3117 Freight Brokerage & Transportation Company, 26-Year Wisconsin Logistics Operator

$9.2M

Revenue

$700K

SDE

5.0x

Multiple

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Full Editorial Writeup

This is a 26-year-old freight brokerage and transportation provider based in Wisconsin, running an asset-light model that arranges nationwide shipping across Truckload, Volume LTL, Flatbed, Intermodal, and Expedited lanes. Rather than owning a fleet, the company sits between commercial shippers and a vast contract carrier network, earning the spread on managing freight for clients in manufacturing, distribution, printing, and general commodities.

The economics here are the story. On $9.225M of gross revenue the business throws off $700K of SDE, and the asking price of $3.5M puts it at roughly 5x SDE. Brokerages recognize gross booking revenue but keep a thin net margin, so the real question for a buyer is the quality and stickiness of the net revenue, not the headline top line. The listing emphasizes recurring, long-standing customer relationships and low working capital requirements, which is exactly what you want in this model.

What makes it notable is durability: 26 years of operating history through multiple freight cycles, an established vendor and carrier network, and door-to-door execution with real-time tracking. Freight brokerage is a fragmented, relationship-driven business where incumbency and carrier depth matter, and this operator has both. The trade-off a buyer must underwrite is customer concentration and how much of the margin walks out the door with the owner's relationships.

Why we like it

Earnings quality is anchored by an asset-light model with low working capital and 26 years of operating history, which means capital does not get trapped in trucks, trailers, or maintenance. The $700K SDE on $9.225M revenue reflects a broker's thin-but-scalable margin, and the recurring customer base suggests the earnings repeat rather than reset each year.
The moat is the carrier network and the client relationships built over more than two decades. In freight brokerage, incumbency compounds: shippers stay because switching risk is real, and a deep contract carrier network gives pricing and capacity advantages that a new entrant cannot replicate quickly.
Transportation and logistics are structurally essential. Manufacturers, distributors, and commodity shippers still need freight moved during downturns, and an asset-light broker actually gains flexibility in soft markets because it is not sitting on depreciating equipment or fixed fleet costs.
This is a clean operator fit for a buyer with logistics or sales-management chops. The asset-light structure keeps the acquisition price tied to earnings rather than hard assets, and at 5x SDE the entry is reasonable for a business with this kind of tenure and recurring revenue profile.

How to improve it

Map net revenue by customer in the first 30 days and identify concentration risk. If the top three accounts drive a disproportionate share of margin, build direct relationships with those decision-makers immediately and formalize contracts or committed volume to de-risk the transition away from the seller.
Layer in a modern TMS and automated carrier sourcing to lift margin per load. Many legacy brokerages leave points on the table with manual load matching and email-based tendering; tightening the tech stack directly expands the spread on every shipment without adding headcount.
Build a dedicated outbound sales motion. A 26-year-old broker often grows purely on referrals and inbound, so hiring or incentivizing one or two carrier and shipper hunters can reopen the growth engine and reduce dependence on legacy accounts.
Diversify the carrier base to protect capacity and margin. Deepening relationships with additional vetted carriers reduces the risk of getting squeezed on rates in tight markets and improves on-time performance metrics you can sell to shippers.
Introduce or expand value-added services like managed transportation, freight audit, and detailed reporting dashboards. These sticky, higher-margin offerings raise switching costs for existing clients and justify premium pricing over pure spot brokering.
Standardize and document the operating playbook before the seller exits. Codify pricing rules, carrier vetting, and account management so institutional knowledge does not walk out the door, which is the single biggest risk when buying a relationship-driven brokerage.

Diligence notes

Scrutinize net revenue versus gross booking revenue. The $9.225M is almost certainly gross freight billings, so the buyer must confirm the true net revenue (gross margin dollars) and reconcile it against the $700K SDE to understand the real economics and margin trend over the last three to five years.
Quantify customer concentration and contract terms. Determine what share of net revenue comes from the top five accounts, whether relationships are contractual or handshake, and how tightly they are tied to the owner personally versus the account managers who will stay.
Test carrier network stability and any factoring or credit exposure. Understand payment terms with carriers, whether the business fronts payments before collecting from shippers, and any factoring arrangements that could create working capital surprises post-close.
Analyze margin sensitivity to freight cycles. Freight rates have been volatile; review load counts and spread per load across 2021 through today to separate durable earnings from a temporary post-pandemic rate spike that may not repeat.
Confirm the founding year and true operating history. The listing shows Established: Not Disclosed in one field but references 25-plus and 26 years elsewhere, so verify entity age, ownership history, and whether the current owner built or acquired the book of business.

Source

Originally listed on BizBuySell. View original listing →