ACORN FABRICS (CUMBRIA) LIMITED

🌳Matureactive

00958005 · ltd · incorporated 1969-07-10

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

approaching window · 12-months

Approaching a transaction window — refinance or sale event plausible in the next 12 months.

· Oldest live charge 41.7y old — refinance window within 12 months

🔒Estimated value

—

Upgrade to see

Turnover

—

year to Jul 2025

Net worth

—

book net assets

Opportunity

80/100

Exceptional

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What this business does

Primary activity: Wholesale of textiles

Sector: Wholesale & retail

Investor take

Pursue

Active trading company with a 86-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 80/100 (exceptional), bankability 85/100. Strong seller-intent signal (73/100, director aged 86). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

4 live charges · oldest 41.7y

85/100

ready

Refinance conversation should be productive — structure clean and timing right.

· Oldest live charge is 41.7 years old — likely at or near maturity.
· Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
· Legal-friction score 15/100 — clean.

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

Lenders & charges

4 charges (4/4 with lender, 4/4 with type)

Directors & officers

6 officers (5 active, 6 linked, 5 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

121 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.

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts

Cash

—

Net Worth

—

Current Assets

—

Current Liabilities

—

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown

Metric	2025-07-30	2024-07-30
Average employees	500	500

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 accounts

Last 180 days

filing

• 1 accounts

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (30 events)Click to expand

2026-02-23
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-07-29
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-08-07
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2024-08-07
📄
change-person-secretary-company-with-change-date
officers · CH03
2024-08-07
📄
mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
mortgage · MR04
2024-08-07
📄
mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
mortgage · MR04
2024-08-07
📄
mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
mortgage · MR04
2024-08-07
📄
mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
mortgage · MR04
2024-08-07
🔓
Charge satisfied #4
2024-08-07
🔓
Charge satisfied #3
2024-08-07
🔓
Charge satisfied #2
2024-08-07
🔓
Charge satisfied #1
2024-07-29
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-06-14
📍
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2023-07-28
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-07-29
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-07-28
📄
change-account-reference-date-company-previous-shortened
accounts · AA01
2021-07-27
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-04-17
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-01-06
📄
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2020-01-06
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2020-01-06
📄
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2010-08-01
➕
CHATBURN, Christopher Sephton appointed
director
2010-08-01
➕
CHATBURN, James Richard appointed
director
2010-05-10
➖
CHATBURN, Roger Sephton resigned
director
1995-04-12
🔒
Charge registered #4
Lender: Barclays Bank PLC
1991-09-16
🔒
Charge registered #3
Lender: Barclays Bank PLC
1985-01-24
🔒
Charge registered #2
Lender: Barclays Bank PLC
1984-08-14
🔒
Charge registered #1
Lender: Barclays Bank PLC
1969-07-10
🏢
Company incorporated
As ACORN FABRICS (CUMBRIA) 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

-4 active directors: Broader management team in place — suggests transferable governance.
+Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 16 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
+Founder age: Director aged approximately 86 — succession pressure is live.
+Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

Succession & seller-readiness

83/100

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 86 years old. Natural succession window is now.
secondary12+ year tenure: Director in role 16 years.
secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 57 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 John Richard Chatburn Individual · British · DOB 05/1940 · age 86	25–50%	25–50%	25-50% shares · 25-50% voting	01/07/2016
Mrs Margaret Chatburn Individual · British · DOB 11/1941 · age 85	25–50%	25–50%	25-50% shares · 25-50% voting	01/07/2016

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 →

Similar companies

Active · Wholesale & distribution · BB postcode area

Company	Est. value	Turnover	Net worth	Staff	Age	Opp	Director
1ST STOP PLUMBING LIMITED→ 16557620 · est 2025 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
AA STEEL LTD→ 16989543 · est 2026 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
ABEDI PHARMACEUTICAL LTD→ 15937139 · est 2024 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	1y	—	—
ABN CORPORATE LTD→ 13665395 · est 2021 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	4y	—	—
ACCRINGTON BEEF COMPANY LIMITED→ 02584919 · est 1991 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	35y	—	—
ACENTA GROUP LIMITED→ 13468498 · est 2021 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	4y	—	—
ADAMAS GEMS LTD→ 15475195 · est 2024 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	2y	—	—
AESTHETICS BY KH LTD→ 14990088 · est 2023 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	2y	—	—
AFFAN FOODS UK LTD→ 14941563 · est 2023 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	2y	—	—
AFTER PIERCE LABS LTD→ 13692096 · est 2021 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	4y	—	—
AG WHOLESALES LIMITED→ 13838024 · est 2022 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	4y	—	—
AGENZIA 14 (INTERNATIONAL) LIMITED→ 05196965 · est 2004 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	21y	—	—

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.

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Company details

Statusactive

Typeltd

Incorporated1969-07-10

Jurisdictionengland-wales

Primary SIC46410 — Wholesale of textiles

Registered office

Suite 218 Unit 2 Northlight House

Pendle Road, Brierfield

Nelson

Lancashire

BB9 5FL

United Kingdom

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2027-04-30

Last made up to: 2025-07-30

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2026-11-15

Last: 2025-11-01