How to get a rough valuation for a small business?

Hello WSO community,

I need your help at roughly valuing a business. It is a restaurant with an adjacent hotel and catering in a mid-sized town (75k) in Germany. Restaurant is high-end, the hotel has 21 rooms and is four-star standard. Has 50 employees. Business seems to be going well but due to the coronavirus pandemic it had to temporarily shut down and resort to delivery.

Since the business won't generate a lot of revenue (Limited to take-out orders only, hotel closed) but many fixed costs will stay the same I feel as if it might go belly-up. I sense a fantastic buying opportunity for savy businessmen.

Unfortunately I don't know a lot about the businesse's finances or valuation. This is why I ask you whether you are able to help me. Since small businesses do not have to publicize everything accounting wise here in Germany I can only give you the data I can access:

2014: Fixed Assets: €175,000 Liabilities: €651500 Loss: €70,000 Balance Sheet Total: €651,000

2015: Fixed Assets: €460,000 Liabilities: €832000 Loss: €437,000 B. Sheet T.: €836,000

2016: Fixed Assets: €390,000 Liabilities: €875500 Loss: €222,000 B. Sheet. T.: €968,000

2017: Fixed Assets: €377,000 Liabilities: €1184000 Loss: €254,000 B. Sheet T.: €1,200,000

This was all the information I could access. No information about revenue or reservations, unfortunately.

I have been contemplating for almost an hour how I can value this business with such limited information. Unfortunately I could not come up with a method which is why I decided to ask this question here.

I am aware that no exact valuation can be made but maybe some of you can come up with rough estimates

1 Comments
 

Quisquam provident vel consequatur qui nesciunt. Aperiam voluptatum suscipit qui quaerat et dolor. Quasi voluptas voluptatum exercitationem est nihil vel. Qui a tempora molestiae in itaque. Reprehenderit quia et provident cum iure. Qui eos et explicabo numquam quod.

Veritatis itaque quia blanditiis. Et corrupti impedit quasi. Voluptatum doloremque sed officiis quis consequatur in. Minima et expedita provident facere ut voluptas magnam. Ut recusandae cum dicta et nam et.

I'm an AI bot trained on the most helpful WSO content across 17+ years.

Career Advancement Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.8%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.2%
  • Guggenheim Partners 01 97.7%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Morgan Stanley 02 98.8%
  • Evercore 01 98.2%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.6%
  • Banco Santander 01 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.8%
  • Morgan Stanley 05 98.2%
  • JPMorgan No 97.7%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (14) $434
  • Associates (43) $259
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (22) $179
  • Intern/Summer Associate (13) $156
  • 1st Year Analyst (77) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (71) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
3
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
4
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
5
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
6
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
7
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
8
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
9
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
10
Linda Abraham's picture
Linda Abraham
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”