What a buyer sees
DUNCAN REEDS LIMITED
Manufacture of veneer sheets and wood-based panels · Billingshurst · 02373969
50staff · FY2023
37years trading
89oldest owner on file
£3.2Mcash at bank
Your turnover is on public record
filed£11Mfor 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
Staff50
202151 → 502023
Cash at bank£3.2M
2021£2.7M → £3.2M2023
How you sit in your trade
slowest tenth typical fastest tenth youSales per employee£229,474in the middle half
£88,871£162,513£362,127
Debtor daysdays69in the middle half
265687
Creditor daysdays87
143363
Stock daysdays12in the bottom quarter
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 35 months oldAnyone looking at the company today is reading a year that has already ended. Whatever has improved since is invisible.
- Headcount fell from 60 to 50A buyer sees the fall and not the reason. Deliberate tightening and losing people look identical on a filing.
- 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
- 37 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 12 against 45 for the middle of 2,028 comparable companies.
What the register says
Owners
- 63since 2016
- 89since 2016
Directors
- 61since 2004
- 55since 2004
- 56since 2014
- since 2025
- 63
- 89
| Year to | Turnover | Staff | Cash |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023-09-30 | £11M | 50 | £3.2M |
| 2022-09-30 | £11M | 60 | £2.7M |
| 2021-09-30 | £9.9M | 51 | £2.7M |
A rough bracket, and why it is only that
0.4–0.9× sales£4.6M£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.