A.B. WALLACE ENGRAVING LIMITED

🌳Matureactive

01896149 · ltd · incorporated 1985-03-15

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

—

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Turnover

—

year to Dec 2025

Net worth

£1.2k

book net assets

Opportunity

80/100

Exceptional

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What this business does

Primary activity: Other retail sale of new goods in specialised stores (other than commercial art galleries and opticians)

Sector: Wholesale & retail

Investor take

Pursue

Asset-holding vehicle with a 81-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 80/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (63/100, director aged 81). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

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

Lenders & charges

Confirmed no charges registered

Directors & officers

6 officers (5 active, 6 linked, 5 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

2 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared

Director network

Network not yet resolved

Filing history

98 filings on record

Gazette notices

No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)

Opportunity Score

80/100Exceptional

PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional

Strong composite across quality, acquirability, and risk. High-priority target — progress to serious diligence.

Business quality

Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.

Acquirability

Strong succession / seller-readiness signals.

Risk profile

Few red flags.

Signal strength

Good data coverage for analysis.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · FRS 105 (micro)

Positive net assets

Net assets £1,222

Net assets shrinking

Down £4,474 YoY

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts

Cash

—

Net Worth

£1k

↓ 79% YoY

Current Assets

£31k

↓ 21% YoY

Current Liabilities

—

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 105 (micro)

Metric	2025-12-31	2024-12-31
Total assets	£3.9k	£5.7k
Current assets	£31.0k	£39.3k
Net assets	£1.2k	£5.7k

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

filing

• 1 accounts

Last 90 days

filing

• 1 accounts

Last 180 days

filing

• 1 accounts

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (19 events)Click to expand

2026-06-24
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-06-05
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-08-07
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-09-19
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-07-08
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-05-03
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2022-04-29
📄
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2021-09-17
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-11-03
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-09-24
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2018-08-08
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2017-09-06
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2016-09-28
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2015-10-29
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2015-06-04
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2002-09-26
➕
ADAMS, Brian appointed
director
1994-01-21
➕
ADAMS, Vanessa Lorraine Jeanette appointed
director
1994-01-21
➖
CLARKE, Lesley Ann resigned
director
1985-03-15
🏢
Company incorporated
As A.B. WALLACE ENGRAVING LIMITED

Owner dependency

88/100

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

-4 active directors: Broader management team in place — suggests transferable governance.
+Founder name in company name: Company name contains director surname "WALLACE" — strong identity link between founder and business.
+Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 32 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
+Founder age: Director aged approximately 81 — succession pressure is live.
+Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

Succession & seller-readiness

90/100

Likely off-market candidate

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

SIGNALS

primaryFounder aged 70+: Senior director is approximately 81 years old. Natural succession window is now.
primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 32 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 41 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

2 active beneficial owners

Name	Shares	Voting rights	Nature of control	Notified
Mr Alexander Bevridge Wallace Individual · British · DOB 07/1945 · age 81	25–50%	25–50%	board control25-50% shares · 25-50% voting · board control	06/04/2016
Mrs Kathleen Wallace Individual · British · DOB 07/1946 · age 80	25–50%	25–50%	board control25-50% shares · 25-50% voting · board control	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.

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Company details

Statusactive

Typeltd

Incorporated1985-03-15

Jurisdictionengland-wales

Primary SIC47789 — Other retail sale of new goods in specialised stores (other than commercial art galleries and opticians)

Registered office

21-23 Braunstone Gate

Leicester

LE3 5LH

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2027-09-30

Last made up to: 2025-12-31

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2026-09-28

Last: 2025-09-14