Guides for owners who are starting to think about stepping back. What the business is worth, the ways a deal can work, the tax, and what happens to your team.
And our own research on companies and their owners, in Kent and across the UK, from the Companies House register.
Written by Luke Redding, who built Reddico to seven-figure annual profit and sold it in 2021.
Insights
Research
Studies we've done ourselves, mostly from the Companies House register: who owns and runs Kent's companies, how many close, and where owners are moving. Each one shows how we worked out the figures.
Owners rush to close their companies before each rise in the tax on selling
When the tax on selling a business is about to go up, owners who are ready to close their companies don't wait. Solvent liquidations hit 2,688 in October 2024, the month of the Budget that raised Capital Gains Tax, against about 730 in a normal month since 2019. The same rush came around the Budgets of March 2020 and March 2021, and before each rise in Business Asset Disposal Relief, and closures have run at about half their old level since.
7 minute read
Who the new £500,000 limit on Business Asset Disposal Relief hits, and what it costs them
The Budget on 28 October 2026 cut the lifetime limit on Business Asset Disposal Relief from £1,000,000 to £500,000, for sales and other disposals from 6 April 2027. The rate stays at 18%. In a normal year, 8,000 to 10,000 people claim the relief on gains of £500,000 or more, and an owner using the whole of today's limit will pay up to £30,000 more.
6 minute read
Kent's 100 oldest owner-run businesses, 2026
Of the 3,645 Kent and Medway private limited companies set up before 1990 and still active, 1,573 are trading and controlled by people who sit on their own board. These are the 100 oldest, from Weydonlake Limited in Faversham, set up in 1895, to companies founded just after the Second World War.
6 minute read
Kent and Medway added 937 companies in the year to September 2026, down from 4,366 two years earlier
17,048 companies were set up in Kent and Medway in the year to September 2026 and 16,111 were dissolved, a net gain of 937. Two years earlier the gain was 4,366. We count it quarter by quarter and district by district, including the insolvencies the official figures don't place.
5 minute read
How many British company owners have moved abroad since 2024, and where they went
From 2 January 2024 to 19 October 2026, 6,962 British owners of UK companies changed their country of residence on the Companies House register from the UK to somewhere abroad. The pace picked up in the second half of 2025, to about 240 a month from about 140 in 2024, and the United Arab Emirates took more than anywhere else.
7 minute read
Every week, about 46 solvent Kent companies are closed by their own directors
In the three years to 30 September 2026, 46,230 Kent and Medway companies were dissolved. About 7,100 of them were trading, solvent at their last accounts and closed by their own directors, about 46 a week. 41% had a director aged 60 or over, or one who'd been in charge for 10 years or more.
7 minute read
Who owns and runs Kent's companies, and how old they are
Kent and Medway have 107,163 trading private companies, and 90% of them are controlled by individuals rather than another company. In 16,595 of those, every owner is 60 or over. This is who owns and runs them, how long they've been in charge, and where in the county the older owners are.
8 minute read
Ways to step back
Selling all of it is one option. Selling part, selling to your team or handing over in stages are others.
Closing a limited company
If your company can pay its debts, you can close it by applying to strike it off or through a members' voluntary liquidation. This guide covers both routes and the tax on the money left in the company, along with your staff and contracts.
10 minute read
Selling your business through a management buy-in
In a management buy-in, an experienced manager or team from outside buys your business and runs it, usually with a lender or investor behind them. This is how it works from the seller's side, and where it differs from selling to your own managers.
10 minute read
Good leaver and bad leaver clauses
If you keep a share in your business and carry on working there, or you give shares to a manager, a leaver clause decides what happens to those shares when the job ends. This is how the clauses work, and what to negotiate.
10 minute read
Drag-along and tag-along rights
If you keep a share in your company after selling the rest, two short clauses decide what happens to it when the whole company is sold. This is how they work, and what to ask for before you sign.
9 minute read
Shareholders' agreements for owners who keep a share
When you sell part of your company and keep the rest, the shareholders' agreement sets out how you'll own it together. This is what it usually covers, and how it sits alongside the company's articles.
12 minute read
Succession planning for a small business
For the owner of a small business, succession planning means deciding who will run the business when you step back, and who will own it. They're separate questions, and this guide takes each in turn, along with what happens if you can't work from tomorrow.
