What a buyer sees
C & O TRACTORS LIMITED
Manufacture of agricultural tractors · Dorset · 03431352
77staff · FY2023
29years trading
—oldest owner on file
£6kcash at bank
Your turnover is on public record
filed£27Mfor the year to 2023
Unusual at this size, and it works in your favour: a buyer is reading your number rather than guessing at one.
What your filings show moving
Staff77
202160 → 772023
Cash at bank£6k
2021£4k → £6k2023
How you sit in your trade
slowest tenth typical fastest tenth youSales per employee£352,674in the top quarter
£88,871£162,513£362,127
Debtor daysdays31in the bottom quarter
265687
Creditor daysdays124
143363
Stock daysdays161above almost all
1245115
Each spread is companies in the same trade and size that did publish a turnover. Creditor days are shown but not marked: neither end of that one is plainly good.
What a buyer would ask 3
- The newest accounts on file are 32 months oldAnyone looking at the company today is reading a year that has already ended. Whatever has improved since is invisible.
- Stock days run high for your tradeYours is 160 against 45 for the middle of 2,028 comparable companies. That gap is working capital a buyer has to fund on day one, and it comes off the price.
- No website on file against the companyThe first thing anyone does with a company number is look for the business behind it. Finding nothing is its own answer.
What a buyer would like 3
- 29 years of trading on fileLongevity is the cheapest evidence there is that the business is not one contract.
- Sales per employee better than three quarters of your tradeYours is 352,674 against 162,513 for the middle of 2,152 comparable companies.
- Debtor days better than three quarters of your tradeYours is 31 against 56 for the middle of 2,030 comparable companies.
What the register says
Owners
Nobody recorded with significant control.
Directors
- 55since 1997
- since 2006
- 47since 2023
| Year to | Turnover | Staff | Cash |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023-12-31 | £27M | 77 | £6k |
| 2022-12-31 | £27M | 70 | £10k |
| 2021-12-31 | £14M | 60 | £4k |
A rough bracket, and why it is only that
0.4–0.9× sales£11M£24M
The turnover range is fitted on UK companies that did file one. The multiple is a published sector average from Dutch mid-market deals, not from your own numbers and not from your own market. Treat this as the opening bracket of a conversation, not a valuation.