What Is Ferro Industries Worth? A Comparables Analysis

Finance
easy40 min0 submissions
McKinsey
Scenario

Ferro Industries (industrial components, Europe) is preparing for a sale process. You have been asked to establish a valuation range using trading comparables.

The company. Revenue of €215 M, EBITDA margin of 26% (EBITDA of €56 M), revenue growth of 20%, and net debt of €183 M.

Trading comparables.

PeerEV/EBITDARevenue growthEBITDA margin
Peer A — same sector, 3× larger10.8×9%20%
Peer B — adjacent sector, high growth9.7×21%20%
Peer C — same sector, declining6.5×3%19%

The banker running the process has proposed simply averaging the three multiples.

Supporting data

target

ebitda m
56
revenue m
215
net debt m
183
ebitda margin pct
26
revenue growth pct
20

comparables

peerev ebitdagrowth pctmargin pct
A10.8920
B9.72120
C6.5319
Your task

Produce a valuation range. Provide:

  1. Analysis — which comparables you would use and why, and the resulting enterprise and equity values.
  2. Risks — where this methodology could mislead.
  3. Recommendation — your valuation range and the number you would take to the seller.

Critique the banker's proposed approach.

Ready to move forward? Up next: Ferro Industries: Two Projects, One BudgetNext question
How you'll be graded

100 points, 60% to pass.

  • adjustments20
  • peer selection25
  • recommendation30
  • multiple analysis25
Hint
Reveal suggested structure
  1. Screen the peers on growth, margin and risk — not sector label alone.
  2. Apply the defensible multiple range to EBITDA to get enterprise value.
  3. Bridge to equity value: EV − net debt.
  4. Adjust for size, growth differential and marketability.
  5. Cross-check with EV/Revenue.
  6. Present a range, and say where in it you would settle.