Every company in Mantle carries a single number from 0 to 100. It is not an opinion, a rating or an estimate - it is a weighted read of what the business has already filed. Five signals, all drawn from public accounts and Companies House records, combine into one score that ranks how acquirable a company looks today.
Margin carries the most weight, followed by the two timing signals, then the balance sheet and size. Each signal is scored independently from filed data and summed - no signal can be gamed by narrative alone.
Operating margin from filed accounts - the single best signal of a healthy, well-run business. It carries the most weight because durable profitability is the hardest thing to fake and the easiest thing to underwrite.
The oldest active director’s age against the retirement window. Companies where the principal is 60+, 72+ or 80+ score progressively higher - proximity to retirement is what turns a good business into an available one.
A sole director with no named successor - no second active director sharing the owner’s surname. When there is no obvious internal heir, a sale becomes the most likely exit rather than a family handover.
Cash relative to revenue. A cash-rich, low-debt balance sheet is simpler to transact, cleaner to finance and less likely to hide surprises in a data room.
Revenue against the search-fund sweet spot. Turnover of £2-10m scores highest - large enough to support a full-time owner-operator, small enough to acquire without institutional scale.
The headline number is split into two reads so you can sort by intent, not just total.
Before anything is scored, the field is narrowed to companies that could plausibly change hands to an individual buyer. Mantle tracks roughly 18,500 active UK companies that meet every one of the filters below. The score only ranks within that set - it never invents businesses that are not really for sale.
Financial and real-estate firms, holding-company shells and companies limited by guarantee - charities, schools and similar bodies with no shares to buy - are excluded outright. There is nothing to acquire, so there is nothing to score.
Browse the ranked universe, sort by Timing or Quality, and open any profile to see the five signals broken out line by line.
Source data: Companies House, under the Open Government Licence, combined with filed company accounts. Refreshed regularly. The acquirability score is a screening signal, not investment advice.