What a buyer sees
VALUELIGHTS LIMITED
Retail sale via mail order houses or via Internet · Manchester · 06973805
78staff · FY2023
17years trading
—oldest owner on file
£358kcash at bank
Your turnover is on public record
filed£15Mfor 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
Staff78
2022107 → 782023
Cash at bank£358k
2022£445k → £358k2023
How you sit in your trade
slowest tenth typical fastest tenth youSales per employee£188,891in the middle half
£134,596£237,777£572,902
Debtor daysdays5below almost all
820106
Creditor daysdays22
142558
Stock daysdays96in the top quarter
1951115
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 5
- 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.
- A director resigned in the past yearA buyer will ask why, and will hear the answer from somewhere. Better from you.
- Headcount fell from 107 to 78A buyer sees the fall and not the reason. Deliberate tightening and losing people look identical on a filing.
- Stock days run high for your tradeYours is 96 against 51 for the middle of 52 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
- Debtor days better than three quarters of your tradeYours is 5 against 20 for the middle of 118 comparable companies.
What the register says
Owners
Nobody recorded with significant control.
Directors
- 54since 2009
- 34since 2024
- 37since 2026
- 40since 2026
| Year to | Turnover | Staff | Cash |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023-06-30 | £15M | 78 | £358k |
| 2022-06-30 | £34M | 107 | £445k |
A rough bracket, and why it is only that
0.25–0.5× sales£3.7M£7.4M
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.