Two questions sit either side of most business decisions. Should we do this? — answered by a feasibility study. What is it worth? — answered by a valuation. Both are built from numbers rather than optimism, which is why they sit with accountants rather than with marketers.
Feasibility studies
A feasibility study tests whether a proposed venture works before you commit capital to it. Done properly it is as likely to tell you not to proceed as to proceed — and that is where the value sits.
A useful study covers:
- Market assessment — realistic demand, competitors, pricing and route to market
- Operational model — what has to exist for this to run, and what it costs to build
- Financial projections — revenue, cost, margin, working capital and cash flow over a defined horizon
- Break-even analysis — volume and timeline to cover fixed cost
- Capital requirement — including the working capital gap that sinks otherwise sound plans
- Regulatory and licensing path — approvals, activity and jurisdiction
- Sensitivity analysis — what happens when the optimistic assumptions do not hold
The single most common flaw we see in studies prepared elsewhere is a projection that only models the good case. If a study does not show you where it breaks, it has not been tested.
When a feasibility study is worth commissioning
- Before entering the UAE market — particularly where jurisdiction affects tax, as it does for anyone weighing mainland against free zone
- Before a significant capital commitment — a facility, a production line, a new location
- For a bank or investor — most lenders expect projections they can interrogate
- For a licence application — some activities and free zones require a business plan
Business valuation
A valuation establishes what a business is worth, and for what purpose — because the number legitimately differs depending on why you are asking.
The three standard approaches:
- Income approach — discounted cash flow, valuing the business on what it will earn. Most appropriate for stable, profitable operations.
- Market approach — comparable transactions and trading multiples. Useful where genuine comparables exist, which in the UAE is often the constraint.
- Asset approach — net asset value. Relevant for holding companies, asset-heavy businesses and liquidation scenarios.
In practice we usually apply more than one and reconcile the range, because a single-method valuation is easy to challenge.
When you need a valuation
- Sale or acquisition — on either side of the table
- Bringing in or buying out a shareholder
- Raising investment — establishing a defensible pre-money position
- Golden Visa investor routes — which require evidence of value, usually from audited accounts. See Golden Visa through your company
- Succession and estate planning
- Disputes — shareholder disagreements and separations
Both depend on your accounts
This is the part clients underestimate. A valuation is only as credible as the financial information beneath it, and a buyer’s advisers will test exactly that.
Unreconciled records, an unrecorded end of service gratuity liability, or related party transactions with no documentation all reduce the number — or produce warranties you would rather not give. Where the records need work first, that is backlog recovery, and audited statements materially strengthen any valuation put in front of a third party.
If a transaction is twelve months away, fixing the records now is worth more than any negotiating position later.
Feasibility study consultants in Dubai: what you are actually buying
Most feasibility study consultants in Dubai produce a document designed to support a decision that has already been made. It has a market section, an optimistic revenue projection, and a conclusion that the project is viable. It is often bought because a bank, an investor or a free zone authority requires one.
That is a legitimate use, and we will produce that document. But the more valuable version answers a harder question: under what assumptions does this fail? A feasibility study service that only models the upside has not told you anything you did not already believe.
Among feasibility study companies in Dubai we come at it from the accounting side, which shapes the work. The projections tie to a proper financial model, the cost base reflects actual UAE costs including the ones people forget, and the tax position is modelled rather than assumed. If we think the numbers do not support the project, the report will say so — which is uncomfortable, and is the entire point.
Frequently asked questions
Typically three to six weeks depending on how much primary market work is needed and how quickly information is available.
Sometimes, and that is the point. A study that only ever confirms the plan is not testing it.
Usually more than one - income, market and asset approaches reconciled into a range. A single-method valuation is easy for the other side to challenge.
Not strictly, but they substantially strengthen it. Any buyer or investor will test the underlying financial information regardless.
Yes. Loss-making businesses are valued regularly - on assets, on future earnings potential, or on strategic value to a specific buyer.
Yes. Investor routes generally require evidence of value derived from audited accounts, so we handle the audit and the valuation together.
Getting started
Tell us the decision you are trying to make and the deadline you are working to. Those two things determine scope more than anything else — and if a simpler piece of work would answer the question, we will say so.