Archive for the 'BizBen' Tag
July 2nd, 2009, 5:00 am by Jan Norman, small-business columnist
The sale of small, private Orange County businesses fell 48.9% in June, compared to a year earlier, according to BizBen, a web site that specializes in sales of California firms. It is a sign that financing is still difficult for potential buyers to get, and relatively few people are eager to be business owners as the recession enters its 18th month.
The continuing sales downturn is widespread:
 Source: BizBen For the first six months, the number of O.C. businesses that sold dropped 46% from the same period a year earlier.
The downward slide in closed transactions was nationwide, according to BizBuySell, a national businesses-for-sale web site, which doesn’t break out O.C. numbers. Business brokers nationwide reported to BizBuySell that second quarter sales dropped more than 50% compared to the same quarter in 2008. First quarter sales dropped 36%.
Based on BizBen data, O.C. sales of businesses dropped 39.4% in the second quarter and 52.9% in the first quarter.
“These numbers are not surprising as the economy continues to deter the consummation of business transactions at all levels,” said Mike Handelsman, general manager of BizBuySell.com. “There is no doubt that a large number of business transactions are not being closed simply due to the lack of available buyer capital and bank financing…Banks just aren’t willing to back business purchase transactions to the same level that they have in the past.”
The sales drop off in Orange County seems more related to the economy than to any seasonal trend. Until the recession, sales during the summer increased from April and May.
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June 1st, 2009, 5:00 am by Jan Norman, small-business columnist
For the 10th straight month, the number of Orange County businesses that sold in May was lower than the same month a year early, according to statistics from BizBen, a web site that specializes in California business sales.
Business sales also dropped in surrounding counties and statewide as people who want to buy or sell existing small to mid-sized private firms. Here are BizBen data for May:
 Source: BizBen However, for Orange County the downturn may be moderating. The number of businesses sold in May jumped 144% from April.
In fact, April appears to be an outlier because without it, monthly sales of Orange County busiensses have risen modestly each month:
- January, 80 businesses sold
- February, 92
- March, 123
- April, 87
- May, 212
BizBen owner Peter Siegel has noticed sellers being more realistic about pricing their businesses, showing greater willingness to do seller financing. Also lenders have showed a little more willingness to make loans for a business purchase.
He predicts continued volatility in the market in coming months before the upward trend is clear.
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Posted in: Economy • Finance • Meltdown • Reports • Top posts • BizBen • business sales | 4 Comments »
May 4th, 2009, 5:00 am by Jan Norman, small-business columnist
Just 87 Orange County small and mid-sized businesses sold in April, less than half the sales a year ago, according to data from BizBen.com, a web site that specializes in the sale of California companies.
Sales statewide and in Los Angeles and Riverside counties also declined, indicative of the continued recession and tight credit markets. However, more businesses in San Bernardino and San Diego were sold than a year earlier.
Here are BizBen’s sales statistics (click on the image for a larger view):
 Source: BizBen.com Orange County’s business sales were the lowest for April in at least five years. Here are the numbers:
- 2009 — 87
- 2008 — 176
- 2007 — 317
- 2006 — 277
- 2005 — 95
Local business sales also dropped 29.3% from March, reversing a two-month trend in which sales had increased from the previous month.
BizBen gets its numbers from county clerks, business brokers, Web site activity and a proprietary method to account for sales that don’t go through escrow.
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April 1st, 2009, 6:00 am by Jan Norman, small-business columnist
The sale of Orange County businesses rebounded in March, although transactions are still sharply down from a year ago, according to data from BizBen, a web site for California businesses for sale.
In March, 123 Orange County businesses sold, a 34% rise from February, but still down 52% from March 2008. This trend is true for Orange and the surrounding counties and California as a whole.(click on chart for a larger view):
 Source: Bizben Sales have been hampered by the recession and credit freeze with many buyers unable to get loans and less able to pull equity out of their homes to purchase businesses. The uptick in sales may be an early sign of recovery or just a continuation of erratic sales over the past year.
This chart shows the roller coaster ride of recent business sales:
 Source: Bizben But Peter Siegel of Bizben sees the March production as the thawing of the market.
“The banks are loosening up a bit, and owners are being much more realistic about carrying back notes on their business sales,” Siegel said. “Money was so easy to get for so long that it took brokers a long time to persuade sellers to do this.”
Also helpful, he says, are sellers more willing to lowering their asking prices and more people laid off off from corporate jobs taking the leap into business ownership.
