What a buyer sees
P & J LISTER LIMITED
Other retail sale in non-specialised stores · Cockermouth · 04931444
Nobody can see what you turn over
5.0× spreadYou file abbreviated accounts, as almost every company your size does, so the profit and loss account is not on public record. That band is what your balance sheet implies to anyone who looks: 3 figures against 37 companies in the same trade and size. An opening offer is built on the bottom of it.
What your filings show moving
How you sit in your trade
slowest tenth typical fastest tenth youEach 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
- Your turnover is not on fileYou file abbreviated accounts, as most companies your size do, so a buyer cannot see what the business turns over and has to estimate it. Working only from what you filed, the range lands between £1.8M and £8.9M. An opening offer is built on the low end of whatever they guess.
- 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
- 23 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
- 69since 2024
- 60since 2016
Directors
- since 2003
- 69since 2003
| Year to | Filed | Turnover | Staff | Cash |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-01-31 | 2026-09-04 | not filed | 65 | £856k |
| 2024-01-31 | — | not filed | 62 | £653k |
| 2023-01-31 | — | not filed | 62 | £495k |
| 2022-01-31 | — | not filed | 60 | £615k |
A rough bracket, and why it is only that
0.25–0.5× salesThe 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.