It’s well known that between 70-80% of businesses in the UK (and internationally) never sell.  Only 8% of businesses listed with a broker sell in the first 12 months and public sales can be fraught with difficulty.

Brokers only account for 10% of all transactions so the majority of successfully completed sales are private.

Businesses that eventually secure a sale, sell for significantly less than 50% of what the owner believes (or was led to believe) it is worth, having been ill-advised.

And for many owners, over 90% of their entire Net worth is tied up in the business which places the odds of realising a sensible exit, given the stats above, significantly against the seller.