What a buyer sees
HUGHES FORREST LIMITED
Agents involved in the sale of timber and building materials · South Wales · 00926615
96staff · FY2023
58years trading
52oldest owner on file
£5.5Mcash at bank
Your turnover is on public record
filed£19Mfor 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
Staff96
202191 → 962023
Cash at bank£5.5M
2021£3.7M → £5.5M2023
How you sit in your trade
slowest tenth typical fastest tenth youSales per employee£196,716in the bottom quarter
£184,522£241,086£446,919
Debtor daysdays33in the middle half
264573
Creditor daysdays23
193556
Stock daysdays41in the middle half
254290
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.
- Everyone on the board is over 60There is no one on the register a buyer can see taking the business on. That is a discount if it stays that way and a negotiating point if it changes.
- 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 2
- 58 years of trading on fileLongevity is the cheapest evidence there is that the business is not one contract.
- A board that has been together ten years or moreContinuity a buyer does not have to take on trust.
What the register says
Owners
- 50since 2016
- 52since 2016
Directors
- 79since 1995
- since 2003
- 62since 2005
| Year to | Turnover | Staff | Cash |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023-12-31 | £19M | 96 | £5.5M |
| 2022-12-31 | £19M | 93 | £4.6M |
| 2021-12-31 | £20M | 91 | £3.7M |
A rough bracket, and why it is only that
0.35–0.55× sales£6.6M£10M
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.