Removing the risk around value in the James Dyson family business and others
January 6, 2026
Not just James Dyson, but ALL businesses wanting to ensure shareholder value sits in the right place, need to start understanding value asap.
We set off with a bang last Friday as our workload this month is intense. This is not least because we will be launching a new version of our Valuation Tool at the end of the month, so there is effort going into its final tweaks.
Notwithstanding the comments above, we are very much open for business.
Predictions are a dangerous game, but I can safely say that the EMI changes in the Budget are likely to bring a new type of work to us – sorting out valuations of larger and more mature companies that now want to establish AMV and UMV, so they can either launch or enlarge their share option scheme. We may also see a commensurate drop in the need for growth share plans in this context, although we are anticipating much more use of growth shares for other purposes.
Intelligently designed share classes can make a significant difference to where equity value sits on any one day.
Reflecting on last year, and what it means for how we can help you in 2026, there are a few things that might be helpful.
Our team has grown so we can take on more work. They are also getting more qualified and this year we will be looking to either train up or hire a chartered tax qualified individual or two (if you know of anyone who is commercially minded, qualified and, even better, also has a legal background, please put us in touch!).
As well as UK companies, we are increasingly performing valuations for businesses where the IRS is interested.
We are getting involved in progressively more sophisticated and complex valuation projects, including helping to design cap tables such that they are fit for purpose. This activity has attracted the attention of many families as they undertake IHT planning. I do think that having crossed the Rubicon on where IHT will fall, only a revolutionary new government won’t be increasingly seeking to tap this source of tax.
Therefore it is increasingly imperative that where wealth is in the hands of a family, the planning starts yesterday. James Dyson may have gone on record, but his comments will be resonating with the hundreds of thousands of valuable family businesses registered in the UK today.
A segue to what I will speak about in a minute is the likely rise in the use of EOTs.
Although no longer supremely tax advantageous for exiting business owners, this route will still be very attractive for many. Intelligent use of an EOT with other structuring could lead to some clever transactions which work for all. Do call us if you want to discuss some of our ideas around where to allocate value in scenarios involving EOTs.
In a nod to the second quarter of the century and hopefully with us now comfortably post pandemic, I think it is worth discussing the issue of employee incentives. In a world where it’s back to the office, there’s enormous pressure on wages, the next generation questioning the efficacy of being a wage slave and challenges around graduates in particular getting on the career ladder when minimum wage = a typical graduate salary. Maybe it’s time to rethink how share options should work? Maybe we need to start thinking of them as a more fungible way to get value to employees who can then realise that value through a sensible secondary arrangement? Just a thought.
Whatever 2026 throws at the cap tables of UK and other nationalities’ businesses we know that getting the value right in a manner that is defensible is going to be more and more important. We spend a lot of time thinking about consistency and quality as well as accuracy and defensibility. And with every report we challenge ourselves to go beyond the mile.
