What a buyer sees
DISCOUNT BUILDERS MERCHANTS (KENT) LIMITED
Wholesale of wood, construction materials and sanitary equipment · Gravesend · 05560047
10staff · FY2024
21years trading
—oldest owner on file
£505kcash at bank
Your turnover is on public record
filed£8.4Mfor the year to 2024
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
Staff10
202212 → 102024
Cash at bank£505k
2022£1.7M → £505k2024
How you sit in your trade
slowest tenth typical fastest tenth youSales per employee£844,520in the middle half
£298,784£534,087£1,466,130
Debtor daysdays20below almost all
265677
Creditor daysdays43
83270
Stock daysdays62in the middle half
1243132
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 29 months oldAnyone looking at the company today is reading a year that has already ended. Whatever has improved since is invisible.
- 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 3
- 21 years of trading on fileLongevity is the cheapest evidence there is that the business is not one contract.
- Debtor days better than three quarters of your tradeYours is 20 against 56 for the middle of 38 comparable companies.
- A board that has been together ten years or moreContinuity a buyer does not have to take on trust.
What the register says
Owners
Nobody recorded with significant control.
Directors
- since 2005
- 61since 2010
| Year to | Turnover | Staff | Cash |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-03-31 | £8.4M | 10 | £505k |
| 2023-03-31 | not filed | 11 | £644k |
| 2022-03-31 | not filed | 12 | £1.7M |
A rough bracket, and why it is only that
0.35–0.55× sales£3.0M£4.6M
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.