What a buyer sees
CAWSTON PRESS LIMITED
Manufacture of fruit and vegetable juice · Kettering · 04019196
34staff · FY2023
26years trading
70oldest owner on file
£1.7Mcash at bank
Your turnover is on public record
filed£20Mfor 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
Staff34
202125 → 342023
Cash at bank£1.7M
2021£2.9M → £1.7M2023
How you sit in your trade
slowest tenth typical fastest tenth youSales per employee£597,441in the top quarter
£75,818£268,200£906,093
Debtor daysdays77in the top quarter
225592
Creditor daysdays38
113064
Stock daysdays31in the middle half
1049126
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 32 months oldAnyone looking at the company today is reading a year that has already ended. Whatever has improved since is invisible.
- Debtor days run high for your tradeYours is 77 against 55 for the middle of 905 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
- 26 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 597,441 against 268,200 for the middle of 1,029 comparable companies.
What the register says
Owners
- 70since 2016
- 65since 2016
- 53since 2016
Directors
- 70since 2000
- 65since 2011
- 53since 2011
- since 2017
- 52since 2018
- 52since 2021
| Year to | Turnover | Staff | Cash |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023-12-31 | £20M | 34 | £1.7M |
| 2022-12-31 | £18M | 31 | £1.4M |
| 2021-12-25 | not filed | 25 | £2.9M |
A rough bracket, and why it is only that
0.4–0.9× sales£8.1M£18M
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.