A. J. CHARLTON & SONS LIMITED

🌳Matureactive

01277185 · ltd · incorporated 1976-09-15

Investment thesis

Looks cheap but ownership + security both unclear — probable value trap.

Why interesting: Headline metrics may be attractive.

Why risky: No PSC visibility combined with multiple live charges; transacting likely slow and expensive.

🔒Estimated value

—

Upgrade to see

Turnover

—

year to Oct 2024

Net worth

£1.74M

book net assets

Opportunity

76/100

Strong

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What this business does

Primary activity: Sawmilling and planing of wood

Sector: Manufacturing

Investor take

Pursue

Active trading company with a 73-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 76/100 (strong), bankability 57/100. Strong seller-intent signal (63/100, director aged 73). Biggest value-creation lever: Consolidate lender relationships. 10 distinct lenders creates friction — refinance into single-lender structure for cleaner diligence. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (45/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

10 live charges · 9 lenders · oldest 48.7y

25/100

too messy

Structure is too messy for a clean refinance right now — clean up first or expect bespoke terms.

· Oldest live charge is 48.7 years old — likely at or near maturity.
· 9 lenders named — inter-creditor friction likely.
· Legal-friction score 50/100 (high).

Data confidence

Overall: medium (73/100)

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

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

Lenders & charges

10 charges (10/10 with lender, 10/10 with type)

Directors & officers

9 officers (5 active, 9 linked, 8 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

No PSCs filed (unusual — worth investigating)

Director network

5 connected companies via shared directors

Filing history

115 filings on record

Gazette notices

No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)

Opportunity Score

76/100Strong

PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional

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

Business quality

Adequate — check latest filings for context.

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 £1,739,635

Cash YoY

+38%

Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts

Cash

£78k

↑ 38% YoY

Net Worth

£1.7m

↑ 17% YoY

Current Assets

£3.4m

~ YoY

Current Liabilities

—

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown

Metric	2024-10-29	2023-10-29
Total assets	£2.11M	£2.09M
Current assets	£3.35M	£3.35M
Cash	£78.1k	£56.5k
Debtors	£1.52M	£1.48M
Net assets	£1.74M	£1.49M

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 (33 events)Click to expand

2025-11-07
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2025-07-29
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-07-04
📄
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2025-06-30
➖
CHARLTON, Anthony James resigned
director
2025-05-06
📄
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2025-04-28
➖
HALFORD, Brett resigned
director
2024-07-29
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-12-04
📄
mortgage-create-with-deed-with-charge-number-charge-creation-date
mortgage · MR01
2023-12-01
🔒
Charge registered #10
Lender: Hsbc UK Bank PLC
2023-10-04
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-full
accounts · AA
2022-08-31
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-small
accounts · AA
2021-07-29
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-11-19
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-09-01
➕
HALFORD, Brett appointed
director
2020-09-01
📄
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2019-08-22
➕
CHARLTON, Matthew appointed
director
2019-08-22
📄
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2019-07-24
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2018-07-24
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2017-08-07
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-full
accounts · AA
2014-04-15
🔒
Charge registered #9
Lender: Hsbc Invoice Finance (UK) LTD
2013-04-15
🔒
Charge registered #8
Lender: Hsbc Asset Finance (UK) Limited and Hsbc Equipment Finance (UK) Limited
2012-11-19
➖
CHARLTON, Michael Norman resigned
director
2011-03-11
🔒
Charge registered #7
Lender: Hsbc Bank PLC
2009-04-01
➖
HURLEY, Anthony Chad resigned
director
2008-08-06
➕
HURLEY, Anthony Chad appointed
director
2005-11-15
🔒
Charge registered #6
Lender: Hsbc Asset Finance (UK) Limited & Hsbc Equipment Finance (UK) Limited
2005-06-21
🔒
Charge registered #5
Lender: Hsbc Invoice Finance (UK) LTD (the Security Holder
1999-07-26
🔒
Charge registered #4
Lender: Forward Trust Limited
1997-06-27
🔒
Charge registered #3
Lender: Midland Bank PLC
1991-12-31
🔒
Charge registered #2
Lender: Midland Bank PLC
1977-09-09
🔒
Charge registered #1
Lender: Midland Bank LTD
1976-09-15
🏢
Company incorporated
As A. J. CHARLTON & SONS LIMITED

Owner dependency

78/100

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.
+Founder name in company name: Company name contains director surname "CHARLTON" — strong identity link between founder and business.
+Founder age: Director aged approximately 73 — succession pressure is live.
+Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

Succession & seller-readiness

70/100

Strong succession signal

Multiple signals suggest succession is on the horizon. Candidate for proactive outreach.

SIGNALS

primaryFounder aged 70+: Senior director is approximately 73 years old. Natural succession window is now.
secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 50 years old and no new directors in the last 3 years — succession not yet being planned internally.

Red flags

1 low

10 live charges

low

Heavily leveraged with multiple live security positions — understand the capital structure before proceeding.

🔒Co-director network graph

Radial SVG graph showing every company connected via shared directors, colour-coded by status.

Available from the Pro tier upwards.

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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

Incorporated1976-09-15

Jurisdictionengland-wales

Primary SIC16100 — Sawmilling and planing of wood

Registered office

The Sawmills

Buckland Down

Nr Frome

Somerset

BA11 2RH

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2026-07-29

Last made up to: 2024-10-29

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2026-11-16

Last: 2025-11-02