What a buyer sees
WICKFORD DEVELOPMENT COMPANY LIMITED
Construction of domestic buildings · Chelmsford · 00783757
9staff · FY2023
63years trading
—oldest owner on file
£6.8Mcash at bank
Your turnover is on public record
filed£5.4Mfor 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
Staff9
202110 → 92023
Cash at bank£6.8M
2021£14M → £6.8M2023
How you sit in your trade
slowest tenth typical fastest tenth youSales per employee£601,778above almost all
£9,627£48,867£442,309
Debtor daysdaysnot on your filings
1136184
Creditor daysdays4
825106
Stock daysdays3138above almost all
1191582
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.
- A director resigned in the past yearA buyer will ask why, and will hear the answer from somewhere. Better from you.
- Stock days run high for your tradeYours is 3,138 against 91 for the middle of 91 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 2
- 63 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 601,778 against 48,867 for the middle of 205 comparable companies.
What the register says
Owners
Nobody recorded with significant control.
Directors
- 69since 2011
- 58since 2011
- since 2021
- 92
| Year to | Turnover | Staff | Cash |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023-12-31 | £5.4M | 9 | £6.8M |
| 2022-12-31 | £15M | 9 | £9.4M |
| 2021-12-31 | £25M | 10 | £14M |
A rough bracket, and why it is only that
0.2–0.45× sales£1.1M£2.4M
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.