Bump in California Small Business Sales Mirrors U. S. Economic Picture
Increase in closed small business for sale transactions in California last month, compared to June, depicts a scene similar to the U. S. Economy with positive news shadowed by lingering problems. BizBen. com reported that 1,075 businesses sold in July, up 9% from the prior month.
Dublin, CA (Vocus) August 6, 2009
July figures for the sale of the state’s small and mid-sized businesses, released today by BizBen. com Businesses For Sale In California (http://www. bizben. com/) suggest a pattern similar to performance of the nation’s economy: There’s positive news--last month’s volume of completed California deals was 9% ahead of those the prior month--but it’s shadowed by continuing problems.
While the 1,075 business opportunities escrows that closed in the just-completed month represent improvement over June’s total of 986 deals, activity in July still lagged behind the 1,779 transactions completed in July 08.
“I’d characterize the most recent results as promising, but the healthy market we’re waiting for has yet to fully materialize,” according to Peter Siegel, MBA (http://www. bizben. com/resources/28-peter-siegel. php), Founder and CEO of BizBen. com
He noted that one reason for depressed recent activity has been the “usual summer doldrums. More people than we expected took vacations in the last several weeks.”
Siegel also observed that there’s a growing logjam of transactions in escrow unable to be completed on schedule.
“Many buyers are waiting to get their homes appraised so they can satisfy requests from sellers who are willing to help finance--as more are agreeing to do. That slows everything down.
Also holding up deals, according to the BizBen CEO, is “more stringent application of rules by the State Board of Education and by other government agencies.
“California is looking harder for cash, so state examiners aren’t issuing releases and letting any deals close ‘till they’re sure there’s no money they can wring out of a transaction in the way of unpaid taxes or fees.”
Siegel said it will take “more movement by SBA-backed lenders, getting additional money into the system” to increase the volume of small business sales (http://www. bizben. com/bizben-search-category. php) in the state.
“I’m optimistic that we’ll see things improve in the fall. The demand is there. As people adjust to current circumstances and figure out how to address some of the challenges we face--such as tight money and depressed business values because of lower revenues--there should be a substantial increase in the volume of completed deals in the market for small businesses.”
BizBen. com, the state's leading online marketplace for buyers and sellers of small and mid-market companies, has been California’s exclusive source of small business sales statistics for more than 10 years. In addition to offering thousands of business opportunities for sale, the BizBen site features a number of resources, articles, news items, practical tips and a small business blog (http://www. bizben. com/blog/) --all providing information, ideas and opportunities for business sellers, buyers, business brokers, agents, and other professionals serving the market. Three books that Siegel authored on buying and selling small businesses are widely used by people involved in this market.
County-by-County sales stats of small and mid-sized businesses (http://www. bizben. com/stats/stats-total. php) in California for July were:
Alameda: 51, Butte: 8, Contra Costa: 16, El Dorado: 4, Fresno: 30, Imperial: 2, Kern: 29, Lassen: 1, Los Angeles: 284, Madera: 1, Marin: 8, Mariposa: 1, Mendocino: 1, Merced: 4, Monterey: 21, Napa: 4, Nevada: 3, Orange: 126, Placer: 10, Plumas: 1, Riverside: 30, Sacramento: 34, San Bernardino: 54, San Diego: 96, San Francisco: 46, San Joaquin: 15, San Luis Obispo: 14, San Mateo: 23, Santa Barbara: 16, Santa Clara: 43, Santa Cruz: 3, Shasta: 11, Siskiyou: 1, Solano: 4, Sonoma: 27, Stanislaus: 14, Tehama: 2, Tulare: 9, Tuolumne: 1, Ventura: 25, Yolo 2.
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