A. ELLWOOD LIMITED

💤Zombieactive
00269068 · ltd · incorporated 1932-10-06
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 Sept 2025
Net worth
£305.4k
book net assets
Opportunity
79/100
Strong
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What this business does
Primary activity: Activities of head offices
Sector: Professional, scientific & technical
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 78-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 79/100 (strong), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (68/100, director aged 78). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Cash flow review and working-capital discipline. Cash down -56% YoY — forensic review of receivables, stock turns, and creditor days. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (73/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

3 live charges · oldest 70.0y

35/100
under pressure

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

  • · Oldest live charge is 70.0 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · 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
3 charges (0/3 with lender, 3/3 with type)
73
Directors & officers
3 officers (2 active, 3 linked, 2 with DOB)
83
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
7 connected companies via shared directors
66
Filing history
92 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
79/100Strong
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional 

Solid opportunity signal. Worth a dedicated memo and management meeting.

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

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · accounting standard not declared
Positive net assets
Net assets £305,434
Net assets shrinking
Down £1,243 YoY
Cash draining
Cash down 56% YoY
Cash YoY
-56%
Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
£37k
↓ 56% YoY
Net Worth
£305k
~ YoY
Current Assets
£257k
↓ 5.5% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
£0£61k£123k£184k£245k£307kSept 2024Sept 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2025-09-302024-09-30
Total assets£325.8k£327.1k
Current assets£256.8k£271.7k
Cash£37.1k£84.0k
Debtors£219.7k£187.7k
Net assets£305.4k£306.7k

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

🔒Filing-note intelligence

1 signal 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
0
filings
Last 90 days
1
filing
  • • 1 accounts
Last 180 days
2
filings
  • • 1 accounts
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (20 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-03-06
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2025-05-19
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  3. 2024-06-12
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  4. 2023-04-25
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  5. 2022-02-03
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  6. 2021-08-19
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  7. 2021-05-24
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  8. 2020-02-10
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  9. 2019-10-31
    📄
    accounts-amended-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AAMD
  10. 2019-10-21
    📄
    termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM01
  11. 2019-01-26
    📄
    gazette-filings-brought-up-to-date
    gazette · DISS40
  12. 2019-01-25
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  13. 2019-01-22
    📄
    gazette-notice-compulsory
    gazette · GAZ1
  14. 2018-11-30
    ➖
    UDALL, David Victor resigned
    director
  15. 2017-08-07
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  16. 2016-08-09
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  17. 1956-05-29
    🔒
    Charge registered #3
    A registered charge
  18. 1956-05-29
    🔒
    Charge registered #2
    Legal charge
  19. 1956-05-29
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Legal charge
  20. 1932-10-06
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As A. ELLWOOD 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 "ELLWOOD" — strong identity link between founder and business.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 78 — succession pressure is live.

Succession & seller-readiness

85/100
Likely off-market candidate

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

SIGNALS
  • primaryFounder aged 70+: Senior director is approximately 78 years old. Natural succession window is now.
  • primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 94 years old and no new directors in the last 3 years — succession not yet being planned internally.

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 · dominant holder ≥75%
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Ms Ann Ellwood
Individual · British · DOB 01/1948 · age 78
75–100%
—75-100% shares06/04/2016

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

🔒Co-director network graph

Radial SVG graph showing every company connected via shared directors, colour-coded by status.

Available from the Pro tier upwards.

See pricing →

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

9 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
Incorporated1932-10-06
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC70100 — Activities of head offices

Registered office

21 Stafford Road
Croydon
Surrey
CR0 4NG
England

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2027-07-01
Last made up to: 2025-09-30
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-01-14
Last: 2025-12-31

Officers (2 active · 1 resigned)

ELLWOOD, Ann→
secretary
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
ELLWOOD, Ann→
director · ~78y
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
UDALL, David Victor→
director · ~89y · resigned 2018-11-30
Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

3
Total charges
3
Outstanding
1
Active lenders
Status:Lender:3 of 3 shown
TypeProperties
outstanding
Unknown
A registered charge2 properties29/05/1956—
outstanding
Unknown
Legal charge1 property29/05/1956—
outstanding
Unknown
Legal charge1 property29/05/1956—
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (92 total)

accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2026-03-06
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-01-12
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-05-19
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-01-03
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-06-12
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-01-02
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-04-25
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-01-09
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-02-03
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-01-04
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2021-08-19
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-05-24
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-01-04
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-02-10
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-01-02