11 minute read
Selling your business to an employee ownership trust
An employee ownership trust lets you sell your company to a trust that holds it for your whole team, usually paid for out of the business's own profit. This is how it works, how you're paid, and what the tax rules say after the changes of 2024 and 2025.
9 minute read
Selling your business to your managers in a management buyout
Selling to the managers who already run your business keeps it with people who know it, but it usually means negotiating with your own team and waiting for part of your money. This is how a management buyout works from the seller's side.
9 minute read
Selling part of your business
You don't have to sell all of your business at once. Plenty of owners sell part of it and stay on as a shareholder, then sell the rest later. This is how that works in the UK, and what to agree before you sign.
10 minute read
Earn-outs and deferred consideration when you sell a business
Plenty of business sales don't pay the whole price on completion day. This is how money paid later works, including earn-outs and vendor finance, and how to protect the part you're waiting for.
9 minute read
Choosing an exit strategy for a small business
Every owner leaves their business one day, and the ones who plan it get more say in how. These are the main routes out of a small business in the UK, and the things that help you decide whether, and when, to sell.
9 minute read
Selling a business
How a sale works in the UK, from the first conversation to completion.
Selling a dental practice
If your practice does NHS work, the contract has its own rules about who can hold it, and they shape the whole sale. This is how selling a dental practice in England works, from CQC registration to your associates.
10 minute read
The information memorandum when you sell a business
The information memorandum is the document that introduces your business to serious buyers. It's there to make them want to know more, and everything in it has to stand up later.
9 minute read
Selling a business in Kent
Selling a business works the same way in Kent as anywhere in England. What's local is the mix of businesses around you, and the people who might buy yours. These are the official figures, and what they mean for an owner here.
10 minute read
Selling an accountancy practice
When you sell an accountancy practice, your clients decide whether the deal works, because they're free to take their work elsewhere. This guide covers what a buyer looks for, and the rules that come with a change of owner.
11 minute read
Locked box or completion accounts when you sell a business
The price a buyer offers for your company is usually adjusted for the cash, debt and working capital in it. There are two main ways of doing that, and they put the risk in different places.
9 minute read
Selling a care home in England
A care home sale has more steps than most, because the regulator and the Home Office both have a say in it. This is how selling a care home in England works, and what to sort out before you agree a price.
11 minute read
Business brokers, and whether you need one
A good broker can find buyers you'd never reach and keep a sale moving. The agreement you sign with them matters as much as their skill. This is what brokers do, how they're paid and what to check before you commit.
9 minute read
Restrictive covenants when you sell a business
A buyer will usually ask you to promise not to compete with the business you've just sold. This is how those promises work, how they differ from the covenants in an employment contract, and what to agree before you sign.
9 minute read
The share purchase agreement when you sell a business
The share purchase agreement is the contract that sells your company. Much of it is about what happens if something goes wrong after you've been paid, so it helps to know what each part does before the first draft arrives.
10 minute read
A checklist for selling your business
Selling a business is a long run of jobs that have to happen in the right order. This checklist sets them out stage by stage, from the first decision to the year after completion, with the people you'll need along the way.
9 minute read
TUPE when you sell a business
If you sell your company's shares, TUPE usually doesn't come into it. If you sell the business and its assets, it usually does, and it shapes when your team hears about the sale. This is how the rules work from the seller's side.
12 minute read
Share sale or asset sale when you sell a business
A buyer can take over your company by buying your shares, or your company can sell the business out of it. The choice decides what the buyer takes on, and how much of the price reaches you.
11 minute read
How to sell a business in the UK
Most owners only sell once, so most owners are doing it for the first time. This is how a sale works in the UK, in the order it happens, and where it tends to go wrong.
9 minute read
Heads of terms when you sell a business
Heads of terms set out the main points of a business sale before the lawyers write the contract. Most of the document isn't binding, but the shape of your deal is usually settled here.
8 minute read
Due diligence when selling a business
Once you've agreed heads of terms, the buyer checks that the business is what you said it was. This is what they look at and how to get ready, with a checklist of what to gather before they ask.
10 minute read
How long it takes to sell a business
There's no standard timetable for selling a business, but every sale goes through the same stages in the same order. This is where the time tends to go, and what you can do about it.
9 minute read
What it's worth
How buyers value an owner-run business, and what moves the number.
