Fixed-fee valuations of licensed customs brokers and freight forwarding businesses.

A customs brokerage or freight forwarder is valued on the maintainable profit from its clearance fees and freight margin, never on the duty, GST and carrier charges it pays on clients' behalf. Licensing also shapes the value: a corporate customs broker must employ licensed nominees, so the business is exposed if it relies on one person's licence. Client concentration, carrier and overseas agent relationships and working capital matter too. Agency Valuations prepares an independent written report at a fixed fee: $1,495 + GST for businesses turning over under $2 million, delivered in 2 business days.

How is a customs broker or freight forwarder valued?

We value most brokerages and forwarders on capitalised maintainable earnings. Turnover is inflated by disbursements: duty, GST, port and terminal charges and carrier freight paid for clients and recharged to them. The valuation is built on the income the business keeps, meaning clearance and handling fees and the margin between what it charges for freight and what carriers charge it.

Owner pay is reset to a market wage and one-off items are removed. Freight margins move with the market, so years of unusually high or low freight rates are not simply averaged in; the report explains which years were treated as representative.

How does customs broker licensing work?

The licensing rules shape what a buyer can take over. As set out by the Australian Border Force and the Customs Act 1901:

• ·Apart from the owner of the goods, a licensed customs broker is the party who can submit an import declaration to enter goods for home consumption.
• ·Brokers are licensed under Division 3 of Part XI of the Customs Act, in three categories: corporate (a company or partnership), sole trader and nominee.
• ·A corporate broker must employ nominee brokers to lodge customs declarations, and its licence cannot name a place of business unless it also names a nominee at that place.
• ·For a company licence, each director, each person who participates in the work and the company itself must be fit and proper.
• ·Licences run for up to three years and can be renewed on payment of a prescribed fee.
• ·A broker must give the Comptroller-General of Customs written particulars within 30 days when a new person starts to participate in the work, a nominee stops acting, or a partnership's membership changes.
• ·A licence granted to an individual stops having effect on that person's death.

What transfers when a customs brokerage is sold?

In a share sale, the company keeps its corporate licence, but new directors and new people working in the business must be fit and proper, and certain changes must be reported within 30 days. In an asset sale, the buyer needs its own licence, with its own nominees, before it can lodge declarations for the clients it has bought. A sole trader's licence belongs to that individual, so a buyer of a sole trader's business cannot simply step into it.

Depot and warehouse licences are separate. A depot is a place licensed by the Australian Border Force, and its holder must keep the licence details correct and apply for variations. Where a forwarder's value depends on a licensed depot, we check the licence, the premises lease and what a change of ownership would require.

Why do nominees and key people matter so much?

Where the owner is also the licensed nominee and leaves, retires or dies, the corporate licence may no longer name a nominee at its place of business, and the Comptroller-General of Customs can require the broker to apply to vary its licence. Clients also tend to follow the experienced broker they deal with.

A business with more than one nominee, documented procedures and client relationships spread across the team carries less risk, and the capitalisation rate reflects it. Where the sale depends on the owner staying through a handover, the valuation can show the effect on stated assumptions.

What moves a brokerage's value up or down?

• ·Fee and margin mix: clearance fees tend to be steady; freight margin rises and falls with the market.
• ·Client concentration: the share of gross profit from the largest importers or exporters, and how long they have stayed.
• ·Carrier and overseas agent relationships: agency agreements, nominated business from overseas partners, exclusivity and termination clauses.
• ·Nominee depth: how many licensed nominees the business employs, and whether any plan to retire or leave.
• ·Working capital and credit risk: duty and freight are often paid before clients pay, so debtor days and bad debts affect value.
• ·Compliance record: licence conditions, infringement notices and any inquiry from the Australian Border Force.
• ·Systems and premises: broking software, client data links, and any depot or warehouse licence and lease.

When do brokerage and forwarding owners need a valuation?

• ·Selling the business, or testing an offer from a larger logistics group.
• ·Buying a brokerage, a forwarder or a client book.
• ·A partner or shareholder exit under your shareholders agreement.
• ·Equity for a nominee or senior manager, where shares or options need a market value under the employee share scheme rules.
• ·Restructures and related-party transfers, where tax law looks to market value.
• ·Small business CGT concessions, where market value is needed for the asset threshold tests.
• ·CGT reform: from 1 July 2027 the 50% CGT discount for individuals, trusts and partnerships is replaced by cost base indexation and a 30% minimum tax for gains accruing after that date, so a valuation at 30 June 2027 may be useful.
• ·A dispute between owners, where an expert report is needed.

What do we need from you?

• ·Financial statements for the last three years and year-to-date management accounts.
• ·Income split between clearance fees, freight margin and other services, with disbursements shown separately.
• ·Gross profit by client for three years.
• ·Your broker licence details, nominees, licence conditions and renewal date, plus any depot or warehouse licence.
• ·Carrier, overseas agent and client agreements.
• ·Debtor ageing, bad debts and any finance facilities.
• ·Owner salaries, personal costs run through the business, and your shareholders agreement.

How much does a customs broker or freight forwarder valuation cost?

Fees are fixed and set by your business's total annual turnover, excluding GST. A Small Business Valuation is $1,495 + GST for turnover under $2 million, delivered in 2 business days. A Medium Business Valuation is $2,495 + GST for $2 million to $3 million, and a Large Business Valuation is $3,495 + GST for over $3 million to $10 million, each delivered in 3 business days. Above $10 million the fee is quoted in writing before work starts, with the delivery date agreed before commencement. An expert report for a dispute or court is $4,495 + GST, with the delivery date agreed before commencement. Each extra past valuation date is $495 and each additional entity is $795. Delivery time starts once payment and all required information have been received.

Every report follows the guidelines of APES 225 Valuation Services and is signed by a suitably qualified business valuer. We value businesses; we do not broker or sell them.