ABCO ELECTRIC SERVICE LIMITED

🌳Matureactive
01079442 · ltd · incorporated 1972-10-31
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 Dec 2024
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
80/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 33140
Sector: Manufacturing
ALSO REGISTERED FOR
  • 43210Electrical installation
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 69-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 80/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 69). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

Data confidence

Overall: medium (76/100)

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
75
Lenders & charges
Confirmed no charges registered
85
Directors & officers
8 officers (3 active, 8 linked, 4 with DOB)
80
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
106 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
80/100Exceptional
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
90
Good data coverage for analysis.

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
—
Net Worth
—
Current Assets
—
Current Liabilities
—
£0£0£0£0£0£0Dec 2023Dec 2024

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2024-12-312023-12-31
Average employees400300

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
1
filing
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
Last 90 days
1
filing
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
Last 180 days
1
filing
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (26 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-06-09
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-05-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  3. 2023-03-22
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  4. 2022-05-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  5. 2021-09-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  6. 2021-05-08
    📍
    change-sail-address-company-with-old-address-new-address
    address · AD02
  7. 2021-05-08
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  8. 2021-05-08
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  9. 2021-05-08
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  10. 2021-05-08
    📄
    change-person-secretary-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH03
  11. 2020-11-24
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  12. 2020-07-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  13. 2019-07-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  14. 2019-03-05
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  15. 2018-08-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  16. 2017-08-14
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  17. 2000-07-10
    ➕
    APTHORP, Raymond David Frank appointed
    secretary
  18. 2000-07-10
    ➕
    APTHORP, Deborah Anne appointed
    director
  19. 2000-07-10
    ➖
    APTHORP, Pauline Margaret resigned
    secretary
  20. 2000-07-10
    ➖
    APTHORP, Pauline Margaret resigned
    director
  21. 1993-12-31
    ➖
    APTHORP, Hannah Mary resigned
    secretary
  22. 1993-12-31
    ➕
    APTHORP, Pauline Margaret appointed
    secretary
  23. 1993-12-31
    ➖
    APTHORP, Frank Walter Thomas resigned
    director
  24. 1993-12-31
    ➖
    APTHORP, Hannah Mary resigned
    director
  25. 1993-12-31
    ➕
    APTHORP, Pauline Margaret appointed
    director
  26. 1972-10-31
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As ABCO ELECTRIC SERVICE LIMITED

Owner dependency

91/100
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
  • +Two-director setup: Only two active directors — typical of owner-managed SMEs but limits succession.
  • +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 26 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 69 — succession pressure is live.
  • +Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

Succession & seller-readiness

86/100
Likely off-market candidate

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

SIGNALS
  • primaryFounder aged 63+: Senior director is approximately 69. Approaching typical UK retirement age — succession thinking likely.
  • secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
  • primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 26 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 54 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
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr Raymond David Frank Apthorp
Individual · British · DOB 12/1957 · age 69
50–75%
—50-75% shares06/04/2016

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
Incorporated1972-10-31
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC33140 — SIC 33140

Registered office

62 Queens Road
Buckhurst Hill
IG9 5BY
England

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-09-30
Last made up to: 2024-12-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-05-14
Last: 2026-04-30

Officers (3 active · 5 resigned)

APTHORP, Raymond David Frank→
secretary · appointed 2000-07-10
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
APTHORP, Deborah Anne→
director · ~68y · appointed 2000-07-10
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
APTHORP, Raymond David Frank→
director · ~69y
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
APTHORP, Hannah Mary→
secretary · resigned 1993-12-31
Resigned
APTHORP, Pauline Margaret→
secretary · appointed 1993-12-31 · resigned 2000-07-10
Resigned
APTHORP, Frank Walter Thomas→
director · ~103y · resigned 1993-12-31
Resigned
APTHORP, Hannah Mary→
director · ~102y · resigned 1993-12-31
Resigned
APTHORP, Pauline Margaret→
director · appointed 1993-12-31 · resigned 2000-07-10
Resigned

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

Recent filings (106 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-05-13
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-07-30
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-06-09
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-05-28
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-05-07
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-05-17
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-03-22
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-05-23
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-05-03
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-09-28
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-05-08
change-sail-address-company-with-old-address-new-address
address · AD02
2021-05-08
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2021-05-08
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2021-05-08
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2021-05-08