Business For Sale Toronto

Considering Business Brokerage Profession? Go to Toronto 2011 IBBA Canada Conference

2011-08-28T09:47:00.000-07:00

For the first time ever IBBA is organizing a conference in Toronto. More precisely IBBA Canada, which is the Canadian chapter of IBBA. I personally believe every individual interested in becoming a business broker or agent interested in selling businesses should go, especially if they live in Toronto GTA region.
The conference will take place in the Hilton Garden Inn Toronto Airport on Sept 14-17, 2011

3311 Caroga Drive,
Mississauga, Ontario

IBBA Canada is offering a discount for early birds if you register before August 31st 2011. you can check content and prices on their website.

I personally attended my first IBBA conference 3 years after I joined the business brokerage profession and I reaaly wished I had done so much earlier.

New Businesses for Sale in the Toronto Area

2011-05-05T19:56:00.000-07:00

Very few businesses have come to the market in the last few weeks. I am personally receiving an increasing number of calls from business owners interested in selling. Unfortunately a large number of these businesses are not ready yet to go to market.

Businesses that don't have a long track record of success are generally difficult to sell. I personally advice business buyers to verify the existence of proof of sustained profitability before seriously considering to buy a business. A relatively new business hasn't have the to prove that its business model is viable in the long term and as a result such a business is risky to buy.

I also receive a number of phone calls from new franchisees who are struggling financially and who see selling as a possible exit from their financial nightmare. Unfortunately most small business buyers are looking for a business as a job replacement not as a turn-around investment. Therefore selling is definitively not a common way out financial distress.

As a business broker in Toronto, I am very selective when choosing which businesses I want to take to market. In general a profitable business with growth prospects and a motivated seller with a legitimate reason for selling does sell in a reasonable time and at a fair price.
Below are some businesses I have listed recently and that I consider good opportunities to make a decent living for potential buyers.

Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Maintenance in Kitchener Ontario
Distribution of Synthetic Turf Business for sale in Mississauga
Ontario Health Care Private Career College Business for Sale
Manufacturing Lumber Products

The Greater Toronto Area (GTA) Business for Sale Market

2011-04-04T08:53:00.000-07:00

While maintaining a focus on the type of business you are looking to buy is certainly a key to making the right purchase, having a too narrow focus can prevent you from finding the right opportunity.

I am always impressed by business buyers in the GTA who know exactly what they want and are actively pursuing their entrepreneurial dreams. They clearly express that they do not want to build a business from scratch and that acquiring an already successful business is the way to go. They also recognize that they do not throw away their extensive industry experience and therefore they are looking to purchase a company in their industry of expertise.

Unfortunately, the Toronto Business for Sale marketplace is a relatively small market and certainly not a very liquid one. If you are looking for a specific business to buy and are not willing to increase your scope of search, it might take you several years to find such a business, and when you do, you might have to pay a huge premium simply because the seller wanted more than fair market value for his/her business.

I personally advise you to be reasonably flexible when deciding on the businesses to target especially if the Toronto geographic area is very important to you. If however you are willing to move to any place in North America then focusing on a narrow industry search becomes a paramount. I have seen buyers looking at any business in any location who could never make a decision on when to pull the trigger. Narrowing your focus on one industry or one geographic region is paramount but both at the same time is not realistic.

Popular Business for Sale Websites

2010-12-05T13:29:00.000-08:00

Business buyers searching the Internet for possible business opportunities will find a variety of websites specialized in the sale of businesses. Bellow are some of the most popular ones in North America:

Bizbuysell.com: This is one of the largest Internet platforms for selling companies on the Internet. It has currently over 45,000 active businesses. Buyers can access preliminary information about these businesses. Business sellers can list their businesses for monthly fees of between 69$ and $99 Business Brokers can also list up to 25 listings for a monthly subscription with a $49 monthly fee. Business Brokers are the principal providers of listings. This in turn offers a wider variety of business listings and increase the site popularity. This is a virtuous circle that most business for sale website owners try to reach. Bizbuysell.com has been very successful by adopting this strategy very early on and reaching a critical mass of business listings. This website has also been successful in signing strategic partnerships with large media providers such as The Wall street Journal, bizjournals and The New York Times offering unparalleled exposure for business sellers and Brokers. The website is currently ranked 12,800 in he word by Alexa (the most notorious website for ranking websites) only second to businessesforsale.com

