Independent SME acquisition analysis
Considering buying a business?
Get an independent first view of the opportunity before committing further time, money or professional fees. Run the free DealReview assessment to identify the financial, commercial, operational and transaction factors that deserve closer attention.
Free · Around 5 minutes · Personalised report
- Assessment
- 31 diagnostic points
- Report
- A4 · 12–27 pages
- Cost
- Free, no account
DealReview
Preliminary Deal Assessment
Page 1 of 15
Target / opportunity
Specialist Manufacturer — South West
Turnover
£6.4m
EBITDA
£780k
Implied multiple
5.8x
Issues requiring validation
- Largest customer represents approximately 38% of revenue on rolling purchase orders.
- Two adjustments recur in each year presented and are not supported as non-recurring.
What DealReview assesses
Five dimensions that determine whether an SME acquisition holds together
Each dimension is examined through a set of weighted diagnostic questions. The output is not a verdict on the business — it is an indication of where further validation is required.
01
Financial Quality
Earnings reliability, cash conversion and information quality.
02
Valuation & Deal Economics
Price basis, benchmarking, forecast reliance and completion mechanics.
03
Commercial & Customer Risk
Concentration, revenue predictability, retention, margin durability and forward visibility.
04
Operational & Management Dependency
Owner reliance, management depth, key people, process resilience, premises and supplier dependency.
05
Transaction Readiness & Structure
Information access, corporate and regulatory position, funding, documentation and process.
Beyond the score
Material concerns are never averaged away
Weighted scoring sits alongside rule-based issue flags, so a single serious issue — customer concentration, owner dependency or unsupported earnings adjustments — is surfaced even where the overall picture looks reasonable.
What you receive
A preliminary analysis, not a scorecard result
The assessment produces a written analysis of your opportunity, followed by a report you can keep.
Overall assessment
A considered interpretation of your answers, classified against a four-point scale that describes the level of validation still required.
Category analysis
Scores and commentary across financial quality, valuation, commercial risk, operational dependency and transaction readiness.
Positive indicators
The factors that appear supportive, explained so they can be evidenced rather than assumed.
Issues requiring validation
The specific points created by your own answers, with the reasoning behind each one.
Material concerns
Raised only where the rules genuinely trigger them, and never hidden by a favourable aggregate score.
Questions for the seller
A tailored checklist drawn from your responses, ready to use in the next conversation.
Information request
The documents that would resolve the open points, listed in the order they matter.
Next-step guidance
What to do next given the position you are actually in, and when independent analysis becomes worthwhile.
Printable PDF report
A paginated A4 report suitable for your acquisition working papers, or to share with a lender or adviser.
How it works
Four stages, from first view to informed commitment
Assess
Work through the diagnostic questions. Answers save as you go, and you can move back and forward between sections without losing progress.
Understand
Receive a personalised analysis of your opportunity, with category results, positive indicators and the issues your answers raise.
Validate
Use the tailored seller questions and information request to test the assumptions behind the price before committing further.
Review further where appropriate
Where the opportunity warrants it, commission independent analysis of earnings quality, valuation and structure.
Why DealReview exists
There is a gap between finding a business and committing to full due diligence
Most buyers reach a point where an opportunity has become serious but the cost of full professional diligence is not yet justified. Accountants and lawyers work to a defined scope, and that scope usually begins once terms are agreed — by which time the price and structure are largely fixed.
The result is that the assumptions carrying the most risk are often the last to be examined. Earnings adjustments, customer concentration, owner dependency and completion mechanics are typically settled before anyone has tested whether they hold together.
DealReview exists to close that gap. It provides a structured, independent first view of an opportunity at the point where the buyer can still change the outcome — before fees are committed and before terms are agreed.
The assessment identifies where further validation is required. It does not tell you whether to buy a business, and it is not a substitute for professional advice.
Detailed Deal Review
Some opportunities require more than an automated assessment
Where a transaction is live, or the position is more developed, a Detailed Deal Review provides independent analysis of the earnings, valuation and structure — scoped to the transaction rather than sold as a package.
Scope and fee are agreed individually, based on the information available and the complexity of the transaction.
Typical scope
- Quality of earnings and EBITDA normalisation
- Valuation and multiple analysis
- Enterprise value to equity value bridge
- Cash-free / debt-free adjustments and normal working capital
- Funding structure, deferred consideration, earnouts and seller finance
- Management dependency and customer concentration
- Cash conversion, capital expenditure and lease position
- Sensitivity analysis on the assumptions carrying the most risk
- Issues to raise before heads of terms or the sale and purchase agreement
Case studies
Analytical examples
Three anonymised examples showing how the analysis changed the way a buyer approached the transaction.
Manufacturing
Customer concentration in a specialist manufacturer
Turnover around £6.4m · Pre-heads of terms
A buyer was close to agreeing a price on a specialist manufacturer. The earnings looked consistent and the multiple was within the range seen in the sector. The question was whether those earnings were as durable as the historic accounts suggested.
Read the case study →B2B services
Owner dependency in a business services company
Turnover around £2.1m · Heads of terms under negotiation
A profitable services business with strong repeat revenue was on the market. The numbers were clean and the buyer's main concern was the transition: almost every client relationship and most of the technical delivery sat with the founder.
Read the case study →Distribution
Earnings quality and a price gap in a distribution business
Turnover around £11m · Early discussions
A distribution business was offered at a multiple well above the level typically seen for the sector. The seller's case rested on adjusted earnings that included several add-backs the buyer could not immediately reconcile to the accounts.
Read the case study →About
Ased Iqbal
DealReview was created by Ased Iqbal, who works with SME buyers on the analysis, valuation and structuring of acquisition opportunities.
His work covers the review of acquisition opportunities from the buyer's perspective: normalising earnings, testing valuation and structure, examining concentration and dependency risk, and identifying the issues that should be raised before heads of terms. He works alongside owners, advisers and management teams through the transaction process.
Relevant experience
- SME acquisitions and acquisition analysis
- Financial analysis, earnings normalisation and valuation
- Transaction structuring and completion mechanics
- Operating and managing SME businesses
- Reviewing opportunities alongside owners, advisers and management teams
Insights
Notes on acquisition analysis
How to evaluate a business before you buy
A structured approach to assessing an SME acquisition: what to examine first, which figures to test, and where the real risks usually sit.
04 Mar 2026 · 8 min
Deal killers: what to watch before you commit
The issues that most often stop SME transactions or erode value after completion, and how to identify them early enough to act.
18 Feb 2026 · 7 min
Understanding deal structures: earnouts, deferrals and more
How payment mechanics work in SME transactions, and how structure can protect a buyer where the assumptions behind the price are not yet proven.
27 Jan 2026 · 8 min
Free Deal Assessment
An independent first view of the opportunity
Around five minutes, no account required, and a personalised report you can keep in your acquisition working papers.
Free · Around 5 minutes · Personalised report