A.F.AKEHURST & SONS LIMITED

💤Zombieactive

00720742 · ltd · incorporated 1962-04-05

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 Mar 2025

Net worth

£634.4k

book net assets

Opportunity

77/100

Strong

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What this business does

Primary activity: SIC 46130

Sector: Wholesale & retail

ALSO REGISTERED FOR

49410Freight transport by road

Investor take

Pursue

Strong opportunity: active trading company with strong profile and bankable structure.

Opportunity 77/100 (strong), bankability 80/100. High owner-dependency — earn-out structure likely required for clean transition. Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Discharge stale live charges. 1 live charge(s) created 15+ years ago — likely paid but undischarged. Clean register. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (58/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

1 live charge · oldest 25.5y

45/100

under pressure

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

· Oldest live charge is 25.5 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, 2 SIC codes, incorporation date

100

Financials

2 years of iXBRL accounts extracted (YoY deltas available) + narrative notes parsed

Lenders & charges

1 charges (1/1 with lender, 1/1 with type)

Directors & officers

5 officers (1 active, 5 linked, 4 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared

Director network

Network not yet resolved

Filing history

98 filings on record

Gazette notices

No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)

Opportunity Score

77/100Strong

PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional

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

Business quality

Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.

Acquirability

Some acquirability indicators.

Risk profile

Few red flags.

Signal strength

100

Good data coverage for analysis.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · FRS 102

Positive net assets

Net assets £634,387

Net assets shrinking

Down £1,250 YoY

Cash YoY

+1%

Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts

Cash

£389k

↑ 1.3% YoY

Net Worth

£634k

~ YoY

Current Assets

£609k

↓ 2.0% YoY

Current Liabilities

—

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102

Metric	2025-03-31	2024-03-31
Total assets	£641.0k	£651.9k
Current assets	£609.0k	£621.6k
Cash	£388.6k	£383.4k
Debtors	£15.4k	£27.0k
Net assets	£634.4k	£635.6k

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

filings

Last 90 days

filing

• 1 confirmation-statement

Last 180 days

filings

• 1 confirmation-statement
• 1 accounts

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (22 events)Click to expand

2025-12-19
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-12-18
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-12-11
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-12-14
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-12-02
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-11-25
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-11-07
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2018-11-02
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2017-11-23
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2016-12-09
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2016-06-13
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2016-03-18
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2015-11-10
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2015-03-12
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2014-10-31
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2011-07-26
➖
AKEHURST, Ronald Alfred Leonard resigned
secretary
2011-07-26
➖
AKEHURST, Ronald Alfred Leonard resigned
director
2005-08-08
➖
AKEHURST, Leonard Leslie resigned
director
2000-11-10
🔒
Charge registered #1
Lender: National Westminster Bank PLC
2000-01-05
➖
AKEHURST, Ronald Edgar resigned
director
1996-03-01
➕
AKEHURST, Leigh Ronald appointed
director
1962-04-05
🏢
Company incorporated
As A.F.AKEHURST & SONS 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 "AKEHURST" — strong identity link between founder and business.
+Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 30 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.

Succession & seller-readiness

75/100

Likely off-market candidate

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

SIGNALS

primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 30 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 64 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 · dominant holder ≥75%

Name	Shares	Voting rights	Nature of control	Notified
Mr Leigh Ronald Akehurst Individual · British · DOB 08/1974 · age 52	75–100%	75–100%	75-100% shares · 75-100% voting	06/04/2016

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

Incorporated1962-04-05

Jurisdictionengland-wales

Primary SIC46130 — SIC 46130

Registered office

4 Railway Street

Gillingham

Kent

ME7 1YF

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2026-12-31

Last made up to: 2025-03-31

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2027-03-26

Last: 2026-03-12

Officers (1 active · 4 resigned)

AKEHURST, Leigh Ronald→

director · ~52y · appointed 1996-03-01

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

AKEHURST, Ronald Alfred Leonard→

secretary · resigned 2011-07-26

Resigned

AKEHURST, Leonard Leslie→

director · ~103y · resigned 2005-08-08

Resigned

AKEHURST, Ronald Edgar→

director · ~113y · resigned 2000-01-05

Resigned

AKEHURST, Ronald Alfred Leonard→

director · ~88y · resigned 2011-07-26

Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

Total charges

Outstanding

Active lenders

Status:Lender:1 of 1 shown

			Type	Properties
	outstanding	National Westminster Bank National Westminster Bank PLC	Mortgage debenture	1 property	10/11/2000	—

Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.