Business valuations in Townsville and North Queensland
We value Townsville businesses across defence support, mining services, transport, construction and health — a market where contract security with a small number of large counterparties drives most of the value.
Townsville’s economy rests on a small number of very large demand sources: the defence presence, the port, the resources supply chain and the health and education precinct. Businesses connected to them can be excellent, but concentration is the defining valuation issue and it has to be priced.
The local business base
Four large demand sources and the businesses around them
Townsville carries one of the largest defence concentrations in Australia at Lavarack Barracks and RAAF Base Townsville, a working port handling minerals, livestock and containers, a resources supply chain reaching inland to the North West Minerals Province, and a substantial health and education precinct around the university and hospital. Light industry and fabrication cluster around Bohle and Mount St John.
For valuation, the pattern is consistent: strong businesses with excellent revenue quality and dangerous concentration. A supplier with a multi-year defence panel or a resources contract may have better earnings visibility than a comparable Brisbane business — and a far greater exposure if that single relationship ends.
Business centres we work across
- Townsville City
- Bohle
- Mount St John
- Garbutt
- Aitkenvale
- Kirwan
- Douglas
- Idalia
- Cluden
- Stuart
- Ayr
- Charters Towers
What we are most often asked to value here
- Defence support, facilities and services contractors
- Mining services and equipment maintenance businesses
- Transport, freight and port-related logistics operations
- Civil, construction and fabrication businesses
- Medical, allied health and professional practices
The numbers
Multiples for the main sectors in Townsville
Indicative EBITDA multiples for the sectors that dominate this area. Ranges are national; the local note explains what tends to move a Townsville business within its band.
Scroll the table sideways →
| Sector | Multiple | Local note |
|---|---|---|
| Mining services | 2.5×–4.5× | Earnings read across a full cycle; contract term and counterparty decide the band |
| Transport & logistics | 2.5×–4.0× | Port and inland corridors; fleet age and finance netted against value |
| Construction | 2.0×–3.5× | Government and defence works; WIP and retentions carry the valuation |
| Manufacturing | 3.0×–4.5× | Fabrication and maintenance; plant valued at market and capacity assessed |
| Trades & services | 2.0×–3.5× | Panel appointments and maintenance agreements lift the multiple |
| Healthcare & medical | 3.0×–5.0× | Strong catchment; practitioner recruitment is the limiting factor |
Orientation only, not a valuation. See all fourteen sectors or run the value range calculator.
Local factors
What is specific about valuing a Townsville business
Concentration is the central question
Where one counterparty — a defence prime, a miner, a government agency — is a large share of revenue, the valuation models its loss and prices what remains. A written multi-year agreement with assignment provisions reduces the discount considerably; a long-standing purchase-order relationship does not.
Prequalification and clearances as assets
Defence and resources supply chains require prequalification, security clearances, safety systems and accreditations that take years to build and do not always transfer on a sale. Where they sit with the entity they add value; where they sit with the owner personally they are a risk.
Cycles run longer here
Resources-linked earnings in North Queensland move on multi-year cycles. Maintainable earnings are assessed across four to five years rather than three, and the report justifies the period rather than defaulting to the convention.
Working with us from Townsville
How an engagement in Townsville runs
Townsville and North Queensland are attended by arrangement, with visits planned so that sites, plant 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 North Queensland is attended by scheduled visit, with sites, plant, workshops and stock covered in one planned trip and 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 Townsville
General questions on cost, timing and documents are on the full FAQ page.
Ask a valuerYes. We are engaged across regional Queensland and nationally. Site attendance is planned in advance so that everything requiring inspection is covered in one trip, and travel is included in the fixed fee quoted before we start.
It cuts both ways. Contracted revenue with a strong counterparty is high quality and supports the earnings figure. Concentration in a single relationship is a risk a buyer prices, commonly by more than a turn of the multiple. The remaining term, the renewal history and whether the contract survives a change of control all bear on how large that discount is.
Where they attach to the entity and would transfer, yes — they are a genuine barrier to entry and buyers recognise that. Where they attach to individuals who may leave, or where a change of ownership triggers reassessment, they are treated as a risk instead. The report distinguishes the two.
By assessing maintainable earnings across four to five years rather than three, weighting explicitly and disclosing the reasoning. A three-year average struck at the top of a cycle is the most common error in this sector and the first thing an experienced buyer or opposing expert will challenge.
Yes, in-house. Workshop plant, heavy equipment and vehicles are inspected and valued at market by a Certified Asset Valuer, then netted against any chattel mortgage or hire purchase secured against them.
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
Value the contract, the cycle and the plant together.
A free 15-minute scoping call, then a fixed fee in writing. No obligation, and nothing you send leaves our office.
1300 778 033