Businessesforsale.com: This is the most popular website as per Alexa. This website had a strategy mainly focused on search engine optimization. Businessesforsale.com ranks #1 on Google on most terms related to buying, selling and brokering businesses. This website has currently over 54,000 active businesses for sale. This is also one of the most effective websites for business brokers. Just like Bizbuysell,, this website uses Business brokers as the main providers of business for sale listings.

Bizquest.com: One of the oldest websites especially targeted at middle market businesses. I personally had a very good experience finding buyers from this website. This website lost however some prominence in the last few years with the rise of Bizbuysell and Businessesforsale.com. It has been recently acquired by Bizbuysell.

Mergersnetwork.com: This company has a very different business model from the first three. This website is mainly focused on buyers. It charges buyers a monthly fee for getting access to detailed information about listings. Business brokers and sellers can list businesses for free but buyers can only access the information if they agree to pay. this is an interesting concept as it provides sellers and brokers with more qualified buyers who are serious enough to pay for their business search process.

In Canada, a variety of new websites have appeared in the last few years. Most of them start as free platforms and try to encourage business brokers to post all their businesses. When the website gets a decent size audience, it starts charging monthly fees to brokers and sellers. These websites include Businesssellcanada.com, Canadabizmart.com, Kazooga.com, canadianbusinessforsale.com, Canadianbusinessesforsale.com and others. Most these websites use Search engine optimization as their primary strategy to gain audience.

Blog for Business Brokers

2010-09-02T20:14:00.000-07:00

I have recently started a new blog for business broker describing the intricacies of the business brokerage profession. As a business broker in the city of Toronto, I have shared my different experiences selling small and middle market businesses with my fellow business brokers and people who are contemplating the business brokerage profession as a career opportunity.

While I believe that business brokerage is a great profession with a huge potential for high income and a very interesting work life, I do recognize that it is not for everybody. This profession requires tremendous patience and a lot of people skills. While knowledge of finance is certainly important especially for intermediaries working on middle market businesses (companies with values higher than $1M) it is not enough to make a good business broker. Brokers need to empathize with business buyers and sellers and help them to go through the emotional roller coaster of buying or selling a company.

Business brokerage is a very entrepreneurial profession requiring a tremendous energy level. Successful brokers have limitless drive and persistence that enable them to ride the large uncertainty involved in the deal making process.

Buying a Business is not Investment but a Job

2010-06-19T18:30:00.000-07:00

As a business broker in Toronto I receive a lot of inquiries from investors looking to purchase a small business as an investment. These investors include Lawyers, Doctors, Real Estate owners, busy corporate executives earning high salaries and others. Returns on the purchase of small businesses look much more attractive than almost any other available investments including stocks, bonds and real estate, and risk seems much smaller.

The underlying assumption most these investors make is that you can easily hire a manager to replace the current owner and the remaining profits after paying the manager salary is pure profit to the investor. This assumption has however many flaws:

Small business owners have the entrepreneurial drive that most managers lack. Most businesses require constant innovation and change to remain successful. Entrepreneur are good at reading market trends and adapt to change. Manager on the other side are very good at executing processes and streamlining the business, but are rarely good at introducing new product lines, understanding and adapting to customer changing needs, taking risks and trying new ideas etc.
Business owners work more hours than normal managers, so the cost of truly replacing the owners is almost always understated.
Owners wear many more hats at the same time than managers. They possess a variety of skill sets that are very difficult to find in one manager.
Business owners are much more motivated than managers because they are taking more risks. The extra effort put and attention to detail that are common to owners are rarely found in managers.
Finally, a large portion of the value of a small business is tight to the previous owner and is transferred to the buyer in the form of training in the transitional period. If this training is provided to a manager instead of a new owner, then the investor becomes dependent on the manager. If the manage leaves, most of the value is lost.

