5.3
Francesca Toolkit
Circular Value Capture Tool
The Circular Value Capture Tool helps organisations evaluate and compare the financial performance of circular business models against their current linear baseline. It translates circular strategies — repair, resale, remanufacturing, and product-as-a-service — into five-year financial projections, and provides a structured framework to assess economic viability, feasibility, and strategic readiness before committing to large-scale implementation. The tool is designed to be accessible to users without a financial background, while remaining rigorous enough to support investment decisions and stakeholder presentations. It combines quantitative modelling with qualitative feasibility scoring to give organisations a complete picture of the circular value case.
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Objective
The Circular Value Capture Tool helps organisations evaluate and compare the financial performance of circular business models against their current linear baseline. It translates circular strategies — repair, resale, remanufacturing, and product-as-a-service — into five-year financial projections, and provides a structured framework to assess economic viability, feasibility, and strategic readiness before committing to large-scale implementation.
The tool is designed to be accessible to users without a financial background, while remaining rigorous enough to support investment decisions and stakeholder presentations. It combines quantitative modelling with qualitative feasibility scoring to give organisations a complete picture of the circular value case.
What the Tool Is
The Circular Value Capture Tool is an Excel-based financial modelling and assessment tool. It is structured as a set of interconnected worksheets, each dedicated to a distinct business model scenario. Users input product, cost, and volume data on individual model sheets, and the tool automatically aggregates results into a comparative summary and an impact dashboard.
The tool covers the current linear baseline and four circular business models: Repair & Maintenance, Resell, Remanufacture, and Product-as-a-Service (PaaS). Results are consolidated through the Value Case Summary and Circular Impact Dashboard.
When to Use the Tool
The Circular Value Capture Tool is particularly useful when organisations are:
- Evaluating the financial viability of one or more circular business models
- Preparing a business case for circular transition investment
- Comparing the profitability of circular options against an existing linear model
- Conducting a feasibility assessment before launching a circular pilot
- Communicating circular strategy to management, investors, or sustainability stakeholders
Expected Output
Completing the tool produces:
- A five-year financial projection for each circular model (revenue, cost, EBITDA, cash flow, breakeven)
- A composite feasibility score per model, with signal traffic light (High / Medium / Low)
- Three-scenario financial ranges (Pessimistic, Base, Optimistic) driven by feasibility inputs
- A consolidated Year 5 Snapshot comparing all models on key financial metrics
- Cumulative cash flow trajectories for all models across the five-year horizon
- A Circular Impact Dashboard with circularity KPIs, model readiness scorecard, and formula-driven strategic narrative
- Four chart visualisations: stacked circular revenue growth, EBITDA margin trend, Year 5 grouped comparison, and EBITDA trajectory
The tool is designed to be used in sequence, starting from the Introduction sheet and working through each model sheet before reviewing the consolidated outputs. Each step below corresponds to a distinct activity within the tool.
Read the Introduction sheet
Open the Introduction sheet first. It explains the tool structure, the colour-coding system, and the five business models covered. Familiarise yourself with the sheet layout before entering any data.
Complete the Current Linear Baseline sheet
Enter your product’s current financial data: number of units sold per year, average selling price, and cost breakdown (materials, labour, logistics, overhead). This establishes the financial baseline against which all circular models are compared. The sheet will automatically calculate annual revenue, operating costs, EBITDA, and cumulative cash flow for Years 1–5. If your company currently offers any repair or service revenue, include it in the designated rows.
Complete the model sheet(s) relevant to your strategy
Each circular model has its own dedicated sheet. You do not need to complete all four — only fill in the models you are actively considering. For each model, enter the volume inputs (units or jobs in Year 1 and Year 5), pricing, cost per unit or job, and Year 1 investment. The tool linearly interpolates volumes for Years 2–4 automatically. Yellow-highlighted cells are user inputs; all other calculated cells should not be edited.
Complete the Feasibility Assessment section
Below the financial projections on each model sheet, there is a qualitative feasibility section. Enter the requested indicators, such as share of repairable products, customer willingness to subscribe, or product yield rate. These inputs feed the composite Feasibility Score (0–100) and determine the scenario multipliers used in the Scenario Analysis block. The higher the score, the narrower the scenario range and the more confident the projections.
Review the Scenario Analysis
Each model sheet contains a Scenario Analysis block showing Pessimistic, Base, and Optimistic projections for revenue, EBITDA, net cash flow, and cumulative cash flow across Years 1–5. The scenario range is driven by the Feasibility Score, allowing users to understand the uncertainty range around the base projection. Costs are held constant across scenarios — only revenue is adjusted.
Review the Value Case Summary
The Value Case Summary sheet automatically pulls results from all model sheets and presents a side-by-side comparison. It includes a Year 5 Snapshot, cumulative net cash flow across all five years, chart data, and a Scenario Comparison showing Pessimistic, Base, and Optimistic results for each model at Year 5. No manual input is needed on this sheet.
Review the Circular Impact Dashboard
The Circular Impact Dashboard translates the financial results into sustainability metrics and a strategic reading. It requires three user inputs: estimated lifespan extension from circular loops, average products per client order, and average product weight. All other cells are formula-driven. The dashboard is structured for a sustainability manager or executive audience and should be used to communicate results rather than for data entry.
The tool evaluates circular value capture by establishing the current financial baseline, modelling four circular business model options, and consolidating their financial, feasibility, and circularity results for comparison and strategic assessment.
Furniture retailer: A furniture retailer designs a refurbishment-service workflow covering product return, inspection, repair and resale through a dedicated second-life channel — a route comparable to premium resale programmes such as Vitra Circle.
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