Among business brokers, “there will always be WAMs — whiners and moaners — but a lot of brokers are more upbeat,” Siegel said. “They are changing their business practices. They are doing more creative marketing, more article writing, putting photos in their listings.
“They’re getting back into the saddle of basic marketing and it’s paying off.”
Siegel projects that business sales could fluctuate in the coming months but by the end of summer the general upward trend should be evident.
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Posted in: Economy • Top posts • BizBen • business sales | 3 Comments »
February 2nd, 2009, 6:07 am by Jan Norman, small-business columnist
Just 80 small and mid-sized Orange County businesses sold in January, down 60.4% from a year earlier, another indication of the area’s economic weakness and ongoing credit crunch.
BizBen, a businesses-for-sale web site that specializes in California, reports general weakness in sales statewide. Throughout California, 865 businesses sold in January, down 50% from a year earlier.
Here are comparisons of January business sales locally, statewide and in surrounding counties (click on image for larger view):
 Source: BizBen.com For Orange County, it was the slowest month for business sales since March of 2005. Throughout 2008, sales drifted lower and for the year overall sales were off 30% from 2007.
Would-be buyers face a two-prong problem.
- The spreading mortgage collapse and its impact on lenders has made capital loans difficult to get.
- Homes, the equity in which has been another traditional source of money to buy a business, are losing value. Click here for the latest on that. Even the Register’s housing guru Jon Lansner is placing no bets on when any turnaround might come.
You could say those are problems for would-be sellers too. Add to those the fact that consumer confidence is at an all-time low, according to Rasumssen Reports. Traditionally, when people have lost their jobs, a fair number buy or start a business, but with such low confidence, they’re not eager to plow any severance wages into a business trying to survive a recession.
And this recession is hitting all industries, so it’s not like construction companies aren’t selling but health firms are hot commodities.
Perhaps buyers and sellers are waiting to see if government economic stimulus efforts take hold. Stay tuned.
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Posted in: Meltdown • Mergers and Acquisitions • Reports • Top posts • BizBen • business sales | 3 Comments »
January 2nd, 2009, 6:00 am by Jan Norman, small-business columnist
The sale of businesses in Orange County declined by almost 30% in 2008, reflecting a tight credit market that made it difficult for would-be buyers to get loans.
In the past 12 months, 2,274 privately-owned businesses sold countywide, according to BizBen, a Web site specializing in California businesses for sale.
Statewide, 21,689 businesses sold, down 17.3% from 2007.
Most Orange County cities also experienced slower business sales. Here is BizBen’s breakdown by city (click on chart for a larger image):
Countywide sales actually picked up from November, which was the lowest activity since April 2005, according to BizBen. The 151 sales were up 54% from November, but still down 31% from a year earlier.
O.C. business sales throughout 2008 have seemed to follow the pattern housing sales set earlier. As long as home sellers insisted on high prices, buyers stayed away. As prices dropped, sales rose.
A national businesses-for-sale web site, BizBuySell, has reported that asking prices in Southern California (no, O.C. breakout) have gone up as sales dropped. Click here to read about it. Does the uptick in December sales foretell lower asking prices on BizBuySell’s fourth quarter report that will be released later?
BizBen gets its numbers from county clerks, business brokers, Web site activity and a proprietary method to account for sales that don’t go through escrow.
“Typically (business buyers and sellers) want to wrap things up before the end of the year,” said Peter Siegel, president of BizBen.
Serious sellers have had to finance their deals because loans are so difficult to get, he added. But many just sat on the sidelines and may try again after the new year.
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Posted in: Economy • Finance • Meltdown • Mergers and Acquisitions • Top posts • Aliso Viejo • BizBen • business sales | Post a Comment »
December 2nd, 2008, 5:30 am by Jan Norman, small-business columnist
Sales of Orange County businesses fell off the cliff in November, dropping 67% to 98 sales compared to 298 in November, 2007, according to BizBen, a web site specializing on California business sales.
It is the lowest number of sales in the county since April 2005 and the lowest November in at least five years, by Bizben records, which are compiled from county records plus proprietary information for businesses sold without an escrow.
Here are November sales for Orange and the surrounding counties:
Year-to-date, Orange County sales are down 29.2% and statewide sales are off 19%.
“Sales bounced in October after the Olympics and other distractions, but now everyone is waiting to see what will happen with the economy and many are taking the rest of the year off,” said Peter Siegel, owner of BizBen and 25-year veteran of the industry. The October sales were up from September but down from October 2007.
“Typically in the past when times were good, people wanted to wrap things up before the end of the year,” he added. “I’ve never seen it this bad.”
