BRITANNIA PAINTS LTD
🌳Matureactive
01878527 · ltd · incorporated 1985-01-17
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 36.5y old — refinance window within 12 months
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Feb 2025
Net worth
£405.5k
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 20301
Sector: Manufacturing
Investor take
PursueActive trading company with a 69-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.
Opportunity 82/100 (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).
🏦
Refinance opportunity
2 live charges · 2 lenders · oldest 36.5y
70/100
ready
Refinance conversation should be productive — structure clean and timing right.
- · Oldest live charge is 36.5 years old — likely at or near maturity.
- · Two lenders — manageable, but coordination required.
- · Legal-friction score 15/100 — clean.
Data confidence
Overall: medium (79/100)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
2 charges (2/2 with lender, 2/2 with type)
90
Directors & officers
7 officers (3 active, 7 linked, 4 with DOB)
81
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
2 connected companies via shared directors
51
Filing history
97 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 £405,491
Key financials
2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accountsCash
—
Net Worth
£405k
~ YoY
Current Assets
£749k
↓ 13% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series
Financials
Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown| Metric | 2025-02-28 | 2024-02-29 |
|---|---|---|
| Total assets | £447.4k | £456.1k |
| Current assets | £749.5k | £859.0k |
| Debtors | £477.1k | £515.3k |
| Net assets | £405.5k | £401.5k |
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
1
filing
- • 1 confirmation-statement
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (26 events)Click to expand
- 2025-11-20📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2024-11-22📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2023-11-28📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2022-11-23📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2022-02-02📄mortgage-satisfy-charge-fullmortgage · MR04
- 2022-02-02🔓Charge satisfied #1
- 2021-11-24📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2020-11-26📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2020-05-21📄mortgage-create-with-deed-with-charge-number-charge-creation-datemortgage · MR01
- 2020-05-20🔒Charge registered #2Lender: Santander UK PLC as Security Trustee
- 2019-11-21📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2018-11-26📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2017-11-28📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2016-12-08📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-smallaccounts · AA
- 2016-05-13📄annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholdersannual-return · AR01
- 2015-12-07📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-smallaccounts · AA
- 2015-04-21📄annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholdersannual-return · AR01
- 2014-09-21➕JOHNSTONE, Stephen Mark appointedsecretary
- 2014-09-21➖BRADLEY, David resignedsecretary
- 1998-12-01➕JOHNSTONE, Stephen appointeddirector
- 1993-09-27➕JOHNSTONE, David Ian appointeddirector
- 1993-09-27➖BRADLEY, David resigneddirector
- 1993-09-27➖CRAVEN, Philip Conrad resigneddirector
- 1992-05-01➖SMITH, Raymond Francis resignedsecretary
- 1990-01-10🔒Charge registered #1Lender: The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
- 1985-01-17🏢Company incorporatedAs BRITANNIA PAINTS LTD
Owner dependency
91/100
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.
- +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 33 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 candidateStrong 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 33 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
- secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 42 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 David Ian Johnstone Individual · British · DOB 11/1957 · age 69 | 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.
🔒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 · Manufacturing · CW postcode area| Company | Est. value | Turnover | Net worth | Staff | Age | Opp | Director |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AVDB LTD→ 15170579 · est 2023 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 2y | — | — |
| BESPAK LIMITED→ 15461665 · est 2024 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 2y | — | — |
| BRYANS DOMESTIC APPLIANCE SERVICES LTD→ 06757791 · est 2008 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 17y | — | — |
| C.L.H RAILWAY SERVICES LTD→ 15851480 · est 2024 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 1y | — | — |
| CAST STONE SALES AND MANUFACTURING SERVICES LIMITED→ 15999227 · est 2024 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 1y | — | — |
| CELATUS GROUP LIMITED→ 17047631 · est 2026 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| CELOX PPH LIMITED→ 14335038 · est 2022 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 3y | — | — |
| CENTEC INTERNATIONAL LIMITED→ 02972347 · est 1994 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 31y | — | — |
| CERAMICRAFT LIMITED→ 09992472 · est 2016 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 10y | — | — |
| CHAMPAGNE CURTAINS LTD→ 15431661 · est 2024 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 2y | — | — |
| CHEMICAL SUPPORT SYSTEMS LIMITED→ 02540590 · est 1990 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 35y | — | — |
| CHEMSURE LTD→ 14315925 · est 2022 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 3y | — | — |
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
Incorporated1985-01-17
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC20301 — SIC 20301
Registered office
Unit 8
King Street Industrial Estate
Middlewich
Cheshire
CW10 9LF
Filing status
Accounts
Next due: 2026-11-30
Last made up to: 2025-02-28
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-04-15
Last: 2026-04-01
Officers (3 active · 4 resigned)
JOHNSTONE, Stephen Mark→
Activesecretary · appointed 2014-09-21
View their other companies + combined net worth →
JOHNSTONE, David Ian→
Activedirector · ~69y · appointed 1993-09-27
View their other companies + combined net worth →
JOHNSTONE, Stephen→
Activedirector · ~67y · appointed 1998-12-01
View their other companies + combined net worth →
BRADLEY, David→
Resignedsecretary · resigned 2014-09-21
SMITH, Raymond Francis→
Resignedsecretary · resigned 1992-05-01
BRADLEY, David→
Resigneddirector · ~72y · resigned 1993-09-27
CRAVEN, Philip Conrad→
Resigneddirector · ~99y · resigned 1993-09-27
Click a director name to see their full track record across all companies.
Mortgages & charges
2
Total charges
1
Outstanding
1
Active lenders
Status:Lender:2 of 2 shown
| Type | Properties | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| outstanding | Santander Santander UK PLC as Security Trustee | A registered charge | 1 property | 20/05/2020 | — | |
| satisfied | Lloyds Banking Group The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC | Debenture | 1 property | 10/01/1990 | 02/02/2022 |
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.
Recent filings (97 total)
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-04-21
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2025-11-20
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-04-16
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2024-11-22
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-04-15
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2023-11-28
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-04-20
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2022-11-23
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-04-07
mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
mortgage · MR04
2022-02-02
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2021-11-24
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-04-08
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2020-11-26
mortgage-create-with-deed-with-charge-number-charge-creation-date
mortgage · MR01
2020-05-21
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-04-08