Established Steel Distributor, High-Margin Service Model

Metals sales offices for sale in Los Angeles Metro

Asking price

$2,005,000

Revenue

$5,160,751

Cash flow

$563,507

About this business

This is a metals distribution business built on a deliberate contrarian premise: compete on service and depth, not on price. Operating for nearly four decades in the Southern California market, the business runs a hybrid model that is roughly half inventory-based and half brokered. On-floor inventory is dedicated to long-standing key accounts, while the broker side sources carbon steel, stainless, and aluminum on demand, letting the company quote complete mixed-material lists that pure stocking distributors cannot fill. The fabrication division was retired in 2014; this is distribution and processing only, with no licensing required of a buyer.

The owner reports that the top five customers represent roughly 77% of revenue, with most of those relationships running 15 to 30 years and annual churn around 5%. Critically, the account relationships are held by the company's salespeople rather than by the owner, so they transfer with the team. That team, about 10 employees, has had zero turnover and no new hires in five years. The owner is in the office one day a week, with day-to-day management handled by staff.

Revenue has grown each of the past three years, from $3.9M in 2023 to $4.8M in 2025 and $5.2M on a trailing-twelve-month basis, with adjusted cash flow growing from roughly $234K to $564K over the same stretch. 2026 is tracking ahead of 2025, profitable in seven of the first nine months. A full add-back schedule has been prepared, and one-time items, including a legal settlement, have been excluded from the adjusted figures rather than counted as earnings.

The growth story is unusually concrete because the owner has deliberately run the company in preservation mode for several years: the current footprint can absorb roughly 30% more volume without new trucks or major capital expenditure, there has been no dedicated sales hire or business development push, and no digital or AI-assisted outreach has ever been deployed. The levers are identified, inexpensive, and unpulled.

The owner founded the business in 1988 and is ready to hand it to someone who can carry it forward; his stated priority is a buyer who will value and retain the team. He is willing to stay on as a consultant for up to two years, is open to seller financing, and is not tied to the current location. The standout: a half-brokered, half-inventory model with above-norm margins and below-norm overhead, stable and growing on one day a week of owner attention.