How To Buy A Print Shop For Sale
When you are looking for great investments to improve your portfolio, you will probably look for the most obvious business opportunities, such as retail, property and financial companies. However, there are plenty of smaller and yet just as profitable industries out there, and many businesses for sale that you should look at within them. For example, you will probably not entertain the idea of purchasing a print shop business for sale, but if you did buy a print shop business then you could actually sit back and enjoy the profit with none of the hard work, as well as tap into one of the most profitable industries out there at the moment.
Profitability
The profitability of the average print shop business for sale is in excess of $25,000 per year under the right management, and that is one of the smaller companies out there. The large ones have the potential to earn much more! However, poor management may turn a loss rather than a profit so be aware that it is may not necessarily be the shop that is to blame for a lack of profit and poor cash flow. These are cheap little businesses that can be picked up for less than $100,000 but can make you the same amount in a couple of years.
When you want to buy a print shop business and are looking at the profitability of an individual business then hire an accountant with experience in turning losses into profits to have a look. He or she will be able to identify areas in the cash flow statements that cause unnecessary losses as well as comment on the profitability in line with the figures given. In many cases, the print shop businesses for sale can turn a profit with good management, but many actually have much potential for a great profit margin given a little expansion.
Factors To Consider
Always consider the assets of any print shop business for sale, including mail order and website availability. The cost of an individual print shop business for sale will be dramatically reduced if the business does not have either in their box of tricks. Whilst it would be preferable if they have one of the two on board, this can be implemented for a price lower than the amount that would be added onto the overall asking price if they were in place already.
You would also want to consider the contacts and customers on the books already, both of which should be included in any sale that was to go through. When you buy a print shop business, you will need those initial contacts in order to facilitate a smooth transition and a solid foundation for profitability. The raw materials used in print shop businesses for sale are very cheap but you will need those contacts in place for an initial profit to be made. It may also be sensible to procure the services of the existing owner, who will often also be the manager, for a few months and keep the existing staff on to ensure that the manager you choose to install when you buy a print shop business is fully trained as soon as possible.
Use Your Broker
If you are looking for a print shop for sale, be sure to employ a broker. It is a niche market that is in demand as a result of the amount of small and medium sized businesses that are cropping up all over the country. A broker will be able to find good businesses for you to look at and take you through the process from start to finish so you can buy a print shop business via a transaction that is as smooth as possible.
A broker will have good contacts and assess the print shop businesses for sale in terms of the accounts, worth and potential in an objective, no nonsense way! He or she can help you to find the perfect investment so listen to his or her advice and you will soon have another profitable business to add to your portfolio.
Do you want to buy a print shop? Search 100s of Printing Businesses for Sale and Printing Service Businesses for Sale at GlobalBX!
02/23/09 at 08:02 PM
As a current business broker and former print shop owner, I will give some strong advice to choose a broker that has experience in this industry.
02/11/11 at 01:02 AM
The printing industry has been overly saturated with print shops since the late 90’s. Basically, there wasn’t enough printing to go around for all of them to thrive. Some did thrive but most just got by or slowly dwindle down as the economy slowed, and this proved true in the last 36-48 months as I have seen many, many printing shops go out of business both locally and around the country. Mostly were small ones but quite a few larger ones, and many shops merged. What this has done and will continue to do for the next few years is balance out the number of print shops with the amount of available print work so that the ones who survived the recession will have greater chance to thrive and grow as the economy recovers by allowing all of the available printing to be split up between fewer printing companies. A good example of this is a printer I spoke with in the Minneanapolis area who made reference to their being 1/7 the number of print shops in his local area now as there was 5 years ago. This has also caused the printing industry to become saturated with excess good used printing equipment with few if any buyers, thus drastically dropping equipment values of printing presses, pre-press, bindery and other related machines. I upgraded my existing shop with machines over the last few years and paid pennies on the dollar for some very nice printing equipment that would have cost a fortune had I went out and bought brand new. Best example is a working CTP system I picked up for $50, yes $50! I estimated the value to be at least $5K maybe as much as $9K. Another one was a nice 2 color lever-less press that sold new in ’01 for $65K and I got it for $1000 cash, seen 5 like it on ebay and with price tags as much as $9.5K+.
As for buying an existing shop, look carefully at the customer lists. Make it a condition of the sale that you be able to make phone contact with the shops clients to see what the rate is of dead accounts. During the recession a lot of print shops b2b clients or other businesses have failed and you don’t want to over pay for a printing company that has a long customer list of businesses that no longer exist.
Also be prepared to renegotiate leases as commercial values have dropped much like the housing market. There is tons of commercial retail space sitting vacant and it may be a good financial move to relocate especially if it lowers overhead dramatically or offers a better location.