These are some of the reasons why replacing the previous owner with a manager doesn't work as anticipated. The consequences can be devastating to the investor:

Some customers leave because the manager is not providing the same quality of service as the previous owner operator.
The business is hardly profitable now that the investor has hired a few more people to replace one previous owner operator.
If the manager leaves, the business is in serious trouble.

Some investors however became very experienced at buying small businesses, making them profitable and then restructuring them in a way that they remain profitable even after being managed by managers. This is however the exception rather than the norm. These investors are very skilled at hiring the right people and putting in pace the right control processes.

The Booming Business for Sale Market in The Greater Toronto

2009-10-31T16:54:00.000-07:00

Just like the Real Estate market, the business for sale market seems to be booming these days in Toronto. As a business broker in Toronto I can feel that fewer business owners are currently selling their businesses while the number of business buyers has increased dramatically in the past few months and continues to increase.

On the one side, this rapid increase in demand for businesses for sale could be explained by the following reasons:

Business buyers have retrieved confidence in the economy thanks to the hope for economic recovery. Perspectives for the future seem much better than before and buying a business today is certainly a smart way to take advantage of this recovery.
Business valuations are currently relatively low both because of lower multiples and because of lower profits made by businesses in 2008 and 2009. Multiples will certainly increase if the recovery is confirmed as well as profits. Prices will increase as a result.
A large number of laid-off employees are seriously looking to business ownership as a an alternative to finding a new job.
The general growing trend of corporate outsourcing is becoming more prevalent so that traditional employment is been replaced by contract work. Buying a small business that fulfills this corporate need is an attractive alternative to traditional employment.

On the other side, the decrease in supply of businesses available for sale could be explained by the following reasons:

A large number of small business owners expected to sell their businesses and retire cannot do so because their retirement funds have taken a serious hit due to the recent declines in the stock market. These owners are postponing the sale of their business for some more few years until their retirement funds recover.
Business owners prefer to wait some more years until the economy fully recovers so they can sell their businesses at a much higher prices.

These are some of the reasons that explain the increased current demand and decreased supply of businesses for sale that will ultimately lead to and increase in the prices for small businesses.

New Businesses for Sale in Toronto

2009-07-19T12:08:00.001-07:00

We have recently added some new businesses available for sale. Please browse the links bellow for more information about these companies:

Middle Market Companies:

Food Manufacturing and Distribution in Mississauga: Sales of more that $8.2M and EBITDA around $600,000. The business is very well organized and in a high growth mode thanks to its superior products. Priced only $1.6M for the assets which include more than $1M in Stock and receivables. This is a unique opportunity in the food industry that should not be missed.

Business with Real Estate:

Banquet Hall and Convention Centre in the Hamilton, Ontario Area: Priced $4.49M. 32,000 s.f. State of the art banquet hall facility included in price. Very high growth business despite the recession thanks to the booming wedding market in Ontario. Huge renovations are been added.

Small Businesses for Sale:

Pet Grooming Business: Extremely profitable. A real gold mine. huge opportunity in the high growth pet grooming market. buyer need to be willing very hard to make a lot of money.

Information Technology Services: Priced only $150,000 with profits above $170,000 in 2008. real bargain for an IT experienced entrepreneurial buyer. Huge undeserved IT service market.

Commercial Kitchen Equipment Import Distribution and Servicing:This company has been very successful in importing high quality non-branded kitchen equipment and servicing it in the GTA West Area. Very profitable with huge growth prospects.

For other Business opportunities in Toronto GTA, please visit our business for sale website.

WHY BUY A BUSINESS IN TODAY’S MARKET?

