Veterinary Practice Valuations
A veterinary practice valuation is only as good as the earnings figure underneath it. Most disputes about value are really disputes about what should be added back, what the owner should be paid, and what a buyer would have to spend to replace the current arrangements.
We prepare valuations for practice sales, partner buy-ins and buy-outs, share transfers, succession planning, matrimonial matters and shareholder disputes, and we set out our workings so the figure can be examined.
How Veterinary Practices Are Valued
The dominant method for a trading practice is a multiple of maintainable earnings, usually normalised EBITDA. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation are adjusted to show what the business would earn under normal ownership, and a multiple is applied to reflect risk, size, growth and buyer appetite.
The freehold, if the practice owns its premises, is valued separately by a surveyor. Confusing the two is one of the most common errors in owner estimates.
- Owner remuneration
- The largest single adjustment. A working owner paid below market rate inflates earnings, one paid above deflates them. The adjustment replaces actual pay with the cost of employing someone to do the same clinical and management work.
- One-off and non-trading items
- Legal costs on a dispute, a one-off equipment write-off, or personal expenses run through the business are stripped out. So are one-off gains.
- Property and rent
- Where premises are owned by the seller personally or by a pension scheme, a market rent is substituted so the trading business stands on its own.
- Sustainability of earnings
- A margin achieved by deferring equipment replacement or running a rota nobody could sustain is not maintainable, and a buyer will say so.
What Moves the Multiple
- Owner dependency
- A practice where the owner generates a large share of clinical income and holds the client relationships carries real transfer risk. This is the biggest single discount factor in the sector.
- Size and earnings quality
- Larger practices with stable multi-vet earnings attract more buyers, and more buyers means a stronger multiple.
- Team stability
- A full clinical rota with long-serving vets and nurses is worth considerably more than the same turnover delivered through locums.
- Recurring income
- A well-run pet health plan book with genuine penetration gives a buyer visibility of income, and visibility is what multiples pay for.
- Premises and lease
- A short lease with no security, or a site that constrains growth, weighs on value regardless of trading performance.
- Buyer type
- Corporate groups, regional consolidators and individual vets buying their first practice all price differently, and all price differently again for a group of sites than a single practice.
What You Receive
A written report setting out the adjusted earnings with every adjustment listed, the valuation range with the reasoning for the multiple, the sensitivities that would move it, and the specific factors in your practice that would raise or lower a buyer offer.
Where the valuation is for a partner buy-in or a share transfer, we also set out the tax consequences for both sides, because a headline figure that ignores tax helps nobody.
Common Mistakes
- Valuing on turnover
- A multiple of turnover is a rule of thumb from another era. Two practices with identical turnover and different cost structures are not worth the same, and no serious buyer prices that way.
- Forgetting that the owner has to be replaced
- If you personally bill a large share of clinical income and manage the practice, a buyer must fund a replacement. That cost comes off the earnings before the multiple is applied.
- Assuming the corporate offer sets the market
- An unsolicited approach is a starting position from one buyer type. It is not evidence of market value and it is rarely the best available outcome.
Last reviewed 3 August 2026. [REVIEWER DETAILS REQUIRED BEFORE PUBLICATION]
Frequently Asked Questions
What multiple do veterinary practices sell for?
Is a valuation the same as an offer?
How long does a valuation take?
Can you value a share of a practice rather than the whole thing?
Will the valuation be accepted by a bank or the other side?
We need a valuation for a divorce or a dispute. Can you do that?
Request a Veterinary Practice Valuation Discussion
Whether a transaction is imminent or three years away, an early conversation about value usually changes what you do in the meantime.