BROADBENTS OF KNUTSFORD LIMITED
💤Zombieactive
00936112 · ltd · incorporated 1968-07-25
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 Jan 2025
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
What this business does
Primary activity: Retail sale of clothing in specialised stores
Sector: Wholesale & retail
Investor take
PursueActive trading company with a 80-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.
Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 80). 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 (73/100).
🏦
Refinance opportunity
2 live charges · 2 lenders · oldest 39.6y
30/100
under pressure
Refinance would be pressure-driven, not opportunity-driven. Expect tighter margins and covenant scrutiny.
- · Oldest live charge is 39.6 years old — likely at or near maturity.
- · Two lenders — manageable, but coordination required.
- · Distress signals active — lender appetite narrows.
Data confidence
Overall: high (80/100)Strong data coverage across all sections. AI outputs should be trusted with minimal caveats.
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 (1 active, 4 linked, 3 with DOB)
85
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared
90
Director network
2 connected companies via shared directors
51
Filing history
99 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 accountsCash
—
Net Worth
—
Current Assets
—
Current Liabilities
—
Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series
Financials
Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102| Metric | 2025-01-31 | 2024-01-31 |
|---|
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
0
filings
Last 180 days
0
filings
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (22 events)Click to expand
- 2025-10-27📄cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-controlpersons-with-significant-control · PSC07
- 2025-06-02📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2024-06-28📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2023-10-13📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2022-10-26📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2021-11-04📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2020-12-04📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2019-10-28📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2018-12-11📍change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-addressaddress · AD01
- 2018-10-09📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2018-02-20📄mortgage-create-with-deed-with-charge-number-charge-creation-datemortgage · MR01
- 2018-02-15🔒Charge registered #2Lender: Market Harborough Building Society
- 2017-11-06📄notification-of-a-person-with-significant-controlpersons-with-significant-control · PSC01
- 2017-11-06📄change-to-a-person-with-significant-controlpersons-with-significant-control · PSC04
- 2017-09-22📄accounts-with-accounts-type-dormantaccounts · AA
- 2016-06-30📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-smallaccounts · AA
- 2009-05-29➖BROADBENT, Raymond Michael resigneddirector
- 2009-03-03➖BROADBENT, Joan Marie resignedsecretary
- 2009-03-03➖BROADBENT, Joan Marie resigneddirector
- 1994-12-01➕BROADBENT, Richard Anthony appointeddirector
- 1986-11-25🔒Charge registered #1Lender: National Westminster Bank PLC
- 1968-07-25🏢Company incorporatedAs BROADBENTS OF KNUTSFORD LIMITED
Owner dependency
100/100
Critical — business is the founderThe 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 "BROADBENT" — strong identity link between founder and business.
- +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 32 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
- +Founder age: Director aged approximately 80 — succession pressure is live.
Succession & seller-readiness
100/100
Likely off-market candidateStrong acquirability signals converging. Worth approaching directly — this is how off-market deals start.
SIGNALS
- primaryFounder aged 70+: Senior director is approximately 80 years old. Natural succession window is now.
- primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
- primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 32 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
cleanNo 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| Name | Shares | Voting rights | Nature of control | Notified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Mr Richard Anthony Broadbent Individual · British · DOB 09/1946 · age 80 | 25–50% | 25–50% | 25-50% shares · 25-50% voting | 06/04/2016 |
1 historic (ceased) PSC
- Mrs Marie Bernadette Broadbentceased 30/08/2019· 25-50% shares · 25-50% voting
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 →Similar companies
Active · Retail · CA postcode area| Company | Est. value | Turnover | Net worth | Staff | Age | Opp | Director |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AS3 PERFORMANCE LIMITED→ 13127519 · est 2021 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 5y | — | — |
| BILLY BOGEY LIMITED→ 12600303 · est 2020 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 5y | — | — |
| BITWAX LTD→ 12070861 · est 2019 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 6y | — | — |
| BRUCCIANI (CARLISLE) LIMITED→ 05311041 · est 2004 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 21y | — | — |
| BY MOLLY&IZZIE LTD→ 11161345 · est 2018 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 8y | — | — |
| CAD MEDICAL LTD→ 14958811 · est 2023 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 2y | — | — |
| CALIFORNIA WINES LIMITED→ 10246979 · est 2016 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 9y | — | — |
| CAPTIVITAS LTD→ 12690291 · est 2020 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 5y | — | — |
| CARA DAN ENTERPRISES LIMITED→ 07512196 · est 2011 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 15y | — | — |
| CARAMAZ LTD→ 16579344 · est 2025 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| CARLISLE BARGAIN STORE LTD→ 16613455 · est 2025 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| CARLISLE BUSINESS SUPPLIES LIMITED→ 04491955 · est 2002 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 23y | — | — |
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.
See pricing →Company details
Statusactive
Typeltd
Incorporated1968-07-25
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC47710 — Retail sale of clothing in specialised stores
Registered office
Yewthwaite Littletown
Newlands
Keswick
Cumbria
CA12 5TU
England
Filing status
Accounts
Next due: 2026-10-31
Last made up to: 2025-01-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-10-05
Last: 2025-09-21
Officers (1 active · 3 resigned)
BROADBENT, Richard Anthony→
Activedirector · ~80y · appointed 1994-12-01
View their other companies + combined net worth →
BROADBENT, Joan Marie→
Resignedsecretary · resigned 2009-03-03
BROADBENT, Joan Marie→
Resigneddirector · ~106y · resigned 2009-03-03
BROADBENT, Raymond Michael→
Resigneddirector · ~110y · resigned 2009-05-29
Click a director name to see their full track record across all companies.
Mortgages & charges
2
Total charges
2
Outstanding
2
Active lenders
Status:Lender:2 of 2 shown
| Type | Properties | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| outstanding | Market Harborough Building Society | A registered charge | 1 property | 15/02/2018 | — | |
| outstanding | National Westminster Bank National Westminster Bank PLC | Legal mortgage | 1 property | 25/11/1986 | — |
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.
Recent filings (99 total)
cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
2025-10-27
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-09-22
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-06-02
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-09-23
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-06-28
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-10-13
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-10-05
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-10-26
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-09-21
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-11-04
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-09-23
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-12-04
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-10-01
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-10-28
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-09-24