Consumer brands & CPG
Distribution that holds without promotion, and a gross margin that survives it.
Consumer acquirers rebuild your margin bridge net of every trade term before they put a number on the business. What matters is not the revenue line but what is left of it after listing fees, promotional depth and returns.
Who acquires in this sector.
The buyer set determines the process. These are the parties we approach on a mandate here, and the reason each of them pays.
What moves the number, and what moves it back.
Both lists are what buyers in this sector actually examine. The first is where preparation earns its return. The second is where processes lose ground once diligence opens.
What lifts the multiple
Worth fixing twelve to twenty-four months before you go to market.
- Retail listings and shelf velocityRate of sale per store per week is the number that decides whether listings survive the next range review.
- Repeat rate and household penetrationEvidence that demand is real rather than bought.
- Gross margin after all trade spendThe true margin, not the invoice margin. Buyers will calculate it either way.
- A hero product with a franchise behind itOne SKU that carries the brand, with a credible range extending from it.
- Supply chain that can take the volumeCapacity, lead times and a second source. Scale that the buyer's distribution can absorb.
What gets discounted
Found in diligence if it is not addressed first, and repriced when it is found.
- Revenue driven by promotional depthVolume bought with discount is stripped back to underlying rate of sale.
- Single retailer concentrationOne account holding the listings holds the valuation as well.
- Single-sourced co-packingNo alternative manufacturer is a supply risk a buyer prices for.
- Inventory obsolescenceAgeing stock and short-dated inventory come off the working capital settlement.
- The founder as the buyer relationshipIf the category buyer takes your call and no one else's, that is a transition risk.
How a process runs here.
The information memorandum in this sector lives or dies on the margin bridge. Preparing it means reconciling every trade term, promotion and deduction to the general ledger before diligence, so the number you present is the number that survives.