Business valuations in Mackay and the Whitsundays
We value Mackay and Whitsunday businesses across mining services, engineering, sugar and agriculture, marine and tourism — two adjacent economies that behave nothing alike and are valued on different assumptions.
Mackay services the Bowen Basin and runs on contracted maintenance and engineering work. The Whitsundays run on tourism and marine. A valuer who applies one set of assumptions to both will be wrong in one of them, which is why the sector and the sub-region are established before anything else.
The local business base
A resources service centre next to a tourism economy
Mackay is the principal service centre for the Bowen Basin, with an engineering, fabrication and mining maintenance sector of genuine depth around Paget, plus a long-established sugar industry and a working port. An hour north, Airlie Beach and the Whitsunday coast run a tourism, charter and marine economy serving the islands and the reef, with a substantial marina and vessel servicing base at Shute Harbour and Abell Point.
They sit inside one region and value on opposite logics. Mackay businesses are assessed on contract security, plant condition and the resources cycle. Whitsunday businesses are assessed on seasonality, visitor cycles, lease and berth arrangements, and vessel values. Both are handled in-house, but not with the same assumptions.
Business centres we work across
- Mackay
- Paget
- Mount Pleasant
- Sarina
- Walkerston
- Airlie Beach
- Cannonvale
- Proserpine
- Bowen
- Moranbah
- Dysart
- Shute Harbour
What we are most often asked to value here
- Mining services, engineering and shutdown maintenance contractors
- Heavy equipment hire, transport and workshop businesses
- Sugar, agriculture and rural supply operations
- Marine servicing, charter and vessel-based tourism businesses
- Accommodation, hospitality and tourism operators at Airlie Beach
The numbers
Multiples for the main sectors in Mackay & the Whitsundays
Indicative EBITDA multiples for the sectors that dominate this area. Ranges are national; the local note explains what tends to move a Mackay & the Whitsundays business within its band.
Scroll the table sideways →
| Sector | Multiple | Local note |
|---|---|---|
| Mining services | 2.5×–4.5× | Bowen Basin contracts; term, counterparty and cycle set the band |
| Manufacturing | 3.0×–4.5× | Engineering and fabrication at Paget; plant valued at market |
| Hospitality & retail | 1.8×–3.0× | Whitsunday seasonality and lease term dominate |
| Transport & logistics | 2.5×–4.0× | Heavy haulage into the Basin; fleet netted against finance |
| Agribusiness | 2.5×–4.0× | Cane and grazing; land, water and business valued separately |
| Trades & services | 2.0×–3.5× | Industrial maintenance agreements lift the multiple materially |
Orientation only, not a valuation. See all fourteen sectors or run the value range calculator.
Local factors
What is specific about valuing a Mackay or Whitsunday business
Which economy the business actually sits in
A transport business hauling into the Basin and a transport business servicing Airlie tourism carry different risks, different cycles and different multiples. Establishing which one applies — and where a business straddles both — is the first step.
Vessels and marine assets need real valuation
Charter vessels, tenders and marine plant carry substantial value and substantial variability by survey status and remaining life. They are inspected and valued in-house rather than taken from a register, and berth or marina arrangements are read as carefully as a lease.
Cyclone and insurance exposure
In this region, insurance cost and availability are a live part of the cost base, and interruption history sits in the earnings record. Both are examined rather than treated as background noise, because a buyer will price them.
Working with us from Mackay & the Whitsundays
How an engagement in Mackay & the Whitsundays runs
Mackay and the Whitsundays are attended by arrangement, with visits planned so workshops, yards, vessels and stock are inspected in a single trip. Travel is quoted inside the fixed fee before the engagement begins.
Our valuation office is at 4/144 Edward Street, Brisbane City. We do not maintain a shopfront in every location we serve — a valuation is not a service that benefits from one, and pretending otherwise would be the first thing an opposing expert questioned.
Book a free scoping call →- Free scoping call Fifteen minutes to establish the purpose, the standard of value, the entities involved and your deadline. You get a fixed fee in writing the same day.
- Records sent electronically Financial statements, tax returns, management accounts, the asset register and contracts. One consolidated request, not a drip feed.
- Site attendance where it matters The region is attended by scheduled visit. Workshops, heavy plant, vessels and stock are inspected in one planned trip, with travel included in the fixed fee.
- Report and debrief The signed valuation, then a call to walk through the conclusion, the assumptions, and what would change the number.
Local questions
Valuing a business in Mackay & the Whitsundays
General questions on cost, timing and documents are on the full FAQ page.
Ask a valuerYes, by arrangement. We are engaged across regional Queensland and nationally, and visits are planned so that everything requiring inspection — workshops, plant, vessels, stock — is covered in one trip with travel included in the fixed fee.
On normalised earnings assessed across four to five years to span the cycle, at a multiple set by contract term, counterparty quality and commodity spread, then netted against equipment finance. The workshop and heavy plant are valued at market in-house, which usually sits well above the depreciation register.
Yes. Marine and charter operations are valued on earnings with a substantial net asset cross-check, and the vessels themselves are valued by a Certified Asset Valuer with attention to survey status, remaining life and the realistic market for the vessel.
Indirectly but genuinely. Insurance cost and availability sit in the cost base, interruption history sits in the earnings record, and a buyer will assess both. Where a business has had an interruption event, it is isolated and disclosed rather than left to distort the maintainable earnings figure.
Yes, in three parts — land, water entitlements and the trading business — with livestock counted, classed and valued at market. Machinery and infrastructure are inspected and valued in-house rather than taken from tax values.
Reviewed by a Certified Practising Valuer
Reviewed by Jarrad Khoury, Director and Head of Valuations — Registered Valuer (QLD, Not Limited), Licensed Valuer (WA, Not Limited), CPV and CBV. Published by Business Valuations Brisbane, the business valuation division of Asset Valuations Group.
Last reviewed
Two economies, valued on the right assumptions.
A free 15-minute scoping call, then a fixed fee in writing. No obligation, and nothing you send leaves our office.
1300 778 033