This month’s brand value snapshot from Markables compares the brand valuations of 14 car rental businesses between 2006 and 2014 in six countries. The sample not only includes well-known international firms such as Dollar Thrifty, Europcar, National, and Alamo, but also small local businesses. The interquartile range analysis shows trademark royalty rates between 2% and 5% of revenues and trademark values between 10% and 30% of enterprise value, depending on the profitability of the business. Not surprisingly, these brand value multiples for car rentals are three times higher than for a peer group of equipment rentals (e.g., RSC and NationsRent), and 10 times higher than for a peer group of container rental businesses (e.g., Mobile Storage, Royal Wolf). This example of different subsegments within a business segment illustrates the importance of precise selection of comparable guideline cases. Different value driver and asset structures necessarily result in different comparables and multiples, even more so for intangible assets.

Markables has a database of over 6,500 trademark valuations published in financial reporting documents of listed companies from all over the world. The database reports value solely for the use of trademarks (not bundled with other rights).