Goodwill, and how it's valued when you sell
For many profitable businesses, the biggest part of the price is paid for something that isn't on the balance sheet. This is what goodwill is and how a buyer puts a figure on it, including the part that may not transfer at all.
9 minute read
Management accounts, and why buyers ask for them
Your statutory accounts tell a buyer how the business did. Your management accounts tell them how it's doing now. This is what they are, how they differ, and what a buyer will look for in them.
9 minute read
Preparing your business for sale
Most of what decides the price, and how quickly a sale goes through, is settled before a buyer sees anything. This is what to put in order in the year or two before you sell, and why a buyer will care about each part.
9 minute read
What EBITDA means when you sell a business
If you talk to a buyer, you'll hear the word EBITDA within minutes. This is what it means, how to work it out from your own accounts, and why the figure a buyer uses is rarely the one in front of you.
10 minute read
How to value a business in the UK
Most owners have never had their business valued, and the first figure they hear tends to stick. This is how buyers in the UK work out what an owner-run business is worth, and what moves the number.
9 minute read
What it costs to employ someone in 2026, and how it's changed since 2024
In April 2024, a full-time worker on the National Living Wage cost their employer £24,613 a year in pay, National Insurance and pension. From April 2026 it's £28,309, up £3,696, or 15%. This is where the rise came from, and what it means for a team of 10 or 20.
6 minute read
Tax
The tax owners pay when they sell, and the reliefs that can reduce it. General guidance, not advice.
Business Relief from Inheritance Tax
Business Relief, still widely called business property relief, can take most or all of a family business out of Inheritance Tax. Since 6 April 2026 it has a limit, and that changes the sums on whether to sell or keep.
10 minute read
Members' voluntary liquidation explained
A members' voluntary liquidation, or MVL, is the formal way to close a company that can pay its debts and pass what's left to its shareholders. This guide covers the steps in England and Wales and the tax on what you take out, then compares an MVL with striking off and with selling.
11 minute read
Tax when you sell a business in the UK
Selling a business can bring several taxes, and who pays each one depends on how the deal is done. This is how they work for a sale in the 2026 to 2027 tax year.
13 minute read
What the Budget does to the tax on selling your business
The Budget on 28 October 2026 cut the lifetime limit for Business Asset Disposal Relief from £1,000,000 to £500,000, for sales from 6 April 2027. The 18% rate stays. On a gain of more than £1,000,000, it can add up to £30,000 to the tax. Put in your own gain and sale date to see the difference.
5 minute read
Budget 2026 for business owners: every change and when it starts
Every change in the Budget on 28 October 2026 that affects an owner-run business, 24 in all, each with the date it starts and the official document it comes from. 18 of them start in 2027. Pick your situation to see the ones that apply to you.
7 minute read
Every rule change for business owners in 2027, month by month
40 confirmed changes to tax, employment law and business rules take effect in 2027, 23 of them in April. This is each one, when it lands and who it affects, checked against GOV.UK after the Budget on 28 October 2026.
8 minute read
Business Asset Disposal Relief explained
If you're selling your business or your shares in it, Business Asset Disposal Relief can lower the Capital Gains Tax you pay. This is how it works for sales in the 2026 to 2027 tax year, now the rate has risen to 18%.
10 minute read
How the tax on selling a business has changed since 2008
In 2015, an owner who qualified for the relief and made a £5,000,000 gain on selling their business paid about £500,000 in Capital Gains Tax. Selling today, they'd pay about £1,140,000. This is how the relief and the rates have moved since 2008, sale date by sale date.
6 minute read
How we write our guides
Each guide is written for owners who are thinking about stepping back, by Luke Redding. He and his brother Nick spent 10 years building Reddico, a search marketing agency, to seven-figure annual profit without outside investment, then sold it to the Sideshow Group in 2021, so he has been on the owner's side of a sale himself. Every guide is edited and fact-checked before it's published.
Figures, rates and rules are checked against primary sources, such as GOV.UK, HMRC's manuals and legislation.gov.uk, which are listed at the end of each guide. Every guide shows when it was published or last updated, and we review them when rules or rates change, including after each Budget.
Nobody pays us to write about anything. The guides are general information about how things work in the UK, not financial, legal or tax advice, and never set out the terms we would offer. If you spot something that's wrong or out of date, email hello@headlandpartners.co.uk.
