Business valuations and multiples are a very complex area, with many intertwined factors combining to influence the final outcome of each assessment.
There is no ‘average multiple’ by industry. Some industries do have rules of thumb but these ‘rules’ are usually not backed by any financial reasoning and should certainly never be relied upon.
Determining the appropriate business valuation multiple is often the most difficult and contentious task in valuing a business. An easy way to determine the multiple would be to compare sales of businesses within the same industry. However, unlike listed companies, the sales prices of SME’s are not readily available.