Established consumer businesses currently trade between roughly 2x and 8x adjusted EBITDA. The table below shows the typical ranges we see by category for businesses in the £1m to £10m EBITDA band, before adjustments for size, growth, and revenue quality.
Multiples by category
| Category | Typical range | What pushes to the top |
|---|---|---|
| Food & beverage | 4.5x - 6.5x | Retail distribution, repeat purchase, brand strength |
| Beauty & personal care | 4.5x - 6.5x | Hero SKU economics, 40%+ repeat rate, community |
| Health & wellness products | 4.5x - 6.5x | Subscription share, clinical or regulatory moats |
| Home & lifestyle | 4x - 6x | Contribution margin, low returns, owned audience |
| Fashion & apparel | 3.5x - 5.5x | Full-price sell-through, low inventory risk |
| Consumer apps & tech | 4.5x - 7x | Recurring revenue, retention cohorts, organic growth |
| Content & media | 4x - 6x | Diversified platforms, evergreen catalogue, direct monetisation |
| Consumer services | 3.5x - 5.5x | Contracted or membership revenue, multi-site operations |
| Health & wellness services | 4x - 6x | Practitioner retention, recurring treatment plans |
| Marketing & creative agencies | 3x - 5x | Retainer share, client tenure, second-tier leadership |
How size shifts these ranges
The bands above assume £1m to £10m of adjusted EBITDA. Outside that band, adjust your expectation:
- Under £1m EBITDA: deduct 1x to 1.5x. Many deals here price on seller discretionary earnings at 2x to 4x.
- £1m to £3m: deduct 0.5x to 1x from the table.
- £5m to £10m: the table applies directly; institutional buyers are active.
- Above £10m: add 1x or more. Competition between strategics and private equity does the work.
The adjustments buyers actually make
From the category base, buyers move the multiple for the same handful of factors, in roughly this order of weight: growth rate (20%+ growth adds up to 1x, decline subtracts), EBITDA margin (above 30% adds up to 1x, below 10% subtracts and triggers a revenue-multiple cross-check), recurring or repeat revenue share (60%+ adds up to 1x), customer or channel concentration (any single point of failure subtracts), and owner dependence.
Route to market matters for product brands: a marketplace-only brand typically prices 1x to 1.5x below an otherwise identical brand with diversified retail and DTC distribution, because platform risk is priced in.
Multiples are the start, not the answer
Two identical businesses can exit 2x apart depending on preparation and process. The table tells you where the market starts the conversation. Preparation moves you up within your range, and a competitive process is what gets a buyer to pay the top of it. For how that works in practice, read our guide to preparing a business for sale.
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What is the average EBITDA multiple for a consumer brand?
Around 4x to 6x adjusted EBITDA for an established brand with £1m to £10m of profit. Food and beverage, beauty, and health products sit at the higher end; fashion and agency-model businesses sit lower.
Do Amazon FBA businesses get lower multiples?
Generally yes. Marketplace-only brands price roughly 1x to 1.5x below diversified brands of the same size because of platform dependence. Adding DTC or retail distribution before a sale narrows that gap.
Are these multiples on revenue or EBITDA?
EBITDA. A 5x EBITDA multiple on a 20% margin business equals about 1x revenue. Revenue multiples of 0.5x to 1.5x are used mainly as a sense-check for low-margin online brands.
Where do these ranges come from?
From completed consumer transactions and the ranges active acquirers underwrite to. We maintain them against the deals and buyer conversations running through our own mandates.