A revenue multiple can be looked at as a function of two things:...

A revenue multiple can be looked at as a function of two things:

1. Profit Margin, multiplied by...
2. A Capitalisation Factor, which depends on industry characteristics and growth prospects.

If a company's industry earns low profit margins, as a general rule, the sales multiple will also be low.

A good comparison is looking at a listed auto dealer group (APE, AHG) with low-mid single digit margins vs a toll road group (e.g. TCL) with 70%+ margins. You'll find a very big difference in the multiple of sales the market is willing to accord these two stocks.

For a business which is essentially a 'body-shop', long term sustainable margins would probably be a lot lower than a brewer which needs a higher margin to pay for fixed capital. Also arguably a surveyor is a surveyor is a surveyor, but not all beers are created equal - so pricing based on differentiation is another issue.