Shareholdervalue

Morten Christensen (cand.merc.(F) & MBA) has more than 20 years of extensive experience with financial management serving as CFO in various companies. In 1994 Morten Christensen graduated after five years from the University of Aalborg, Denmark, as candidatus mercaturae (cand.merc) in financial economy. His Master’s thesis explored the use of advanced financial instruments to hedge companies.

In 2009 he also finished a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Southern Denmark in cooperation with the University of Aarhus, Denmark. The focus was on supply chain and especially corporate finance. His second Master’s thesis explored how to value companies and manage their value in the future.

In 2015 Morten Christensen started on his own within business valuations after developing a valuation model, which is applicable for all relevant theories and benchmarking methodologies. Morten Christensen has since conducted more than 100 comprehensive valuations, all of which have been used in connection with the sale of the assessed companies, optimization of company value, and transfers of IP rights to holding companies.

Since its inception, Morten Christensen has built a large network of clients, including investment firms, M&A advisors, lawyers, and auditing companies, as well as a general network where business owners have recommended him.

In 2016, Morten Christensen started full-time consulting activities with a focus on creating value for shareholders based on their core values. Since then, Morten Christensen has conducted numerous valuations for companies with a value between 10 million and 700 million DKK. He also develops information memoranda (IMs) for use in company sales. Additionally, Morten Christensen can manage the data room used in the due diligence process during a sale.

Shareholder value refers to the financial worth delivered to the equity owners (shareholders) of a company. It is based on the firm’s ability to sustain and grow profits over time. When a company effectively increases shareholder value, it also contributes to the total amount in the stockholders’ equity section of the balance sheet. In essence, a well-managed firm maximizes the utilization of its assets 1.

Historically, the concept of shareholder value focused solely on increasing value for shareholders, regardless of the impact on employees, customers, and the environment. However, times have changed for the better. Nowadays, companies place greater emphasis on customer satisfaction, employee well-being, and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals aligned with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.

Despite this shift, optimizing total value for shareholders remains crucial, while respecting the company’s core values. Morten Christensen has long championed this approach, as evidenced by his acquisition of the domain shareholdervalue.dk in July 2010.

One thing to get your business valued. It is a very good starting point for a possible future process.

It is also interesting in terms of value that initiatives are assessed that can increase the value of the company and thus provide increased payment when selling the company. A typical sales maturation process is started a few years before the final sale.

There are many conditions and parameters that have an influence, which include:

• Valuation of the Company: Getting the company valued is a good starting point for a potential sales process.
• Value Enhancement: It’s also valuable to consider initiatives that can increase the company’s value during sales preparation, leading to higher payment upon sale.
• Factors Influencing Value: Several factors and parameters influence value, including revenue growth, increased contribution margin (dækningsbidrag), EBITDA assessment, invested capital (sum of fixed assets and working capital), and the discount factor (WACC) derived from societal conditions and company-specific risks.
• Company-Specific Risks: Company-specific risks include intellectual property (IP) rights (such as trademarks and patents), dependence on major customers, and reliance on owners.

Additionally, Shareholdervalue offers an extra report with three specific proposals to enhance the company’s value during sales preparation, tailored to the specific business after material review and fundamental valuation.

Shareholdervalue values ​​IP rights and prepares GAP analyzes in relation to the costs associated with securing and managing IP rights with a view to increased value of the company before and after the IP rights are under control.

IP rights are, for example, brands, trademarks and patents.

We have experienced a significant difference in the value of companies before and after the focus has been placed on the IP rights.

Over time, Shareholdervalue has had a large number of cases where a company owned by a holding company wants to allocate its trademark or patent to the holding company. Other cases are largely that there has been no focus on the IP rights, which in a number of cases has a significant influence on the value of the company in the event of a sale. This applies to both mature companies and startups. Especially with startups, it is often seen that the focus is on growth and capital acquisition, while the focus is not on IP rights, which are a serious driver of the company’s value.

Shareholdervalue has extensive theoretical and practical experience with preparing the valuation of IP rights and the additional value of the company that can be achieved by getting control of these rights.

Contact Shareholdervalue for further information, valuation and GAP analysis of your IP rights. Shareholdervalue performs the calculations of the increased value.