ALBERT E.HICKS.LIMITED

💤Zombieactive
00189761 · ltd · incorporated 1923-05-04
Investment thesis
Zombie company — trading but stalled; unlikely mover.
Why interesting: Quiet, steady; could be a succession or carve-out candidate with the right conversation.
Why risky: No growth signal; thin margin for error on price.
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Jun 2025
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: Funeral and related activities
Sector: Other service activities
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 60-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (72/100, director aged 60). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Broaden director team. Sole director creates succession risk and reduces buyer comfort. Appoint a second director or strong #2. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (73/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

2 live charges · oldest 45.3y

45/100
under pressure

Refinance would be pressure-driven, not opportunity-driven. Expect tighter margins and covenant scrutiny.

  • · Oldest live charge is 45.3 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
  • · Distress signals active — lender appetite narrows.

Data confidence

Overall: medium (78/100)

Adequate coverage. AI outputs are reliable for the sections scored high; verify the rest in diligence.

Company profile
address, 1 SIC codes, incorporation date
100
Financials
2 years of iXBRL accounts extracted (YoY deltas available) + narrative notes parsed
75
Lenders & charges
2 charges (2/2 with lender, 2/2 with type)
90
Directors & officers
4 officers (2 active, 4 linked, 3 with DOB)
85
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
103 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
82/100Exceptional
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional 

Strong composite across quality, acquirability, and risk. High-priority target — progress to serious diligence.

Business quality
70
Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.
Acquirability
80
Strong succession / seller-readiness signals.
Risk profile
85
Few red flags.
Signal strength
100
Good data coverage for analysis.

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
—
Net Worth
—
Current Assets
—
Current Liabilities
—
£0£0£0£0£0£0Jun 2024Jun 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102
Metric2025-06-302024-06-30
Average employees500600

Amounts extracted automatically from iXBRL. Fields left blank were not reported or not mapped. Values in GBP unless stated.

🔒Filing-note intelligence

2 signals detected in this company's narrative notes — going-concern language, audit opinion, contingent liabilities, related-party transactions.

Available from the Pro tier upwards.

See pricing →

Recent activity

Last 30 days
1
filing
  • • 1 mortgage
Last 90 days
3
filings
  • • 1 mortgage
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
  • • 1 accounts
Last 180 days
3
filings
  • • 1 mortgage
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
  • • 1 accounts
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (24 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-06-01
    📄
    mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
    mortgage · MR04
  2. 2026-06-01
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #1
  3. 2026-03-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  4. 2025-04-22
    📄
    mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
    mortgage · MR04
  5. 2025-04-22
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #2
  6. 2025-03-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  7. 2024-03-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  8. 2024-02-12
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  9. 2023-04-03
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  10. 2023-03-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  11. 2022-03-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  12. 2021-03-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  13. 2020-04-03
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  14. 2019-04-25
    📄
    accounts-amended-with-made-up-date
    accounts · AAMD
  15. 2019-03-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  16. 2018-07-30
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  17. 2018-04-27
    📄
    accounts-amended-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AAMD
  18. 2018-03-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  19. 2017-04-28
    ➖
    HICKS, Pamela Mary resigned
    director
  20. 2013-01-25
    ➖
    HICKS, Geoffrey Albert resigned
    director
  21. 2001-10-01
    ➕
    HICKS, David Geoffrey appointed
    director
  22. 1989-09-04
    🔒
    Charge registered #2
    Lender: Barclays Bank PLC
  23. 1981-02-16
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: Barclays Bank PLC
  24. 1923-05-04
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As ALBERT E.HICKS.LIMITED

Owner dependency

100/100
Critical — business is the founder

The business appears inseparable from the founder. Acquisition without a serious earn-out or meaningful transition period would likely destroy value.

FACTORS
  • +Sole director: Only one active director — all governance concentrated on one person.
  • +Founder name in company name: Company name contains director surname "HICKS" — strong identity link between founder and business.
  • +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 25 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Senior director age: Director aged approximately 60 — approaching natural succession window.

Succession & seller-readiness

85/100
Likely off-market candidate

Strong acquirability signals converging. Worth approaching directly — this is how off-market deals start.

SIGNALS
  • secondaryFounder aged 58+: Senior director is approximately 60. Early succession window.
  • primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
  • primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 25 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 103 years old and no new directors in the last 3 years — succession not yet being planned internally.
  • supportingClean filings + long tenure: Disciplined long-tenure operator — classic lifestyle-business pattern that often sells quietly.

Red flags

clean
No red flags detected from available public data. (This is not a clean bill of health — detailed accounts review still recommended.)

Shareholders & ownership

1 active beneficial owner
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr David Geoffrey Hicks
Individual · British · DOB 09/1966 · age 60
25–50%
—25-50% shares06/04/2016

From Companies House Persons with Significant Control filings. Share ranges are banded per the public PSC regime.

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Peers ranked by estimated value, then turnover, then opportunity score.See all →
🔒Tailored diligence questions

7 specific questions generated from this company's actual signals — liquidity, leverage, director age, charge count, red flags, age-of-company.

Available from the Pro tier upwards.

See pricing →
🔒Advanced scoring suite

Exit-route ranking, improvement thesis, quiet-distress detector, covenant-pressure proxy, extraction monitor, approaching triggers, ownership drift, local cluster, value trap, debt capacity, archetype classification — 48+ scoring modules.

Available from the Pro tier upwards.

See pricing →

Company details

Statusactive
Typeltd
Incorporated1923-05-04
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC96030 — Funeral and related activities

Registered office

4a Brecon Court
William Brown Close
Llantarnam Industrial Park
NP44 3AB

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2027-03-31
Last made up to: 2025-06-30
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-04-05
Last: 2026-03-22

Officers (2 active · 2 resigned)

HICKS, David Geoffrey→
secretary
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
HICKS, David Geoffrey→
director · ~60y · appointed 2001-10-01
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
HICKS, Geoffrey Albert→
director · ~94y · resigned 2013-01-25
Resigned
HICKS, Pamela Mary→
director · ~96y · resigned 2017-04-28
Resigned

Click a director name to see their full track record across all companies.

Mortgages & charges

2
Total charges
0
Outstanding
0
Active lenders
Status:Lender:2 of 2 shown
TypeProperties
satisfied
Barclays
Barclays Bank PLC
Legal charge1 property04/09/198922/04/2025
satisfied
Barclays
Barclays Bank PLC
Legal charge1 property16/02/198101/06/2026

Recent filings (103 total)

mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
mortgage · MR04
2026-06-01
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-05-06
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2026-03-26
mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
mortgage · MR04
2025-04-22
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-03-31
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2025-03-28
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2024-03-23
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-03-22
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2024-02-12
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2023-04-03
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2023-03-30
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-03-22
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2022-03-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-03-22
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2021-03-30