ACUMEN BOOKS LTD

💤Zombieactive
02182447 · ltd · incorporated 1987-10-23
Investment thesis
Zombie company — trading but stalled; unlikely mover.
Why interesting: Quiet, steady; could be a succession or carve-out candidate with the right conversation.
Why risky: No growth signal; thin margin for error on price.
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Jul 2025
Net worth
£41.3k
book net assets
Opportunity
78/100
Strong
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What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 47610
Sector: Wholesale & retail
ALSO REGISTERED FOR
  • 47910Retail sale via mail order houses or via Internet
Investor take
Pursue
Asset-holding vehicle with a 83-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 78/100 (strong), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (68/100, director aged 83). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Broaden director team. Sole director creates succession risk and reduces buyer comfort. Appoint a second director or strong #2. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (73/100).

Data confidence

Overall: medium (76/100)

Adequate coverage. AI outputs are reliable for the sections scored high; verify the rest in diligence.

Company profile
address, 2 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
3 officers (1 active, 3 linked, 2 with DOB)
83
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
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 £41,254

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
—
Net Worth
£41k
↑ 11% YoY
Current Assets
£6k
↓ 30% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
£0£8k£17k£25k£33k£41kJul 2024Jul 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2025-07-312024-07-31
Total assets£40.8k£36.6k
Current assets£6.1k£8.7k
Net assets£41.3k£37.0k

Amounts extracted automatically from iXBRL. Fields left blank were not reported or not mapped. Values in GBP unless stated.

Recent activity

Last 30 days
0
filings
Last 90 days
0
filings
Last 180 days
1
filing
  • • 1 accounts
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (17 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-02-10
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  2. 2025-02-20
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  3. 2024-07-04
    📄
    termination-secretary-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM02
  4. 2024-04-15
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  5. 2024-01-06
    ➖
    PEARSON, Gwyneth Anne resigned
    secretary
  6. 2023-04-24
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  7. 2022-03-24
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  8. 2021-04-22
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  9. 2020-04-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  10. 2019-04-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  11. 2018-04-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  12. 2017-04-25
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  13. 2016-07-04
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  14. 2016-04-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  15. 2015-06-27
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  16. 2006-06-30
    ➖
    JONES, Philip Peter resigned
    director
  17. 1987-10-23
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As ACUMEN BOOKS LTD

Owner dependency

90/100
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
  • +Sole director: Only one active director — all governance concentrated on one person.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 83 — succession pressure is live.

Succession & seller-readiness

85/100
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 83 years old. Natural succession window is now.
  • primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 39 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
Nr Colin Bamford Pearson
Individual · English · DOB 11/1943 · age 83
75–100%
—75-100% shares31/05/2016

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

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.

See pricing →

Company details

Statusactive
Typeltd
Incorporated1987-10-23
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC47610 — SIC 47610

Registered office

Pennyfields New Road
Bignall End
Stoke-On-Trent
ST7 8QF

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2027-04-30
Last made up to: 2025-07-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-07-18
Last: 2025-07-04

Officers (1 active · 2 resigned)

PEARSON, Colin Bamford→
director · ~83y
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
PEARSON, Gwyneth Anne→
secretary · resigned 2024-01-06
Resigned
JONES, Philip Peter→
director · ~82y · resigned 2006-06-30
Resigned

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

Recent filings (89 total)

accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2026-02-10
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-07-08
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-02-20
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-07-04
termination-secretary-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM02
2024-07-04
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-04-15
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-07-05
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-04-24
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-07-05
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-03-24
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-07-05
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-07-04
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-04-22
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-07-04
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2020-04-27