Valuation policy
Which figure is the headline, what it is measured against, which published principles the engine follows today, and who reviews a report. Every count on this page is read from our records when you open it.
- What the engine produces and which figure is the headline
- A full valuation runs up to four methods: EBITDA multiple, revenue multiple, discounted cash flow and asset based. Each is shown with its own figure and its own role.
- The EBITDA multiple sets the headline range, or the revenue multiple when adjusted EBITDA is not positive. Discounted cash flow and net asset value are shown beside it as cross checks where your inputs allow. Nothing is blended or weighted together.
- The methods are not averaged or weighted together. One method produces the headline figure and the others are shown beside it so you can see whether they agree with it.
- When adjusted EBITDA is not positive, the report carries this sentence beside the figure:
- Adjusted EBITDA is not positive for this business, so the EBITDA multiple and the discounted cash flow cannot be applied to it. Neither of them contributed anything to the figure above.
- The second and third sentences are printed in every report and PDF. All three come from the same source file the reports read, so this page cannot say one thing about the method and a report another. Each report also names the method that produced its own headline.
- What every multiple is measured against, and at what tier
- Every figure we show is held as an observation with a named source, a date and one of three tiers: verified transaction, published by a third party, or MANDA estimate. The counts below are the current observations by tier.
- Argos Mid-Market Index, the published anchor
- Medium sized European businesses sold for about 8.6× their profit in Q1 2026, according to the Argos Mid-Market Index, which tracks completed sales and is published by Argos Wityu.
- The index only covers businesses inside the eurozone that are not listed on a stock exchange, worth between 15 million and 500 million euros, where the buyer took control rather than a minority stake. Each figure is a rolling median over six months.
- Three industries are left out of the index entirely: financial services, real estate, and high technology. Argos does not collect them, so any figure we show for those industries is ours alone and is not supported by this source.
- Argos publishes one figure covering all industries together. It does not publish a separate figure for any single industry, so every per industry number on this platform is our own estimate worked out from that one figure, not something Argos published.
- Listed company multiples from Aswath Damodaran, NYU Stern
- We hold the published European listed company EV to EBITDA figure for each industry group exactly as published, and beside it a second figure that MANDA has reduced for the size and liquidity of a private business. The reduction is MANDA's own choice. It is not published by Damodaran, it is not derived from transaction evidence, and every adjusted figure says so on its face. The published rows are held at the third party tier and the adjusted rows at the estimate tier, because once we change a number it is no longer what the publisher printed.
- The same publisher's country risk premiums are used in the discount rate of the discounted cash flow cross check, as published and without adjustment.
- MANDA's own estimates
- Where we show a figure for a single industry, it is our own estimate worked out from the one figure Argos publishes. It is labelled as an estimate wherever it appears, and it is never described as published or verified.
- Registry benchmarks from filed accounts
- Sector medians and quartiles are computed from annual accounts filed with the public company register. The filed figures are held as the register published them. The medians and quartiles we compute from them are our own calculations and are labelled as estimates. A figure is published for a sector only when at least five companies stand behind it. Below that floor, no figure is shown.
- Verified transactions
- A verified transaction is a completed sale whose price and terms we have checked ourselves. Whether we hold any is read from our records each time this page opens, so the sentence below changes the day the first one is verified.
- Standards alignment
- The reference we work from for private company fair value practice is the International Private Equity and Venture Capital Valuation Guidelines, 2025 edition, published by the IPEV Board on 11 December 2025.
- The IPEV Board publishes guidelines. It does not certify, audit or endorse anyone who uses them. We do not claim compliance with the guidelines and we do not claim any endorsement.
- Principles the engine follows today
- Documented technique selection. The rule for which method sets the headline is written down and quoted in full at the top of this page, and every report names the method that produced its headline.
- Calibration to a disclosed anchor. Every multiple is measured against the Argos Mid-Market Index, a published index with its scope and exclusions stated, or against a publisher named on the figure.
- Discounts stated rather than silent. Where we reduce a published figure for size and liquidity, the reduction, its size and the fact that it is our own choice are written on the figure.
- Disclosure of software and AI in the process. Every report states that it is an AI assisted estimate produced by the platform's valuation engine, and the caveat below appears wherever a figure does.
- Principles the engine does not follow yet
- Calibration to a company's own last transaction. The guidelines expect a valuer to calibrate to the price of the most recent transaction in the company itself where one exists. The valuation form does not ask for a company's own prior transaction price and we hold no verified transaction, so no report is calibrated this way today.
- Human review
- This is what the platform does today, stated as it is implemented and not as intended.
- The report page and the PDF do not show a reviewer's name. They show the report identity, the date and the caveat below.
- The free instant valuation from three inputs is not reviewed by a person.
- What the number is and is not
- A valuation generated from the business data form is stored and shown to the owner the moment the engine finishes. No person reviews it before the owner sees it, and no reviewer is recorded against it. The owner's dashboard marks it as not reviewed by a person.
- A review queue exists. A valuation that enters it is marked as under review until a reviewer approves it. On approval the reviewer's account and the date of the review are recorded and the dashboard shows that date. The business data form does not send valuations into that queue today, so this path is not the one an owner's valuation takes.
- A named human reviewer on every client facing report is the standard we are working towards. It is not what the platform does today, and this page will change when it does.
- The AI valuation is an indicative estimate, not a formal appraisal or a guaranteed sale price. MANDA uses it as a starting point for the advisory conversation. Final pricing is determined through due diligence, buyer demand, and negotiation.
- Our outputs are not a formal appraisal or fairness opinion, and are not investment, legal, tax, or accounting advice.
- The instant benchmark gives you an indicative value range in under 60 seconds, measured against completed sales of medium sized European businesses. The full valuation takes about 5 minutes, uses your own financials and shows up to four methods. Both are free. Both are indicative estimates, not a formal appraisal.
- The one success fee we intend to charge applies only when a deal closes. Provisional. No engagement letter has been drafted yet, so this is how we intend to charge rather than terms you can hold us to.
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