2009-05-29T16:11:00.000-07:00

There is no doubt that the economic downturn has made many potential buyers reluctant to move forward to purchase a business. But in many ways, this is the best time. Because most people are nervous and unsure of what is happening, it is much less likely that new competition will open up until they are sure the recession is over. This means that someone buying an existing business, is unlikely to face competitive pressures for some time.

When the economy is growing and there is more good news than bad news, many people open a new business in competition with those that are successful, knowing that even if they get a small piece of the pie, the pie is getting bigger and bigger. There is much less risk involved when the economy is growing.

Even if there is new competition, it costs a lot of money to start a business and to market and get new customers to the point that it’s making money. It is probable that the new business will not be able to survive, as they are not only opening in a challenging market, but trying to grow the business. Also they are probably making many mistakes because they are new, and have to figure out what works and what doesn’t. As most business owners will attest to, there are many mistakes, most of them costly, in the first few years of opening their business.

Selling a Business in Toronto

2009-05-28T18:59:00.000-07:00

As a business broker in Toronto, I constantly receive phone calls and email form business owners looking into selling their businesses. Unfortunately, a large number of business owners have a misconception about the reasons why they should sell their Toronto businesses. There is a common belief that you only sell a business when you don't make money or when something is fundamentally wrong with the business. This can not be further from the truth.

The reality is that very few non profitable businesses actually sell. Most business buyers are simply looking for a job replacement, a way to make a living. A business with serious profitability problems can not help these potential buyers.

My advice to business owners looking to sell an unprofitable business is to explore other venues. Sometimes, some small actions can dramatically increase the business profits. Sometimes it's more realistic to simply shut the business down and sell the assets. Continuing to operate a money loosing business on the hope that a potential buyer will come is very naive.

In some rare circumstances, a larger business buyer can purchase the business and reduce its costs thanks to large economies of scale or scope from its current business. I recently sold a large manufacturer of promotional products who was loosing money. The buyer integrated it with its current business and was able to cut costs dramatically. The buyer also used the current clients and sold them other products.

In general terms businesses who are profitable and have a consistent track record of profits are in demand and generally sell in reasonable time. On the other hand, businesses with no track record or unprofitable businesses have very low chances of selling unless they are attractive to larger companies very active in the mergers and acquisitions market.

Become a Business Broker in Ontario

2009-05-25T21:06:00.000-07:00

In my recent post about business brokers regulations in Ontario, Canada, I outlined some regulations in the Real Estate and Business Brokers Act (REBBA 2002) requiring that business brokers (individuals or companies involved in the purchase and sale of businesses) be registered with RECO (Real Estate Council of Ontario).
In fact, Trading in Real Estate requires a registration with RECO and Real Estate includes business for sale in the meaning of REBBA 2002. There are however some exceptions to this requirement. For example, a lawyer acting on behalf of his client is exampt. Another exception is an individual licenced under OSC (Ontario Security Commission) who is involved in the purchase and sale of the shares of a company.

Some non registered "mergers and acquisitions" companies/individuals tried to exploit this loophole by getting licensed under OSC, which could be obtained after passing a written test and generally requires much less education/experience and is obtained in a shorter period. These companies/individuals frequently found themselves in breach of REBBA when a deal initially started as a share purchase turned out into an asset purchase and therefore required registration under REBBA. Most transactions see their structure (SHARES vs. ASSETS) change during the transaction depending on the change in the bargaining power between sellers and buyers and the tax benefits vs. legal and potential tax liabilities.

Furthermore, smaller transactions (value less than $1M) are generally asset transactions since doing a full investigation to determine potential liabilities is seen as too expensive and not worth the expenses given the size of these transactions. As a result, business brokers involved in the purchase and sale of small to medium size companies should generally get licensed under REBBA to practice their profession legally.

New Companies for sale in GTA

2009-04-08T17:08:00.000-07:00

We have added some very interesting businesses for sale to our website. We have noticed that business owners now understand that given the current economic conditions, they have to be realistic about their asking price if they are serious about selling their business.

