John D. Wagner
John Wagner is a managing director at 1st West Mergers and Acquisitions, which offers a specialty practice in the LBM sector. To learn more, contact John at: j.wagner@1stWestMA.com, or visit www.1stwestma.com.
Never be the first to say the price
This is true whether someone is selling a pickup truck or multi-million-dollar lumber dealerships. The seller names a price, and it goes only down from there, never up.
Structure earnouts to the seller’s advantage
In most deals, the seller believes their company is worth more than the buyer wants to pay.
OPEX reductions may wipe out pandemic losses
The reduction of sales has seen a coincidental reduction in operating expenses (OPEX), as reduced operations demand less cash.
Take an acquirer’s view of your company
It's human nature to wonder how you stack up against competitors. Are you as profitable? How does your profit as a percent of sales revenues affect your company’s value?
When is a deal priced?
Most companies seek acquisition when they are on an upward trend, putting up numbers each month that are higher than the previous month.
Don’t let the COVID-19 pandemic devalue your LBM business upon sale
For LBM companies that are now in the process of seeking acquisition—indeed for almost every company—the COVID-19 pandemic has suppressed sales revenues and resulting EBITDA.
Beware of financial engineering
For successful, growing companies, there is simply no need to allow an acquirer to pay you with your own money.
Don’t let the COVID-19 pandemic devalue your LBM business upon sale
Here’s how to credit COVID-19 losses to earnings when selling your company.
Revenue is not profit
In each and every deal we do, potential acquirers will want to know the revenues, sure, because that will show the orders of magnitude of the EBITDA.
Do you get a check for inventory at closing?
I can't tell you how many company sellers wrongly calculate the dollar value of inventory when they are tallying up their company’s worth.