Among the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that will be for sale in Canada in the coming years, almost a third will be located in Quebec, reports a study. This will be a great opportunity for others to take advantage of it to suddenly increase their turnover, accelerate the acquisition of new technologies and reduce their labor scarcity problems.
In total, almost one in ten small business owners intends to sell their business to someone other than a family member or the business in the next five years in Canada, estimates the Business Development Bank of Canada ( BDC) in a study due to be released Tuesday. Almost a third (31%) of these 116,000 SMEs for sale will be in Quebec, although it accounts for only 21% of all Canadian businesses and because a greater proportion of its entrepreneurs are reaching old age. of retirement.
It must be said that those aged 50 to 64 (47%) and those 65 and over (12%) constitute the bulk of the workforce of SME owners in Canada and that the COVID-19 pandemic “has made some people think about it. their plans for the future, ”says the 30-page study based on statistical analysis, expert opinion and an online survey of 1,500 entrepreneurs. Of the quarter of those who intend to divest their businesses, 32% plan to sell them or transfer them to a family or business member, compared to 37% externally and 31% who are simply thinking of closing the shop.
On the other hand, 13% of Canadian entrepreneurs – representing 170,000 SMEs – intend to grow their businesses over the next five years by making acquisitions. These entrepreneurs who are thinking about buying are more and more numerous since the pandemic to see it as a quick way to increase their clientele (42%), to gain talents and expertise (30%) or to acquire technology (25%).
They are not wrong, says BDC, which has calculated that they are indeed twice as likely to experience sales growth above the average for their industry. However, the context has rarely been so favorable for making acquisitions at a time not only of abundance of capital and low interest rates, but also of scarcity of labor and the acceleration of the technological shift. , argued in a telephone interview at To have to its chief economist, Pierre Cléroux. “There should be more,” he says. This is a great way to accelerate the growth of a business and, with aging entrepreneurs, there will be a lot of good companies to acquire in the market in the next five to ten years. the timing is perfect. “
The economist is not worried with the higher proportion of SMEs that will be for sale in Quebec in the coming years, nor with the fact that these will often be smaller (less than 2 million turnover) than those which are sought by potential buyers. “Good companies will find a taker,” he says.
He also reassures those who are afraid that these good catches all go to foreign investors. Year in and year out, twice as many Canadian SMEs buy from foreign companies than the opposite. The phenomenon could be even more marked with the tightening of the Buy American Act rules in the United States, which will encourage Canadian companies to have a foothold south of the border.
From Saguenay to India
Éloïse Harvey does not need to be convinced of these arguments. Since taking over from her father at the helm of Mecfor, a Saguenay equipment manufacturer specializing in the aluminum and rail sector, in 2018, the 45-year-old business manager has been looking for the right opportunity to expand the size and scope of their business. In August, it finally concluded a merger with Advanced Dynamics of Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville, another equipment manufacturer specializing in pulp and paper with production facilities in India.
“It’s a lot of work, but this merger allows us to quickly achieve a size that gives us the means to achieve our ambitions. To be able to devote resources to missions that we consider to be priorities, ”explains the CEO of the new entity called EPIQ Machinerie. In addition to allowing diversification of business sectors, this marriage will also help reduce the bottleneck exerted by the scarcity of labor in Quebec, says Éloïse Harvey. This year alone, we plan to hire a hundred more employees in India to meet the demand. “We would never have been able to do that here. “
His company is already preparing a next acquisition “within a year or two”. It will aim to accelerate the adoption of new automation and robotization technologies.