“There were no remarkable changes this year as compared to last,” says Adam Manson, BVR’s manager of financial research. Barring any atypical trends, such as the consolidation of automobile dealerships during the 1990s and the tech “bubble” of 2000-2001, the industry sectors that traditionally see the most business sales are the ones that have the most businesses. “There are a lot of restaurants,” Manson says, “so you will see many restaurant sales.” Sales from these top five business sectors helped add 1,637 transactions to the Pratt’s Stats database this year, bringing total transactions to 17,751.
Mean vs. Median? Notably, the current data reveal the differences between (1) pricing multiples in the various industries; and (2) the median and harmonic mean. “It’s interesting that many appraisers use median figures,” Manson says, “when, more often than not, the median may overstate the multiple.”