Several factors weigh heavily on business sales:
- Banks still lack liquidity and therefore are unable/unwilling to lend even with a guarantee from the U.S. Small Business Administration
- Buyers no longer have any equity in their homes to tap in order to buy a business, which was a common source of capital during the real estate boom
- Buyers’ stock portfolios, another source of money to buy a business, have collapsed with the stock markets.
“People are backing out of deals because they can’t get the money,” Siegel said. “The onus is on the sellers to take back a note to help finance the deal. It used to be they would take back a note worth 30% to 70% of the sale price.”
He expects December sales to be quiet and hopes sales will pick up again in January.
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November 21st, 2008, 5:30 am by Jan Norman, small-business columnist
Are you a bargain shopper? How about 20% off a real business?
 November and December are the slow season in what has been a down year for business sales. Yet sellers have resisted cutting their asking price. Consider:
In similar markets, department stores have big sales. So do car dealers and mattress retailers. Why not a business broker?
Seal Beach business broker Alan Lippincott, owner of BestSoCal Business, has persuaded dozens of his clients to cut the asking price for their businesses by at least 10% through the end of the year. Some are going as deep as 20% discount.
“The holidays are a slower time for business sales, and this year has been uneven for sales because of
 Alan Lippincott flucuations in the market,” Lippincott said. “Other industries have sales. So can we.”
He won’t release the names of any specific businesses because employees often are spooked by the idea that their company is being sold. But participants in his Big Blowout Sale include retailers, auto repair, printers and other services.
“We have started to promote our Big Blowout Sale through our internet ads,” he said.
“What’s hurting right now is the general lack of liquidity. Only a handful of banks are still doing SBA-guaranteed loans so they can cherrypick the best deals.”
Most business sales currently are half cash, half seller financed. Buyers can no longer tap equity in their homes to finance the purchase of a business, a popular choice a few years ago.
Although sellers have promised to cut their asking prices through the end of the year, chances are the transaction will take longer.
Typical used to be seven-and-a-half months, Lippincott said. Now it’s more like nine months.
More economy stories…
Posted in: Economy • Top posts • BizBen • BizBuySell • Economy • sale of businesses | 1 Comment »
November 3rd, 2008, 6:01 am by Jan Norman, small-business columnist
The sale of small- to mid-sized businesses in Orange County continued a year-long slide as the 216 sales was the lowest since 2004, according to BizBen, a web site specializing in California business sales.
While down a relatively modest 4.4% from October 2007, Orange County sales for the first 10 months of 2008 were 2,025, down 25%.
By comparison, sales statewide totaled18,665, down 16.2% January through October.
Here are BizBen’s October sales results: 
The sellers of small, private businesses continue to face challenges related to the credit crunch that prevents many buyers from qualifiying for loans and from the general economic downturn. Remember, October was a terrible month for the stock market and consumer and business owner confidence fell to new lows.
However, as the above chart shows, not every county is struggling like Orange and Riverside counties The October numbers for surrounding counties and California as a whole were up. However, sales in all but San Diego are still down significantly for the year:
- Los Angeles, - 28.5%
- Riverside, -48.8%
- San Bernardino, -8.8%
- San Diego, _ 60.7%
Here’s a few noteworthy twists in the O.C. business scene you may have missed …
Posted in: Economy • Reports • Top posts • BizBen • sale of businesses | Post a Comment »
August 7th, 2008, 12:00 pm by Jan Norman, small-business columnist
The sale of Orange County small businesses in July increased 5.4% both from a year ago and from June, according to statistics from BizBen, a Web site that tracks sales of small and mid-sized, privately owned businesses in California.
However, sales from January through July are still down almost 20% from the same period in 2007.
Here are BizBen numbers for July sales of Orange County businesses:
Statewide, July business sales declined almost 13% from a year earlier but managed an 8.6% increase from June.
As for counties adjacent to Orange County, here’s their July performance:
- Los Angeles, down 37.7% from 2007, up 17.3% from June
- Riverside, down 50.4% from 2007, up 40.5% from June
- San Bernardino, down 26.4% from 2007, down 6.9% from June
- San Diego, up 47.9 percent from 2007, down 20.1% from June.
Generally, it’s a tight market in which to sell a business. Many would-be buyers cannot pull equity from their homes to buy a business, a common source of capital for the past several years. And lenders generally have tightened their requirements, making it tougher to get business loans of all types.
However, it is possible the market is showing signs of firming up in some markets if the uptick from June continues.
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Posted in: Economy • Local companies • Reports • BizBen • business sales | 1 Comment »
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