What a buyer sees
SEARCHLIGHT ELECTRIC LIMITED
Wholesale of household goods (other than musical instruments) n.e.c. · Manchester · 01169504
156staff · FY2023
52years trading
81oldest owner on file
£4.9Mcash at bank
Your turnover is on public record
filed£23Mfor 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
Staff156
2021145 → 1562023
Cash at bank£4.9M
2021£6.7M → £4.9M2023
How you sit in your trade
slowest tenth typical fastest tenth youSales per employee£149,606below almost all
£179,345£328,550£565,072
Debtor daysdays54in the middle half
225072
Creditor daysdays27
111947
Stock daysdays145above almost all
3774132
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 38 months oldAnyone looking at the company today is reading a year that has already ended. Whatever has improved since is invisible.
- Stock days run high for your tradeYours is 145 against 74 for the middle of 43 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 1
- 52 years of trading on fileLongevity is the cheapest evidence there is that the business is not one contract.
What the register says
Owners
- 53since 2016
- 74since 2016
- 81since 2016
Directors
- 53since 2003
- 55since 2023
- 48since 2023
- 74
| Year to | Turnover | Staff | Cash |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023-06-30 | £23M | 156 | £4.9M |
| 2022-06-30 | £26M | 157 | £5.7M |
| 2021-06-30 | £30M | 145 | £6.7M |
A rough bracket, and why it is only that
0.35–0.55× sales£8.2M£13M
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.