What a buyer sees
ORCHARD CARS LIMITED
Sale of new cars and light motor vehicles · Craigavon · NI022574
23staff · FY2023
37years trading
—oldest owner on file
£3.4Mcash at bank
Your turnover is on public record
filed£21Mfor 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
Staff23
202139 → 232023
Cash at bank£3.4M
2021£2.5M → £3.4M2023
How you sit in your trade
slowest tenth typical fastest tenth youSales per employee£925,774in the top quarter
£341,925£599,935£1,306,824
Debtor daysdays5below almost all
71038
Creditor daysdays18
112559
Stock daysdays79in the top quarter
245093
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 4
- 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.
- Headcount fell from 28 to 23A buyer sees the fall and not the reason. Deliberate tightening and losing people look identical on a filing.
- Stock days run high for your tradeYours is 78 against 50 for the middle of 81 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 4
- 37 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 925,774 against 599,935 for the middle of 82 comparable companies.
- Debtor days better than three quarters of your tradeYours is 5 against 10 for the middle of 35 comparable companies.
- A board that has been together ten years or moreContinuity a buyer does not have to take on trust.
What the register says
Owners
Nobody recorded with significant control.
Directors
- 55since 2003
- 58since 2003
- 52since 2003
| Year to | Turnover | Staff | Cash |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023-12-31 | £21M | 23 | £3.4M |
| 2022-12-31 | £15M | 28 | £3.4M |
| 2021-12-31 | £17M | 39 | £2.5M |
A rough bracket, and why it is only that
0.4–0.9× sales£8.5M£19M
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.