B A SHORTHOUSE LIMITED
🌳Matureactive
01370519 · ltd · incorporated 1978-05-25
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 May 2025
Net worth
£206.3k
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 38110
Sector: Water supply & waste
Investor take
PursueActive trading company with a 89-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.
Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 89). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Cash flow review and working-capital discipline. Cash down -33% YoY — forensic review of receivables, stock turns, and creditor days. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).
🏦
Refinance opportunity
1 live charge · oldest 15.7y
45/100
under pressure
Refinance would be pressure-driven, not opportunity-driven. Expect tighter margins and covenant scrutiny.
- · Oldest live charge is 15.7 years old — likely at or near maturity.
- · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
- · Cashflow trend is negative — lender view likely cautious.
Data confidence
Overall: medium (77/100)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
1 charges (1/1 with lender, 1/1 with type)
90
Directors & officers
5 officers (3 active, 5 linked, 3 with DOB)
82
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
89 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.
Signals from accounts
Derived from iXBRL accounts · accounting standard not declaredPositive net assets
Net assets £206,287
Cash YoY
-33%
Year on year
Key financials
2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accountsCash
£26k
↓ 33% YoY
Net Worth
£206k
↑ 18% YoY
Current Assets
£223k
↓ 11% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series
Financials
Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown| Metric | 2025-05-31 | 2024-05-31 |
|---|---|---|
| Total assets | £407.1k | £313.1k |
| Current assets | £223.1k | £250.0k |
| Cash | £26.5k | £39.5k |
| Debtors | £167.0k | £184.9k |
| Net assets | £206.3k | £174.6k |
Amounts extracted automatically from iXBRL. Fields left blank were not reported or not mapped. Values in GBP unless stated.
🔒Filing-note intelligence
2 signals 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
1
filing
- • 1 confirmation-statement
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (21 events)Click to expand
- 2025-10-31📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2024-11-28📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2023-12-12📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2022-11-28📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2022-02-21📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2020-12-04📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2019-10-17📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2018-10-01📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2017-11-06📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2017-01-06📄change-person-secretary-company-with-change-dateofficers · CH03
- 2016-11-10📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-smallaccounts · AA
- 2016-01-07📄annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholdersannual-return · AR01
- 2015-09-06📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-smallaccounts · AA
- 2015-02-02📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-smallaccounts · AA
- 2015-01-12📄annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholdersannual-return · AR01
- 2010-11-02🔒Charge registered #1Lender: National Westminster Bank PLC
- 2006-09-22➕WALFORD, Angela Joyce appointedsecretary
- 2006-09-22➖SHORTHOUSE, Doreen Mary resignedsecretary
- 2006-09-22➖SHORTHOUSE, Doreen Mary resigneddirector
- 1993-05-01➕SHORTHOUSE, Mark John appointeddirector
- 1978-05-25🏢Company incorporatedAs B A SHORTHOUSE 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
- +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 "SHORTHOUSE" — strong identity link between founder and business.
- +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 33 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
- +Founder age: Director aged approximately 89 — succession pressure is live.
- +Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.
Succession & seller-readiness
96/100
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 89 years old. Natural succession window is now.
- secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
- primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 33 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
- secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 48 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 · dominant holder ≥75%| Name | Shares | Voting rights | Nature of control | Notified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Mr Mark John Shorthouse Individual · British · DOB 06/1971 · age 55 | 75–100% | — | 75-100% shares | 06/04/2016 |
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
Incorporated1978-05-25
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC38110 — SIC 38110
Registered office
Knowle Sands Industrial Est
Eardington
Bridgnorth
Shrops
WV16 5JL
Filing status
Accounts
Next due: 2027-02-28
Last made up to: 2025-05-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-01-18
Last: 2026-01-04
Officers (3 active · 2 resigned)
WALFORD, Angela Joyce→
Activesecretary · appointed 2006-09-22
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
SHORTHOUSE, Mark John→
Activedirector · ~55y · appointed 1993-05-01
View their other companies + combined net worth →
SHORTHOUSE, Doreen Mary→
Resignedsecretary · resigned 2006-09-22
SHORTHOUSE, Doreen Mary→
Resigneddirector · ~88y · resigned 2006-09-22
Click a director name to see their full track record across all companies.
Mortgages & charges
1
Total charges
1
Outstanding
1
Active lenders
Status:Lender:1 of 1 shown
| Type | Properties | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| outstanding | National Westminster Bank National Westminster Bank PLC | Debenture | 1 property | 02/11/2010 | — |
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.
Recent filings (89 total)
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-01-14
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-10-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-01-10
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-11-28
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-01-05
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-12-12
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-01-26
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-11-28
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-02-21
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-01-17
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-03-05
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-12-04
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-01-14
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-10-17
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-01-09