Posts by Hagen Rogers

M&A Readiness in 2023 – M&A Wire Video

One of the first questions business owners ask when contemplating a sale is one of timing. In this latest Watermark Wire video, Hagen Rogers shares how the readiness question can be answered by considering a framework of 8 attributes no matter the industry and stage of your company. Whether it is the right time to…
Fabricated Metal Products M&A Trends

Fabricated Metal Products M&A Trends

Watermark Advisors is pleased to present our 2022 Fabricated Metal Products M&A Trends Report. This $390 billion industry domestically is comprised of 15 diverse subindustries, which produce a wide variety of products: from razor blades to aluminum cans to guns and ammo manufacturing. Recently the industry has been affected most significantly by four trends: Fluctuations…
Machinery Manufacturing M&A Report

Machinery Manufacturing M&A Report

With the US technically now in a stagflation cycle, companies well positioned to navigate their industry’s trends should outperform the competition.  In the Machinery Manufacturing industry, many recent mergers and acquisitions have been pursued for the purpose of strengthening one’s strategy in light of 3 trends: Unpredictable fluctuations in demand A heightened domestic and international…
M&A and the Economy Part IV: Stagflation & Acquirers

M&A and the Economy Part IV: Stagflation & Acquirers

Over the last 50 years, there have been two identifiable periods of stagflation: 1973-1975 and 1978-1982. We have entered another period of stagflation, which means the US economy is faced with the dual headwinds of high inflation and slow economic growth. On July 13th, the Consumer Price Index was reported to be 9.1%, which is…
Food Sector M&A Trends

Food Sector M&A Trends

Watermark Advisors is pleased to present our 2022 Food Sector M&A Trends Report. At $870 billion in total market size, the US Food sector is comprised of 22 diverse subindustries.  With supply chain slowdowns and pricing pressures, among global concerns of new restrictive emission measures with regard to livestock, fertilizer, and other key inputs to…
Watermark Wire

The Ultimate Preparation Step for a M&A Sale

Section 1202 was enacted in 1993 and was meant to help encourage investment in small businesses. Put simply, Section 1202 allows individuals to avoid 100% of the federal capital gains tax incurred upon the sale of qualified small business stock (also known as QSBS), given the shareholder and business have met the (many) requirements that…
Consider- M-&-A in 2022

Is 2022 a Good Time to Consider M&A?

M&A Had a Banner Year in 2021 There is no question that 2021 was a year for the record books in the M&A marketplace. In the US, over 18,500 M&A transactions closed vs. 14,800 in 2020. After a dramatic drop in M&A volume in 1H’20 due to COVID-19 rearing its’ ugly head, the M&A market…
M&A Capital Gains

Watermark Wire: To What Degree Would a Capital Gains Hike Influence M&A?

The capital gains tax has been a topic of debate for many years, as both individuals and business owners must take these one-time taxes into account when exiting investments. Among other tax hikes currently proposed by the Biden Administration, the proposed Federal long-term capital gains hike under consideration for assets sold greater than $1MM is…

Sellers, Be Aware of M&A Advisors’ Biases

A fascinating mergers & acquisitions topic rarely written about is, how would a business owner know if the advice they are receiving from M&A bankers is biased. Does the advice favor the owner or the banker? From my experience, most business owners do bounce the decision to sell off family members, respected peers, professional advisors,…

How Will COVID-19 Influence M&A Valuations?

COVID-19 is impacting how practitioners value target companies for M&A purposes. How are valuation practices changing and what stays the same? Let’s take a look. Guideline Publicly Traded and M&A Transaction Comparables methods’ influence over a final valuation range should be reconsidered during this crisis. First, looking at the M&A Transactions method, Revenue and EBITDA…