Business Valuation Calculator: EBITDA Multiple and DCF
Business valuation calculator for owners: EBITDA at mid-market multiples from the Argos Index, net debt to equity value, and a five-year cash flow check.
- Service
The calculator
01 Earnings
02 Debt and cash
03 EBITDA multiples
The defaults are the Argos Index for Q2 2026: the median paid for unlisted euro-area companies worth EUR 15M to 500M, by strategic buyers, by all buyers and by private equity funds. Type your own comparables over them.
04 Cash flow cross-check
Five years of free cash flow and a terminal value, discounted. The four sliders are your assumptions.
- Equity value
- n/a
- Enterprise value
- n/a
- Equity, cash flow
- n/a
Equity value by method
| Method | Low | Mid | High |
|---|
The inputs the methods used
| Input | Value |
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How this was worked out
What this model assumes
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How to use spectup's Business Valuation Calculator
- 01Enter the earnings
EBITDA for the last twelve months, plus add-backs: costs a buyer will not carry. The figures filled in are an example company: overwrite them with yours.
- 02Settle debt and cash
Net debt is bank debt, shareholder loans and leases, less free cash. Switch to net cash when the cash is larger. It turns enterprise value into equity value.
- 03Check the multiples and the cash flows
Three EBITDA multiples, preset to the Argos Index medians for Q2 2026, and four sliders for the cash flow check: growth, cash conversion, discount rate and long-term growth.
How the business valuation calculator turns EBITDA into a range
An owner's first question in a sale is what the shares are worth once the debt is paid. This business valuation calculator answers it twice: EBITDA at three multiples less the net debt, and five years of discounted cash flow, with every number it uses printed beside the result.
Owners, CEOs and CFOs of companies with EBITDA in the millions use it before a sale, to see how to value a business the way a buyer does. When the sale goes ahead, spectup runs it as sell-side M&A advisory, for the seller only.
How does an EBITDA multiple value a business?
For a profitable business, buyers start from EBITDA. Enterprise value is EBITDA times a multiple: the price for the business before its debt and cash are settled. The EBITDA a buyer pays for is the reported figure plus add-backs, costs it will not carry, such as an owner paid above market or a one-off legal bill.
Those add-backs are argued line by line in a confidential information memorandum, the document buyers read before they bid.
The calculator's default multiples come from the Argos Index, which tracks the price of unlisted euro-area companies with an equity value of EUR 15M to 500M. Its second-quarter 2026 reading puts the median at 8.8x across all deals, 7.9x for strategic buyers and 10.2x for private equity funds.
Those are medians. In the same quarter 27% of deals priced below 7.0x, so one median is a point in a wide spread: type your own comparables over the defaults.
What moves a company off the median multiple?
Sector, size and growth move it, and so do three risks a buyer prices in:
- customer concentration;
- dependence on the owner;
- contracts that do not assign on a change of control.
Listed multiples run higher: US listed companies with positive EBITDA, financials excluded, traded at 16.95x EBITDA in January 2026 in Damodaran's NYU Stern data, close to twice the private mid-market median.
How does the business valuation calculator get from enterprise value to equity value?
The shareholders receive equity value: enterprise value less net debt, meaning bank debt, shareholder loans and leases, less free cash. Net cash is added instead.
On the calculator's example defaults, EUR 5M of EBITDA and EUR 10M of net debt:
At the Argos median of | Strategic buyers | All deals | Private equity funds |
|---|---|---|---|
Multiple | 7.9x | 8.8x | 10.2x |
Enterprise value | EUR 39.5M | EUR 44M | EUR 51M |
Less net debt | EUR 10M | EUR 10M | EUR 10M |
Equity value | EUR 29.5M | EUR 34M | EUR 41M |
The purchase agreement then defines net debt line by line and sets the working capital the business must leave behind, so the cash that reaches the shareholders moves again after the headline price is agreed.
The cash flow check in this business valuation calculator
| Step | Leads to |
|---|---|
| Free cash flow (EBITDA grown at g, times conversion) | Discounted; Terminal value |
| Discounted (each year brought back to today) | Enterprise value |
| Terminal value (year 5 grown once, divided by rate less g, brought back 5 years) | Enterprise value |
| Enterprise value (rate ± 1 point for the range) | Equity value |
| Equity value (less net debt) | end |
On the defaults (5% growth, 60% conversion, a 12% rate and 2% long-term growth) the five years of cash are worth EUR 12.4M today and the terminal value EUR 22.2M: an enterprise value of EUR 34.6M, 6.9x EBITDA, and an equity value of EUR 24.6M. One point either side of the discount rate gives an enterprise value of EUR 31.4M at 13% and EUR 38.5M at 11%.
| Step | Change | Running total |
|---|---|---|
| Cash, years 1 to 5 | EUR 12.4M | |
| Terminal value | +EUR 22.2M | EUR 34.6M |
| Enterprise value | EUR 34.6M | |
| Net debt | −EUR 10.0M | EUR 24.6M |
| Equity value | EUR 24.6M |
On these example assumptions the cash flows support less than the median multiple; put in your own growth, conversion and rate and the gap moves.
How spectup sets the range and the floor
spectup acts for the seller on companies with an enterprise value of EUR 10M and above. Before any work starts it agrees with the seller what is being sold, the range it goes to market at and the floor the seller walks from.
A figure from a business valuation calculator feeds that conversation, and the seller's own numbers and comparables settle it. Which kind of buyer to sell to is a separate choice, set out in how owners choose the buyer.
On a recent mandate, spectup took a healthcare business with no process running to a field of strategic acquirers, and one of them bought it; spectup acted for the seller and was paid by the seller. spectup has advised on $150M+ of M&A.
If the company does not sell, the seller has paid the monthly retainer and no transaction fee.
Questions readers ask about this calculator
What people search for alongside this calculator, answered.
01How do I calculate the valuation of my business?
Start from EBITDA for the last twelve months, add back costs a buyer will not carry, and multiply by the EBITDA multiple companies like yours have sold for: that is enterprise value. Take off net debt to reach what the shares are worth. Check it against a discounted cash flow of your own forecast, and treat the result as a range to test with buyers.
02Is a business worth 5 times profit?
5x EBITDA is below the market median. The Argos Index put the median for unlisted euro-area companies at 8.8x EBITDA in the second quarter of 2026, with 27% of deals under 7.0x. Net profit is smaller than EBITDA, so five times profit is a lower figure again.
03What is the difference between enterprise value and equity value?
Enterprise value is the price of the business itself. Equity value is what the shareholders receive: enterprise value less net debt, or plus net cash.
04When should an owner hire a sell-side M&A advisor?
Before the first buyer is contacted, while the range, the floor, the field of acquirers and the timetable can still be set. spectup acts for the seller on companies of EUR 10M enterprise value and above, for a monthly retainer and a transaction fee paid only when the sale closes.
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