ALTRINCHAM PREPARATORY SCHOOL LIMITED

🌳Matureactive

00314852 · ltd · incorporated 1936-06-05

Investment thesis

Looks cheap but ownership + security both unclear — probable value trap.

Why interesting: Headline metrics may be attractive.

Why risky: No PSC visibility combined with multiple live charges; transacting likely slow and expensive.

🔒Estimated value

—

Upgrade to see

Turnover

—

year to Aug 2025

Net worth

£1.86M

book net assets

Opportunity

83/100

Exceptional

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What this business does

Primary activity: Primary education

Sector: Education

Investor take

Pursue

Active trading company with a 88-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 83/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (63/100, director aged 88). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Cash flow review and working-capital discipline. Cash down -51% YoY — forensic review of receivables, stock turns, and creditor days. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

3 live charges · oldest 29.1y

45/100

under pressure

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

· Oldest live charge is 29.1 years old — likely at or near maturity.
· Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
· Cashflow trend is negative — lender view likely cautious.

Data confidence

Overall: medium (71/100)

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

Lenders & charges

3 charges (3/3 with lender, 3/3 with type)

Directors & officers

13 officers (6 active, 13 linked, 11 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

No PSCs filed (unusual — worth investigating)

Director network

1 connected companies via shared directors

Filing history

122 filings on record

Gazette notices

No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)

Opportunity Score

83/100Exceptional

PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional

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

Business quality

Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.

Acquirability

Strong succession / seller-readiness signals.

Risk profile

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 £1,861,500

Cash draining

Cash down 51% YoY

Cash YoY

-51%

Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts

Cash

£617k

↓ 51% YoY

Net Worth

£1.9m

↑ 3.3% YoY

Current Assets

£730k

↓ 49% YoY

Current Liabilities

—

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown

Metric	2025-08-31	2024-08-31
Total assets	£3.01M	£3.06M
Current assets	£729.6k	£1.44M
Cash	£617.0k	£1.26M
Debtors	£112.6k	£177.4k
Net assets	£1.86M	£1.80M

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

Recent activity

Last 30 days

filings

Last 90 days

filings

• 2 capital
• 1 resolution
• 1 confirmation-statement

Last 180 days

filings

• 2 capital
• 1 resolution
• 1 confirmation-statement

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (33 events)Click to expand

2026-04-14
📄
capital-return-purchase-own-shares
capital · SH03
2026-04-13
📄
resolution
resolution · RESOLUTIONS
2026-04-09
📄
capital-cancellation-shares
capital · SH06
2026-03-03
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-audited-abridged
accounts · AA
2025-12-18
📄
capital-cancellation-shares
capital · SH06
2025-11-24
📄
capital-return-purchase-own-shares
capital · SH03
2025-05-13
📄
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2025-04-30
➖
GEDDES, John Malcolm resigned
director
2025-04-09
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-audited-abridged
accounts · AA
2025-02-10
📄
capital-cancellation-shares
capital · SH06
2024-05-01
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-audited-abridged
accounts · AA
2023-05-24
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-audited-abridged
accounts · AA
2022-04-22
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-audited-abridged
accounts · AA
2021-02-04
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2020-12-12
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-audited-abridged
accounts · AA
2020-02-05
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-audited-abridged
accounts · AA
2019-11-22
📄
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2019-09-01
➖
NODDING, Keith Lonsdale resigned
director
2019-03-06
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-small
accounts · AA
2018-09-01
➕
STEPHENSON, Deborah Jane appointed
director
2018-09-01
➖
FURNESS, William Michael resigned
director
2013-07-23
🔒
Charge registered #3
Lender: Barclays Bank PLC
2012-07-02
➕
HURST, Alan James appointed
director
2010-10-01
➕
FURNESS, Michael John appointed
secretary
2010-10-01
➖
FURNESS, William Michael resigned
secretary
1999-01-20
➕
FURNESS, Michael John appointed
director
1998-01-22
🔒
Charge registered #2
Lender: Barclays Bank PLC
1997-05-01
🔒
Charge registered #1
Lender: Barclays Bank PLC
1996-11-27
➖
FURNESS, John resigned
director
1995-10-18
➕
HILL, Andrew Robin appointed
director
1995-08-04
➖
HILL, Mary resigned
director
1994-03-15
➖
JONES, Frederick Albert resigned
director
1936-06-05
🏢
Company incorporated
As ALTRINCHAM PREPARATORY SCHOOL LIMITED

Owner dependency

73/100

High — earn-out structure required

Material founder dependency. Consider a 2-3 year earn-out and build in a handover plan before completion.

FACTORS

-5 active directors: Broader management team in place — suggests transferable governance.
+Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 31 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
+Founder age: Director aged approximately 88 — succession pressure is live.
+Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

Succession & seller-readiness

90/100

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 88 years old. Natural succession window is now.
primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 31 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 90 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.)

🔒Co-director network graph

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

Available from the Pro tier upwards.

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AESTHETICS TRAINING PRO LTD→ 12198077 · est 2019 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	6y	—	—
AGE FRIENDLY CULTURE CIC→ 16592819 · est 2025 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
AK ELITE FOOTBALL ACADEMY LTD→ 15019391 · est 2023 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	2y	—	—
ALIYA JAFFER LTD→ 12254588 · est 2019 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	6y	—	—
ALJAZARI CENTRE LIMITED→ 11127450 · est 2017 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	8y	—	—
ALTRINCHAM GRAMMAR SCHOOL DEVELOPMENTS LIMITED→ 03454310 · est 1997 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	28y	—	—
ALTRINCHAM TUTORIALS LIMITED→ 09932597 · est 2015 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	10y	—	—

Peers ranked by estimated value, then turnover, then opportunity score.See all →

🔒Tailored diligence questions

8 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.

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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.

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Company details

Statusactive

Typeltd

Incorporated1936-06-05

Jurisdictionengland-wales

Primary SIC85200 — Primary education

Registered office

Marlborough Road

Bowdon

Altrincham

Cheshire

WA14 2RR

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2027-05-31

Last made up to: 2025-08-31

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2027-03-06

Last: 2026-02-20