What a buyer sees
APPLEFORD LIMITED
Primary education · Nr Salisbury · 02173466
155staff · FY2023
39years trading
82oldest owner on file
£2.1Mcash at bank
Your turnover is on public record
filed£7.1Mfor 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
Staff155
2021185 → 1552023
Cash at bank£2.1M
2021£2.2M → £2.1M2023
How you sit in your trade
slowest tenth typical fastest tenth youSales per employee£45,733in the bottom quarter
£44,731£58,938£87,531
Debtor daysdays19in the middle half
94299
Creditor daysdays6
71462
Stock daysdays2below almost all
419161
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 36 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
- 39 years of trading on fileLongevity is the cheapest evidence there is that the business is not one contract.
- Stock days better than three quarters of your tradeYours is 2 against 19 for the middle of 82 comparable companies.
What the register says
Owners
- 82since 2016
Directors
- 63since 2023
- 82
| Year to | Turnover | Staff | Cash |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023-08-31 | £7.1M | 155 | £2.1M |
| 2022-08-31 | £6.8M | 165 | £2.0M |
| 2021-08-31 | £6.8M | 185 | £2.2M |
A rough bracket, and why it is only that
0.4–0.9× sales£2.8M£6.4M
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.