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A certified valuer will listen to your situation and answer any questions you may have, at no cost.
A digital studio off Crown Street, a content team in North Wollongong or a brand consultancy in Shellharbour: each is worth the net revenue left after media and production costs pass through, and how much of that renews without a fresh pitch.
A Wollongong marketing or creative agency is valued by reducing billings to net revenue, paying the founders a market salary and capitalising the maintainable earnings that remain. The rate depends on how much revenue is on retainer, how long clients have stayed, how much rests on the largest accounts, and whether clients deal with the agency's team or with one founder.
By the time an agency calls us, an ownership change is usually close. A founder of a branding studio plans to sell a stake to two senior staff. A performance marketing agency has received a term sheet from a national holding group. Two small studios in the CBD with complementary skills are weighing a merger and want a fair split. A founder is separating, and the agency must be valued at a fixed date for the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia. Or the business is moving into a new company and the ATO will expect a market value behind the transfer.
Offers from consolidators deserve a careful read. Many pay part of the price at completion and hold back the remainder as an earn-out tied to future results, which leaves much of the risk with the founder after the sale. A value grounded in the agency's own figures helps you judge whether the offer is a genuine sale or something closer to a deferred employment contract.
A certified valuer will listen to your situation and answer any questions you may have, at no cost.
The Income Approach comes first. A buyer is taking over client relationships that bring in fees month after month, so the valuation is built on what those relationships can dependably earn once a team paid at market rates has been covered.
In most engagements we capitalise future maintainable earnings. The results are first adjusted for founder pay and any personal costs run through the company, and a capitalisation rate is then built with loadings for three agency risks: how evenly revenue is spread across clients, the balance between retainer and project fees, and how much rests on the founders.
A discounted cash flow suits an agency in the middle of a change, such as absorbing a studio it has bought, moving campaign clients onto retainers, or facing the known end of a large contract inside the forecast period. If losing one account would alter the agency's course, a year-by-year forecast reveals it, and a single capitalised year conceals it.
Prices paid for agencies of comparable size and specialty tell us whether the income result is sensible. Multiples quoted on billings or gross income need care, because billings include media and production costs that go straight to suppliers. Only net revenue gives a fair comparison between one agency and another.
This sets a minimum and little else. Debtors, unbilled work and equipment are restated, and an agency with a genuine book of retainers will sit well above that total.
Normalisation is where valuers most often reach different answers, so each adjustment is listed with the reason for it. For Wollongong marketing and creative agencies the usual items are:
Wollongong agencies are mostly small, and most are based in or near the CBD and Crown Street, with others in North Wollongong, Fairy Meadow, Shellharbour and Kiama. Their clients are local: builders and trades, health and allied health practices, retailers, hospitality venues and visitor businesses along the coast, community and education organisations, and the manufacturers and suppliers around Port Kembla. Some agencies also serve clients elsewhere, and some owners live here and travel outward for work, which means an agency's client list may not match its address.
Two features of a regional market show up in nearly every agency valuation. Senior people know each other, so an account director who moves across town can take relationships with them, and restraint clauses and staff tenure are reviewed for that reason. And client lists are often short, with two or three accounts doing most of the work: a studio with three large retainers can look very profitable yet carry a heavier risk loading than an agency earning the same profit from twenty smaller clients. Seasonal tourism and hospitality work along the coast is judged on its contract terms and its history of renewal, not on goodwill alone.
The client base keeps widening. Nationally, information media and telecommunications businesses grew 4.0 per cent and professional, scientific and technical services businesses 3.6 per cent over 2025 to 2026 (Source: ABS, Counts of Australian Businesses, July 2022 to June 2026, released 18 August 2026). New businesses need a name, a website and a campaign, so the pool of clients grows and, in time, so does the pool of buyers.
The report begins by recording why it was prepared, the standard and date of value and the records we used, and notes where any were incomplete. It then covers each approach considered and the method applied, lists the normalisation adjustments with their reasons, and weighs the results into a range, with the weighting set out in plain sentences.
Agency valuations tend to reach a court when founders fall out. An oppression claim or a shareholder dispute may be heard in the Supreme Court of New South Wales in Sydney, while a fee or contract claim can be heard in the Local Court or District Court at Wollongong. Under the Expert Witness Code of Conduct in the court rules, the expert's duty to the court comes first, and the experts may be asked to confer and narrow what is in dispute. A report that cannot explain why a rate was chosen will not get through that. Ours follow APESB, APES 225 Valuation Services and are signed by a certified valuer who will defend the opinion.
Where is the draft weakest, and how would you defend that point? A vague reply tends to mean a vague analysis behind it.
Choose an Indicative valuation if a founder wants an evidence-based figure to set beside a holding group's term sheet, or to price a stake for key staff. It is for internal decision-making and is not written for third party reliance. A Summary report suits a sale, the merger of two agencies or an employee equity plan. A Detailed report is the level for a family law matter, a shareholder dispute, or any setting where an opposing expert will test each assumption.
Begin with who will rely on the figure. A court, the ATO, a lender or another expert will each want more of the reasoning than the founders need for themselves.
For internal decision-making. Useful for testing an offer, setting an expectation before a negotiation, or deciding whether to go to market. It is not written for third party reliance.
Sets out the approaches applied, the normalisation adjustments made and the reasoning behind the conclusion. The usual choice for a sale, an ownership change or a finance application.
Applies and reconciles all relevant approaches in full. The level required where a court, the ATO, a lender or another expert will review the opinion.
Talk your situation through with a certified valuer before you commit to anything, at no cost.