZSIC code | ANZSIC 2006 (Revision 2.0) code at most detailed level available (class 4-digit preferred). |
| Revenue band | Turnover band excluding GST. |
| Earnings (AUD) | The earnings figure the multiple is built on, excluding GST. |
| Earnings period | The financial year or trailing 12 months the earnings relate to, and whether actual or forecast. |
| Earnings measure | Which earnings measure the earnings figure is (EBITDA, EBIT, owner earnings). |
| Earnings definition text | Source's own written definition of the measure, verbatim or summarised. |
| Earnings normalised | Whether earnings were adjusted for one-off or owner items, and by whom. |
| Working owners (number) | Number of working owners whose labour is not costed in earnings (relevant to SDE). |
| Sale price (AUD) | Headline total consideration agreed, excluding GST, before adjustments. |
| Price includes stock | Whether the sale price includes trading stock. |
| Freehold included | Whether freehold property was included. Records that include freehold are excluded from core multiples. |
| Working capital basis | Treatment of cash, debt and working capital. |
| Deal structure | Legal form of the sale. |
| Interest acquired (%) | Percentage of the business or equity acquired. |
| Deferred consideration (AUD) | Deferred or instalment consideration amount. |
| Earnout (AUD) | Contingent or earn-out consideration amount (maximum, if stated). |
| Vendor finance | Whether the vendor financed part of the price. |
| Verification | How the sale facts were verified. |
| Publication consent | Basis on which the record may be included in published aggregates. |
Reporting rules
- No statistic is published for a group with fewer than 10 completed transactions, and no group is reported in a way that could identify a business or a party. The minimum of 10 protects privacy. It is not a test of statistical reliability, which is shown separately through the sample size and range reported with each figure.
- Medians and interquartile ranges, not averages, because small samples are skewed by a few large deals.
- Multiples built on different earnings definitions (EBITDA, EBIT, owner earnings) are never combined. Asset sales and share sales are reported separately where the data allows.
- Every chart states its source, sample size, date range, geography, industry classification, business size band and earnings definition, and links to this methodology.
- Client information is used only with written publication authority and effective anonymisation, and never as transaction evidence unless it records an actual completed sale.
Data sources and licence status
Reviewed 14 November 2026. A source is used only for what its licence or terms permit.
| Source | Evidence type | What we may publish | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| ACCC Acquisitions Register (mandatory regime from 1 Jan 2026) | context series (notified acquisitions, no prices) | Counts of notified acquisitions by ANZSIC, month, determination, with attribution. Party-supplied documents may be third-party content. | usable now |
| ABS Counts of Australian Businesses, including Entries and Exits (CABEE) | context series | Republish, chart and derive with attribution. | usable now |
| ABS Business Indicators, Australia | context series | Republish, chart and derive with attribution. | usable now |
| ATO Small Business Benchmarks | context series | Republish and derive with attribution; no implied ATO endorsement. | usable now |
| RBA statistical tables (e.g. F1, F2, F5, D2, D14) | context series | Republish and chart with attribution under Section 5 terms. | usable now |
| Bsale (bsale.com.au) listings and Market Insights | asking price | Nothing may be copied, reproduced or republished without Bsale's prior written consent (terms s 1.4). Link only. | usable with licence |
| SEEK Business (seekbusiness.com.au) | asking price | Nothing without express authorisation. Database compilation and derivative works are expressly prohibited. | usable with licence |
| BusinessesForSale.com (Dynamis Ltd), Australian section | asking price | Nothing without prior written consent. | usable with licence |
| Business2Sell (business2sell.com.au) | asking price | Nothing for commercial purposes without prior written permission. | usable with licence |
| Australian Institute of Business Brokers (AIBB) | completed transaction (via Bizstats, see separate entry) | Nothing published to reuse. | usable with licence |
| Bizstats (AIBB business sales database) | completed transaction | Nothing: data may not be shared or republished. Any publication needs AIBB's agreement. | usable with licence |
| S&P Capital IQ (S&P Global Market Intelligence) | completed transaction | Only what the subscription Agreement permits; typically limited extracts with attribution, no redistribution of deal-level data. Needs a redistribution or publication clause negotiated. | usable with licence |
| Mergermarket (ION Analytics) | completed transaction | Nothing without a Subscription Agreement that allows publication. | usable with licence |
| PitchBook (Morningstar) | completed transaction | A public web Monitor would exceed the 500-recipient cap, so prior written consent is needed; a data-led Monitor may also be argued to be a competitive product. | usable with licence |
| IBISWorld Australia industry reports | context series | Nothing without written authorisation. | usable with licence |
| ASX company announcements (listed acquirers buying private businesses) | completed transaction | Not via asx.com.au without ASX written authority or an ASX Information Services licence. Alternative route needing legal sign-off: hand-collect facts (consideration, earnings, date) from the acquirer's own investor-relations copy of the announcement, cite each by name and date, and publish only Valuo-computed aggregates. | usable with licence |
| ASIC Company Dataset (data.gov.au) and ASIC publications | context series | Aggregate counts with attribution, subject to the licence shown on the data.gov.au dataset page. Licence to be confirmed before use. | usable with licence |
| Nexia Australia MM Index (quarterly M&A report) | completed transaction (aggregated, from S&P Capital IQ) | Cite and link with attribution in commentary; do not reproduce tables or charts without permission. | context only |
| Moore Australia APAC Mid-Market M&A Report | completed transaction (aggregated) | Cite and link with attribution; no reproduction of tables or charts without permission. | context only |
| Pitcher Partners Dealmakers 2026 and Business Radar | context series (deal counts, survey) | Cite and link with attribution; no reproduction without permission. | context only |
| KPMG Australia publications (e.g. M&A and valuation practice reports) | context series | Cite and link only. | context only |
| Deloitte Australia publications | context series | Cite and link only; commercial reuse not permitted. | context only |
| ACCC Public informal merger reviews register 2002-25 | context series | Counts and descriptions with attribution. | context only |
| Foreign investment quarterly reports (Treasury / FIRB) | context series | Charts and figures with attribution. | context only |
| BizBuySell and BizBuySell Insight Report | completed transaction (broker-reported) and asking price | Not publishable as Australian evidence (no Australian data). US figures could at most be cited by reference with a link, not reproduced as data. | not publishable |
| DealSonar | unknown | Unknown. | not publishable |
| Valuo / Oliver Group own valuation files | valuation opinion | Nothing until a written consent or authority framework exists and de-identification with minimum cell sizes is applied. Even then publish only as 'valuation opinions', never as sale prices or market evidence. | not publishable |
Contribute data
If your organisation holds completed-sale records (a broker group, an industry association, a marketplace or a lender) and could share them in aggregated, anonymised form, we would like to talk. We propose minimum group sizes, your review of any release before publication, and attribution on your terms. Email [email protected].
Publication schedule
The first release will follow once a licensed dataset meeting these standards is in hand. No date is promised. Changes to this methodology will be listed below with their dates.
Changes to this methodology
- 14 November 2026: methodology first published.
Cite or reuse this page
Valuo Insights team (2026). Valuo Business Value Monitor. Valuo. https://valuo.com.au/insights/research/business-value-monitor/ (updated 14 November 2026).
Quote short passages with attribution and a link to this page. Charts and tables created by Valuo may be republished unchanged with the credit "Source: Valuo (valuo.com.au)" and a link. Third-party sources keep their own terms. See the reuse terms.