What a buyer sees
H.J. LEA OAKES LIMITED
Wholesale of grain, unmanufactured tobacco, seeds and animal feeds · Nantwich · 00218912
118staff · FY2023
99years trading
—oldest owner on file
£64kcash at bank
Your turnover is on public record
filed£170Mfor 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
Staff118
2021101 → 1182023
Cash at bank£64k
2021£92k → £64k2023
How you sit in your trade
slowest tenth typical fastest tenth youSales per employee£1,436,975above almost all
£98,596£257,484£692,330
Debtor daysdays32in the middle half
123977
Creditor daysdays4
133163
Stock daysdays2below almost all
1248117
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 2
- The newest accounts on file are 36 months oldAnyone looking at the company today is reading a year that has already ended. Whatever has improved since is invisible.
- 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 3
- 99 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 1,436,975 against 257,484 for the middle of 1,551 comparable companies.
- Stock days better than three quarters of your tradeYours is 2 against 48 for the middle of 1,442 comparable companies.
What the register says
Owners
Nobody recorded with significant control.
Directors
- 67since 2001
- 46since 2010
- 43since 2013
- 34since 2021
- 39since 2021
- since 2021
- 51since 2022
- 60since 2023
- 34since 2025
- 80
- 86
| Year to | Turnover | Staff | Cash |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023-08-31 | £170M | 118 | £64k |
| 2022-08-31 | £141M | 114 | £15k |
| 2021-08-31 | £117M | 101 | £92k |
A rough bracket, and why it is only that
0.35–0.55× sales£59M£93M
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.