What's Your Company Worth?
By Deborah L. Douglas
The catalog value report card.
If you're thinking about the salability of your catalog company, the "report card" below is meant to help you assess your positioning.
But before you start answering the questions and calculating your grade, there are a few caveats to consider. In certain catalog industry corners, the norms of performance may be slightly unusual.
For example, in highly fashion-oriented catalogs, inventory turns are slightly more difficult to maintain, and some merchandise write-offs will, and even should, be normal to keep stocks clean and tight. Alternatively, some catalogers offer long-standing replacement items (e.g., classic car parts); for them, a deeper investment in inventory is necessary, even beneficial.
Nonetheless, I believe the following "report card" — which offers a grade next to each possible answer — will give you a general idea of what buyers may look for when doing an overall value assessment of your catalog company.
Click here to download The Catalog Value Report Card (PDF).
Deborah L. Douglas is the managing director of the Douglas Group, a St. Louis-based merger and acquisition firm that represents business owners in the sale of their companies. She can be contacted at (314) 991-5150, or by e-mail at ddouglas@douglasgroup.net.