Title: Employing Valuation Tools for Public and Private Companies. The Food Sector in Greece
Abstract: Valuation methods are widely used playing a key role in everyday business today. All companies, despite their size and type, regularly perform valuations in order to examine their progress, to estimate the outcome of their future plans, and to know their position in relation to the competition. The aim of this paper, is to give an idea of the most appropriate valuation method that has to be used for a company, taking under consideration its unique characteristics. We focus on valuing companies that belong to the food sector. We chose to study the valuation procedures that are being used by a public and a private company, while also identifying the differences between them. Particular emphasis was shed on the valuation using the Three Stage Free Cash Flow to Equity (3st-FCFE) method. Methods used, were chosen taking under consideration the characteristics of each company, previous testing and the possibility to attain superior estimates towards a company's prospects. After the application of each method, in each company, we proceeded with the interpretation of the results, and we noted the difficulties and problems that were faced during the application of each method, both for the public and the private Company. In the final part of this paper, we compare the valuation methods that were used, and we conclude as to which one is the most appropriate method for each type of firm as well as to some policy recommendations for the food sector in Greece.