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Business Brokerage/M&A Market Pulse 3Q16 – Part 3 of 3

By Brandon Mack

The M&A Source and the International Business Brokers Association recently updated their survey results for the third quarter of 2016; the report included 278 respondents. For the final part, I will be breaking up the businesses by size and comparing the numbers to last quarter.

In the businesses surveyed sold under $500k, there has been a shift in the number of consumer goods and retail businesses sold: it increased from 10% in Q1 to 13% in Q2 to 22% in Q3. This is the only major change in Q3 when it comes to the type of industry for businesses sold under $500k.

For businesses sold between $500k to $1M, business services have become less common at 12% in Q3 compared to 17% in Q2. The number of construction and engineering businesses sold has increased from 10% to 14%. Information technology has become more popular increasing from 1% in Q2 to 8% in Q3.

In the highest bracket being observed, consumer goods and retail sold between $1M and $2M has increased from 5% in Q2 to 16% in Q3. Also, personal services have decreased from 15% in Q2 to 10% in Q3.

Manufacturing has decreased from 22% in Q2 down to 19% in Q3.

Overall, not many of the numbers have changed much. The most interesting sector that has changed is consumer goods and retail. In the lowest bracket, consumer goods and retail has increased 9%, and in the highest bracket consumer goods increased 11%.