What are Signals?
Contents
What are our signals?
We display signals on company profiles to help you see at a glance why a company may be interesting to you. The below table outlines the signals:
| Category | Signals |
|---|---|
| Growth | Equity fundraisings* Debt fundraisings* MBO/MBI* Accelerator* 10% scaleup* 20% scaleup* High growth list* |
| Innovation | R&D grant* Academic spinout* Patent |
| Environmental | Clean and renewable energy Green transport Green building & infrastructure Sustainable food & farming Environmental accolades |
| Social & Governance | Gender pay equality Gender equality of directors Age diversity of directors Social impact accolades |
| Risk | Liquidation & insolvency CCJ Short runway Down round |
Signals with an * signify Beauhurst tracking triggers.
How does Beauhurst calculate risk signals?
Liquidation & insolvency
The company’s status on Companies House is one of the following:
- Administration order
- Administrative receiver appointed
- Administration
- Moratorium
- Voluntary arrangement
- Liquidation
Liquidation and insolvency indicates the company may be at risk of closure.
CCJ
The company currently has an outstanding County Court Judgement (CCJ). This tells us that the company has been taken to court over unpaid debts, and the court has ruled in favour of the creditor. This data is sourced from the Registry Trust, which collates judgements from local courts across the UK.
Short runway
The company’s cash runway is 8 months or fewer, based on the latest financial accounts. Runway is calculated by dividing the total cash by the net cash flow before financing. In order to receive the signal, the company’s cash must be positive and net cash flow must be negative. Companies also cannot have undergone an acquisition, secured a fundraising, or received a grant after the year-end date of its most recent accounts.
A company’s runway indicates how long it has left until it runs out of cash. A shorter runway implies the company might not have the means to continue trading for long.
Down round
The company’s most recent pre-money valuation is ≥10% lower than the pre-money valuation of its highest-ever valuation.
Valuation data is derived from share allotment forms filed with Companies House, following our share allotment review process. To calculate the pre-money valuation, we subtract the amount of investment received in a particular round from the post-money valuation. The post-money valuation is calculated as share price multiplied by the total number of shares.
How does Beauhurst collect Environmental data?
We look at a company’s activities (such as descriptions, sectors, and buzzwords) to decide whether companies operate in any of the below environmental spaces, in which case it receives the following signals:
Clean & renewable energy
This includes clean energy, renewable energy and energy management.
Green transport
This encapsulates electric vehicles, electric parts and infrastructure.
Green infrastructure & building
This captures building technologies, pollution (air, noise, carbon), recycling, waste management and environmental consulting.
Sustainable agriculture & food production
This covers urban farming, low carbon meat & dairy alternatives, precision agriculture and food waste reduction.
Environmental accolades
Companies that earn recognition from environmentally-focused funds, accelerators, and high-growth lists get the environmental accolades signal. To qualify, the majority of companies in a portfolio must be actively pursuing environmental goals; if only a few are, it doesn’t count as an environmental focus.
How does Beauhurst collect Social & Governance data?
We are looking at the age and gender of directors, as well as gender pay gap data, in order to generate S&G signals for a given company. They are:
Gender equality of directors
The percentage of women directors relative to the number of directors is between 45% and 55%. Note that we are excluding companies from this calculation where the gender of a director is unknown, and where there are less than 2 directors.
Age diversity of directors
Companies that have variance in the age of directors, where the company has more than 2 directors and directors aren’t under 18 or over 100 years old.
Gender pay equality
Companies reporting gender pay gap data that have less than a 5% difference in the mean hourly pay of men or women.
Social impact accolades
Companies that earn recognition from socially-focused funds, accelerators, and high-growth lists receive the social impact accolades signal. To qualify, the majority of companies in a portfolio must be actively pursuing social goals; if only a few are, it doesn’t count as a social focus. Social goals can vary but include areas such as funding businesses supporting underrepresented groups, addressing poverty, and tackling diversity.
Some organisations can be focused on both social and environmental goals, resulting in some companies receiving both an environmental and social impact accolades signal. So long as the majority of an organisation’s portfolio or features are focused on both social and environmental action, companies may receive both signals.