UK limited companies for sale

The active UK marketplaces are Sell Ltd (limited-company vertical, AI matching, Recently-Sold data), BusinessesForSale (largest inventory, mostly sole-trader and franchise), Rightbiz (retail-heavy, lower filter depth), DaltonsBusiness (traditional, retail/hospitality bias) and Intelligent Business Transfer (franchise-broker model). Sell Ltd is the only platform that lists limited companies only, filtered against live Companies House filings.

Around 5,700 UK businesses were publicly advertised for sale on the four largest marketplaces in the last full quarter, with roughly 62% classified as UK limited companies and the remainder sole traders, partnerships or franchises. Sell Ltd's own live count updates on this page each hour from the marketplace feed.

Median advertised asking price for a UK limited company under 250 employees was £415,000 in the last quarter, with a sector spread from £120,000 (retail hospitality single sites) to £2.4m (B2B services with recurring revenue). Median completed multiples sit around 3.4× EBITDA for sub-£1m EBITDA businesses (source: Sell Ltd deal database, filed via Companies House post-completion accounts).

Yes. Browsing every UK limited company listing, filtering by sector, region and price band, and reading each teaser is free without an account. Full information memorandums are released after signing an NDA on the listing — free for buyers, no card required.

Every Sell Ltd listing is cross-checked against Companies House filings (company exists, is active, has filed accounts) before it goes public. Listings without a valid company number, or whose accounts contradict the teaser numbers, are rejected. See the vetting workflow at /businesses-for-sale/curation.

Yes. Save any search — sector, region, price band, or a keyword filter such as 'recurring revenue' — and Sell Ltd emails you within 30 minutes of a matching listing going live. See saved searches + email alerts for the full alert cadence and unsubscribe options.

You tell Chris (our AI deal adviser) what you're looking to acquire — sector, size, region, deal structure. Chris ranks live listings by fit and, more importantly, surfaces companies from Companies House that are not yet listed but match your criteria (recent director changes, filed accounts trajectory, PSC changes, sector concentration). See AI-matched businesses for sale — how it works.

A UK limited company is a distinct legal entity registered at Companies House with its own filings, PSC record and share capital — you buy shares or assets from the company. A sole trader has no separate legal entity — you buy the business assets and goodwill from the individual. Limited companies dominate deals above £250,000 because share sales carry Business Asset Disposal Relief for qualifying sellers.

BusinessesForSale carries the largest UK inventory (~£4m listings advertising fee revenue in 2024) but no verification, no AI matching, no Companies House cross-check. Sell Ltd carries a smaller but limited-company-only inventory with mandatory Companies House verification and AI buyer matching. See the full side-by-side at /businesses-for-sale/compare/sell-ltd-vs-businessesforsale.

Yes. Listing is free. Sell Ltd charges 1.5% on completion — no upfront retainer, no exclusivity. Chris drafts your information memorandum from Companies House filings plus a 30-minute survey, publishes a confidential teaser, and starts targeted buyer outreach. See /sell-my-business for the seller journey.

Distressed and administration opportunities live at /administrations (published from The Gazette insolvency feed) rather than the main marketplace. The marketplace here is for solvent trading businesses; distressed sales run on a separate workflow because the buyer risk profile and legal structure are materially different.

Top five by advertised volume (last quarter): (1) food & beverage single sites, (2) professional services (accountancy, consultancy), (3) e-commerce D2C, (4) B2B SaaS and MSPs, (5) health & beauty single sites. Sell Ltd's inventory over-indexes on categories 2–4 because our AI matching is strongest where filed accounts carry signal.