A.E. PURDY LIMITED

🌳Matureactive
01348928 · ltd · incorporated 1978-01-19
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
£371.5k
book net assets
Opportunity
78/100
Strong
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What this business does
Primary activity: Wholesale of other food, including fish, crustaceans and molluscs
Sector: Wholesale & retail
Investor take
Pursue
Asset-holding vehicle with a 69-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 78/100 (strong), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (68/100, director aged 69). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

Data confidence

Overall: medium (78/100)

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
75
Lenders & charges
Confirmed no charges registered
85
Directors & officers
7 officers (3 active, 7 linked, 5 with DOB)
84
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
1 connected companies via shared directors
48
Filing history
102 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
78/100Strong
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional 

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

Business quality
70
Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.
Acquirability
70
Strong succession / seller-readiness signals.
Risk profile
85
Few red flags.
Signal strength
90
Good data coverage for analysis.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · accounting standard not declared
Positive net assets
Net assets £371,541
Cash YoY
-28%
Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
£33k
↓ 28% YoY
Net Worth
£372k
↑ 15% YoY
Current Assets
£199k
↑ 7.1% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
£0£74k£149k£223k£297k£372kFeb 2024Feb 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2025-02-282024-02-29
Total assets£408.0k£346.7k
Current assets£199.4k£186.3k
Cash£32.6k£45.2k
Debtors£150.3k£128.9k
Net assets£371.5k£322.6k

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 (25 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-10-06
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-11-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  3. 2023-11-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  4. 2023-10-11
    📄
    termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM01
  5. 2023-09-28
    ➖
    PURDY, Margaret resigned
    director
  6. 2023-04-04
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  7. 2023-04-04
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  8. 2023-04-04
    📄
    change-person-secretary-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH03
  9. 2022-11-10
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  10. 2022-08-24
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  11. 2021-11-08
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  12. 2020-08-26
    ➕
    PURDY, William Howard appointed
    secretary
  13. 2020-08-26
    ➕
    PURDY, William Howard appointed
    director
  14. 2020-08-26
    📄
    appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
    officers · AP01
  15. 2020-08-26
    📄
    appoint-person-secretary-company-with-name-date
    officers · AP03
  16. 2020-08-24
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  17. 2020-05-11
    📄
    termination-secretary-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM02
  18. 2020-05-11
    📄
    termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM01
  19. 2020-04-28
    ➖
    PURDY, Albert Edward Geoffrey resigned
    secretary
  20. 2020-04-28
    ➖
    PURDY, Albert Edward Geoffrey resigned
    director
  21. 2019-11-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  22. 2018-11-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  23. 2011-02-28
    ➖
    PURDY, Jeanette resigned
    director
  24. 1996-02-28
    ➕
    PURDY, Jeanette appointed
    director
  25. 1978-01-19
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As A.E. PURDY LIMITED

Owner dependency

96/100
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.
  • +Founder name in company name: Company name contains director surname "PURDY" — strong identity link between founder and business.
  • +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

66/100
Strong succession signal

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

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.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 48 years old and no new directors in the last 3 years — succession not yet being planned internally.

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 · dominant holder ≥75%
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr Nicholas Purdy
Individual · British · DOB 12/1957 · age 69
75–100%
—75-100% shares01/06/2016

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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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
Incorporated1978-01-19
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC46380 — Wholesale of other food, including fish, crustaceans and molluscs

Registered office

Subway Street
Hull
East Yorkshire
HU3 4EL

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-11-30
Last made up to: 2025-02-28
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-09-07
Last: 2025-08-24

Officers (3 active · 4 resigned)

PURDY, William Howard→
secretary · appointed 2020-08-26
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
PURDY, Nicholas→
director · ~69y
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
PURDY, William Howard→
director · ~34y · appointed 2020-08-26
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
PURDY, Albert Edward Geoffrey→
secretary · resigned 2020-04-28
Resigned
PURDY, Albert Edward Geoffrey→
director · ~96y · resigned 2020-04-28
Resigned
PURDY, Jeanette→
director · ~69y · appointed 1996-02-28 · resigned 2011-02-28
Resigned
PURDY, Margaret→
director · ~95y · resigned 2023-09-28
Resigned

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

Recent filings (102 total)

accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2025-10-06
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-09-02
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2024-11-27
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-08-27
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2023-11-27
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2023-10-11
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-08-25
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2023-04-04
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2023-04-04
change-person-secretary-company-with-change-date
officers · CH03
2023-04-04
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2022-11-10
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-08-24
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2022-08-24
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2021-11-08
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-09-02