We put a lot of efforts to evaluate businesses we list so that we increase the likelihood to sell them. Below are the businesses that we have listed recently:

High End Millwork Manufacturing: This is a cabinetry and woodworking company specialized in luxury work. The company also imports millwork related articles and sell them directly to builders and private clients. The company is profitable and has a large well organized facility.

Flower Stores for Sale on Sudbury: e successful flower shops in Sudbury and regions with state of the art computer programs and a high traffic ecommerce website.

Screen Printing on Clothing for the Promotional Industry: Long established company with a track record of profits and a large customer base of corporate clients and brand names. Very well prices. Almost a steel. Would be perfect with an entrepreneurial individual with good business acumen and good work ethics. Management experience is a must.

Business for Sale in the Greater Toronto Area

2009-03-21T11:29:00.000-07:00

We have created a new website for business for sale listings in the GTA. Business listings are ranked from the lower to the higher priced. A small summery describing the listings is on the right. The website also clarifies some myths about how to sell or buy a business in Toronto GTA.
While the website is a company website with the aim to attract potential business buyers and sellers to our business brokerage services, it also offers valuable advice to business sellers who want to sell their businesses on their own. Generally this is not a wise decision to make but in some special circumstances when the value of the business is too low, when the seller has a lot of time available to dedicate the the sale of his business and/or when confidentiality is not an issue when in the sale of a business.

Business buyers will also find valuable advice on the business purchase process. It is clearly explained that buying a business in a extremely complicated task that has to be taken very seriously to be successful. The odds are generally against business buyers since only one out of ten potential buyers end-up buying a business. reason for these unfavorable statistics include buyers lacking basic knowledge about the business purchase process, buyers not emotionally ready to buy, buyers with insufficient funds to finance the acquisition, the low number of business listings compared to the number of potential buyer etc.

Business For Sale Toronto, Ontario, Canada

2006-12-17T17:57:00.000-08:00

For More information about these businesses and other businesses for sale please visit our businesses for sale in Toronto website. Also, Our business for sale Blog provides information and tips about the business purchase and sale process.

Our Business and Real Estate for Sale in Toronto has a variety of houses and businesses for sale in Toronto and surrounding areas in Ontario.
You can also subscribe to our business for sale rss and you will be regularly updated on our business listings.

You can also check our latest businesses for sale by browsing the links below:

Business for Sale Mississauga- Electrical Contractor

Constructions Related Businesses for Sale
Metal Fabrication Coil Anodizing:
Precision Metal Fabricating and CNC Machining
Very Profitable Flower Shop in Pickering

Factoring and Financing Business for Sale in Toronto
Distribution of High-End Fashion Clothing

Daycare Business for Sale

H.V.A.C Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning
Mortgage Brokers Company

Mississauga Home Decor Distribution Business

Athletic Clothing Business for Sale
Small Machine Shop for Sale:

Retail garden Center in Brampton
Fast Food for Sale
Transportation Business

Middle Market:

Promotional Products Manufacturing: (currently under negotiation)Ontario, Promotional Products Manufacturing Company, specialized in Printed Pens. The company is a market leader with $9 Million annual sales Approx, including US exports. The company has more than 4000 distributors in North America. The company has been successfully operating for 17 years. It has built an excellent reputation for its products. It has developed reputable brand names and long lasting relationships with its distributors that would take years to develop. This is an excellent acquisition opportunity for companies who want to get into the promotional products industry in Canada and the US, or companies in the promotional products industry who want to expand to the printed pens segment. This acquisition offers tremendous opportunities for synergies in distribution, customer service and marketing.

Very Profitable Flooring Business For Sale: (obtained 3 excellent offers - now inactive)Asking $1,150,000. Toronto, Flooring, resurfacing, concrete floors. Very stable workforce. Excellent accounting records. Diversified and stable customer base. Contracts all over Toronto GTA. Excellent reputation for high quality work. Long established (45 years). High growth potential. Complete machinery and transportation equipment. Very motivated seller. Owner needs to retire. Stable profits approximately $500,000/year. Owner willing to stay for a period to train. Seller financing available for qualified buyers.

