A Carolinas machining company is valued on a multiple of adjusted EBITDA, not revenue. At $5M to $20M of enterprise value, the multiple is set by customer concentration, quality registration, equipment age, and whether the business runs without the owner.
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Adjusted EBITDA starts with reported profit and adds back items a new owner would not incur: an above-market or below-market owner salary, personal expenses run through the company, non-working family payroll, one-time costs, and rent paid to the owner's own property company at other than market rate. Every add-back has to be documented to survive a quality-of-earnings review. The multiple applied to that number moves with risk: a shop with a top customer under 20 percent of revenue, ISO or AS9100 registration, a plant manager in place, and a modern machine fleet sits at the top of the range for its size, while a shop with one dominant customer and an owner who does all the quoting sits well below it. Enterprise value also assumes a normal level of working capital is delivered at closing, which is negotiated separately and frequently changes the final wire.