ARTHUR HOUGH & SONS LIMITED

🌳Matureactive

00927416 · ltd · incorporated 1968-02-16

Investment thesis

Well-run mature business — low negotiation leverage; premium likely.

Why interesting: Textbook target; clean filings, stable trading.

Why risky: No pressure on seller; any deal likely at full price.

Opportunity decay

hardening · 12-months

Already tight — no obvious softening catalysts on the horizon.

· Thesis: well-run, low negotiation leverage

🔒Estimated value

—

Upgrade to see

Turnover

—

year to Feb 2025

Net worth

£3.47M

book net assets

Opportunity

80/100

Exceptional

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What this business does

Primary activity: SIC 25990

Sector: Manufacturing

Investor take

Pursue

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

Opportunity 80/100 (exceptional), bankability 67/100. Strong seller-intent signal (63/100, director aged 88). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Consolidate lender relationships. 11 distinct lenders creates friction — refinance into single-lender structure for cleaner diligence. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

9 live charges · 7 lenders · oldest 55.8y

35/100

too messy

Refinance path is blocked by complexity. Rethink structure or expect bespoke, expensive terms.

· Oldest live charge is 55.8 years old — likely at or near maturity.
· 7 lenders named — inter-creditor friction likely.
· Legal-friction score 35/100 — workable, but lender will want more DD.

Data confidence

Overall: medium (72/100)

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

1 year of iXBRL accounts extracted (no YoY comparison) + narrative notes parsed

Lenders & charges

9 charges (9/9 with lender, 9/9 with type)

Directors & officers

8 officers (7 active, 8 linked, 7 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

2 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared

Director network

1 connected companies via shared directors

Filing history

129 filings on record

Gazette notices

No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)

Opportunity Score

80/100Exceptional

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 £3,471,909

Key financials

1 year extracted from filed iXBRL accounts

Cash

£846k

Net Worth

£3.5m

Current Assets

£2.5m

Current Liabilities

—

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown

Metric	2025-02-28
Total assets	£3.81M
Current assets	£2.54M
Cash	£845.9k
Debtors	£1.07M
Net assets	£3.47M

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

filings

Last 180 days

filings

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (34 events)Click to expand

2025-05-01
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-05-10
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accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-06-08
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accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-10-20
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2022-07-19
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-06-30
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-03-08
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-07-04
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2018-05-14
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2017-05-05
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accounts-with-accounts-type-small
accounts · AA
2017-03-02
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mortgage-create-with-deed-with-charge-number-charge-creation-date
mortgage · MR01
2017-03-01
🔒
Charge registered #9
Lender: Rbs Invoice Finance Limited
2016-05-17
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-small
accounts · AA
2015-11-10
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2015-05-18
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-small
accounts · AA
2014-11-07
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2008-10-04
🔓
Charge satisfied #6
2008-10-04
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Charge satisfied #5
2008-10-04
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Charge satisfied #2
2008-08-13
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Charge registered #8
Lender: National Westminster Bank PLC
2008-08-01
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Charge satisfied #4
2008-08-01
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Charge satisfied #3
2008-08-01
🔓
Charge satisfied #1
2008-07-25
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Charge registered #7
Lender: National Westminster Bank PLC
2006-11-21
➕
HANDLEY, Brian appointed
director
2006-02-24
🔒
Charge registered #6
Lender: Hsbc Bank PLC
2006-01-16
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Charge registered #5
Lender: Hsbc Bank PLC
2005-07-11
🔒
Charge registered #4
Lender: David Wilson Homes Limited
2003-02-23
➖
EVANS, Geoffrey James resigned
director
2000-04-11
🔒
Charge registered #3
Lender: Royscot Industrial Leasing Limited
1995-11-02
➕
EVANS, Richard James appointed
director
1991-01-28
🔒
Charge registered #2
Lender: Midland Bank PLC
1970-09-22
🔒
Charge registered #1
Lender: Midland Bank LTD
1968-02-16
🏢
Company incorporated
As ARTHUR HOUGH & SONS 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

-6 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 58 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

1 med ·

Charge satisfaction-then-recreation pattern

medium

Multiple instances where a charge was satisfied and a new charge created within 6 months. Suggests active refinancing cycle.

Shareholders & ownership

2 active beneficial owners

Name	Shares	Voting rights	Nature of control	Notified
Mr Richard James Evans Individual · British · DOB 09/1965 · age 61	25–50%	—	25-50% shares	06/04/2016
Mr Brian Appleby Individual · British · DOB 04/1947 · age 79	25–50%	—	25-50% shares	06/04/2016

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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ASHWELL SERVICES LIMITED→ 03747793 · est 1999 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	27y	—	—
ASSA ABLOY LIMITED→ 02096505 · est 1987 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	39y	—	—
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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.

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.

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Company details

Statusactive

Typeltd

Incorporated1968-02-16

Jurisdictionengland-wales

Primary SIC25990 — SIC 25990

Registered office

Hilton Cross Business Park

Cannock Road

Featherstone Wolverhampton

West Midlands

WV10 7QZ

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2026-11-30

Last made up to: 2025-02-28

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2026-11-13

Last: 2025-10-30