For an organized table of companies for sale in Ontario, comparing asking prices to annual sales and profits you can visit our business for sale web page.

Small Businesses:

$75,000. Money Making Shoe Store in Toronto Downtown. Located in a very busy corner. high traffic area. Sales are $26,000/month and growing. 50% profit margins.
Manufacturing business. Toronto East, Superior Quality Blinds Manufacturing and Painting. Only $60,000. Unique business in Canada. $225,000 sales.
Toronto, very profitable Metal Fabrication Contractor. Priced to sell $140,000. 22 years established. Large corporate reoccurring clients. 146355 Toronto, $180,000.
Very successful Machine Shop. 18 years established. Sales $311,000. Nets $108,000. $60,000 of Machinery. Diverse and established customers.
Barrie, $125,000 Very Successful Martial Arts School, 200 students, modern management, sales $245,000, nets $96,000.
East ctr Ontario. Very successful embroidery and promotional items business. Ask $325,000, seller financing available. Large and loyal corporate customer base. 146351 Ontario, 35 min north of Barrie.
Very Profitable, long established, Lawn Care and Recovery Company. Priced $240K. 145255 Residential and commercial moving business. Toronto, North York, Priced $70,000. Nets $80,000/year (as per Vendor).
About1h North East of Toronto, $395,000 business+ property. A must see store of upscale and popular niche home furnishing, accessories and gift ware.
Priced $100,000. 30 min North of Toronto, Table Saw Accessories Manufacturing. Prominent ecommerce web site and Growing Internet sales to the US Market. 144701 $299,90O, Oshawa,
Very profitable Franchised Restaurant. Nets $180,000/year. Priced to sell. Reoccurring Local corporate clients.
Toronto, East. Fine Jewelery (Jewelry) Manufacturing Business for sale $224,000.17 years established. 1550sf with complete installation and equipments.
Toronto, Scarborough. very Profitable furniture store. Niche market. $60.000 plus inventory (around $90,000). Long established. Sales $900,000. Profit $100,000.
Toronto, Manufacturing, Mill work, and Installation of store and restaurant interiors and fixtures. $200,000. Long established, stable customer base.
Toronto Downtown, profitable Pet Services Business, Owners to retire. Priced $75,000 + Stock. Very loyal customers, Excellent reputation. $300,000 sales.

Our Businesses for Sale in Toronto GTA

2006-08-28T08:32:00.000-07:00

Please follow these links for more information about our businesses for sale recently listed:
Construction Metal Fabrication Business for Sale: Very profitable and 40 years established business with well documented financial records. fabrication of metallic construction structures.

Snow Plowing and excavation Business for Sale: High growth business with long term snow plowing government contracts.

Custom Millwork Manufacturing Business for Sale: 50 Years established high end millwork manufacturing business with 37 employees including a management team.

health Food Store for Sale: Profitable and long established health food retail store in a very business street in Downtown Toronto.

Discount and Variety Store for Sale: Very business store in a high trafic area. Priced to sell. A lot of potential to increase sales and profits. Really great opportunbity.

Restaurant Business for Sale: Excellent location. Busy plaza on a main avenue. very long established. Wealthy and very loyal customers. Excellent opportunity.

Senior Clothing Business for Sale: Mobile retailer specialized in cloths for seniors in senior and retirement homes. Long established contracts with senior homes. Lifestyle business with plenty of time to relax or manage another business.

Promotional Items Manufacturing Business for Sale: Manufactures all kinds of promotional Products for advertisers and directly to business users. 10 years established. Good records of profits and sales.

Machine Shop Business for Sale: Well Established machine shop for sale with long established customer base. The business has a lot of potential for growth and is very profitable.

Belly Dancing Business for Sale: Extremely profitable and growing very fast. Owner needs to leave the country and must sell. Makes a lot of money in the rapidly growing belly dancing industry.

Extreme Pita Fast Food Business for Sale: