AQUA FABRICATIONS LIMITED

🌳Matureactive
02216332 · ltd · incorporated 1988-02-02
Investment thesis
Established operating company — standard diligence applies, no dominant angle.
Why interesting: Live, filing, normal profile.
Why risky: No standout signals in either direction.
Opportunity decay
approaching window · 12-months
Approaching a transaction window — refinance or sale event plausible in the next 12 months.
  • · Oldest live charge 37.6y old — refinance window within 12 months
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Oct 2025
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
77/100
Strong
🔔
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What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 20160
Sector: Manufacturing
Investor take
Pursue
Conservative operator with a 76-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 77/100 (strong), bankability 85/100. Strong seller-intent signal (78/100, director aged 76). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: strategic trade sale (78/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

7 live charges · 2 lenders · oldest 37.6y

80/100
ready

Refinance conversation should be productive — structure clean and timing right.

  • · Oldest live charge is 37.6 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Two lenders — manageable, but coordination required.
  • · Legal-friction score 15/100 — clean.
  • · Profitable and stable/growing — lender coverage supportable.

Data confidence

Overall: medium (73/100)

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
1 year of iXBRL accounts extracted (no YoY comparison) + narrative notes parsed
50
Lenders & charges
7 charges (7/7 with lender, 7/7 with type)
90
Directors & officers
7 officers (3 active, 7 linked, 5 with DOB)
84
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared
90
Director network
5 connected companies via shared directors
60
Filing history
144 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
🔒Estimated company valuation

Sector-multiple EBITDA, turnover, and NAV-proxy valuation range with confidence tier — derived from extracted iXBRL financials.

Available from the Pro tier upwards.

See pricing →
Opportunity Score
77/100Strong
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
77
Few red flags.
Signal strength
100
Good data coverage for analysis.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · FRS 102
Profitable
Profit before tax £2,339,898

Key financials

1 year extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
—
Net Worth
—
Current Assets
—
Current Liabilities
—

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102
Metric2025-10-31
Profit before tax£2.34M
Average employees57

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
2
filings
  • • 2 officers
Last 180 days
3
filings
  • • 2 officers
  • • 1 accounts
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (40 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-05-08
    📄
    appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
    officers · AP01
  2. 2026-05-08
    📄
    termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM01
  3. 2026-03-02
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-full
    accounts · AA
  4. 2025-02-27
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  5. 2025-02-27
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  6. 2025-02-27
    📄
    change-person-secretary-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH03
  7. 2025-02-27
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  8. 2025-02-18
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-full
    accounts · AA
  9. 2024-10-08
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  10. 2024-03-15
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  11. 2024-03-01
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-full
    accounts · AA
  12. 2024-01-17
    📄
    mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
    mortgage · MR04
  13. 2024-01-17
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #5
  14. 2023-04-24
    📄
    termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM01
  15. 2023-04-24
    📄
    cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
  16. 2023-02-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-full
    accounts · AA
  17. 2023-01-10
    ➖
    SMITH, Ian Thomas resigned
    director
  18. 2022-02-15
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-full
    accounts · AA
  19. 2021-02-18
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-full
    accounts · AA
  20. 2020-02-12
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-full
    accounts · AA
  21. 2020-01-01
    ➕
    SMITH, Stuart appointed
    director
  22. 2020-01-01
    ➖
    SMITH, Stuart resigned
    director
  23. 2019-09-09
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #7
  24. 2019-09-09
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #6
  25. 2019-09-09
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #4
  26. 2019-09-09
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #3
  27. 2019-09-09
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #2
  28. 2016-04-25
    🔒
    Charge registered #7
    Lender: Barclays Bank PLC
  29. 2015-03-04
    🔒
    Charge registered #6
    Lender: Barclays Bank PLC
  30. 2005-04-12
    🔒
    Charge registered #5
    Lender: Barclays Bank PLC
  31. 2003-04-06
    ➕
    SMITH, Stuart appointed
    director
  32. 1999-12-21
    ➕
    SMITH, Lynda Christine appointed
    secretary
  33. 1999-12-21
    ➖
    JONES, Keith Anthony resigned
    secretary
  34. 1999-12-21
    ➖
    JONES, Keith Anthony resigned
    director
  35. 1996-01-17
    🔒
    Charge registered #4
    Lender: Barclays Bank PLC
  36. 1996-01-17
    🔒
    Charge registered #3
    Lender: Barclays Bank PLC
  37. 1995-08-11
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #1
  38. 1995-05-26
    🔒
    Charge registered #2
    Lender: Barclays Bank PLC
  39. 1988-11-09
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: Midland Bank PLC
  40. 1988-02-02
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As AQUA FABRICATIONS LIMITED

Owner dependency

81/100
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 age: Director aged approximately 76 — succession pressure is live.
  • +Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

Succession & seller-readiness

76/100
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 76 years old. Natural succession window is now.
  • secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 38 years old and no new directors in the last 3 years — succession not yet being planned internally.

Red flags

1 med ·
Charge satisfaction-then-recreation pattern
medium

Multiple instances where a charge was satisfied and a new charge created within 6 months. Suggests active refinancing cycle.

Shareholders & ownership

1 active beneficial owner
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mrs Lynda Christine Smith
Individual · British · DOB 10/1950 · age 76
50–75%
50–75%50-75% shares · 50-75% voting12/04/2017
1 historic (ceased) PSC
  • Mr Ian Thomas Smithceased 10/01/2023· 25-50% shares · 25-50% voting

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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AND FRAME LTD→
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08296026 · est 2012 · no financials extracted
————13y——
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AQUA SIGNAL & TELEGRAPHIC SYSTEMS LTD→
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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
Incorporated1988-02-02
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC20160 — SIC 20160

Registered office

Belmont House Garnett Place
East Gillibrands
Skelmersdale
Lancashire
WN8 9UB

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2027-07-31
Last made up to: 2025-10-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-10-22
Last: 2025-10-08

Officers (3 active · 4 resigned)

SMITH, Lynda Christine→
secretary · appointed 1999-12-21
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
SMITH, Lynda Christine→
director · ~76y
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
SMITH, Stuart→
director · ~55y · appointed 2020-01-01
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
JONES, Keith Anthony→
secretary · resigned 1999-12-21
Resigned
JONES, Keith Anthony→
director · ~76y · resigned 1999-12-21
Resigned
SMITH, Ian Thomas→
director · ~79y · resigned 2023-01-10
Resigned
SMITH, Stuart→
director · ~55y · appointed 2003-04-06 · resigned 2020-01-01
Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

7
Total charges
0
Outstanding
0
Active lenders
Status:Lender:7 of 7 shown
TypeProperties
satisfied
Barclays
Barclays Bank PLC
A registered charge1 property25/04/201609/09/2019
satisfied
Barclays
Barclays Bank PLC
A registered charge1 property04/03/201509/09/2019
satisfied
Barclays
Barclays Bank PLC
Guarantee & debenture1 property12/04/200517/01/2024
satisfied
Barclays
Barclays Bank PLC
Legal charge1 property17/01/199609/09/2019
satisfied
Barclays
Barclays Bank PLC
Legal charge1 property17/01/199609/09/2019
satisfied
Barclays
Barclays Bank PLC
Guarantee and debenture1 property26/05/199509/09/2019
satisfied
Midland Bank
Midland Bank PLC
Fixed and floating charge1 property09/11/198811/08/1995

Recent filings (144 total)

appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2026-05-08
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2026-05-08
accounts-with-accounts-type-full
accounts · AA
2026-03-02
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-10-08
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2025-02-27
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2025-02-27
change-person-secretary-company-with-change-date
officers · CH03
2025-02-27
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2025-02-27
accounts-with-accounts-type-full
accounts · AA
2025-02-18
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2024-10-08
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-10-08
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-04-12
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2024-03-15
accounts-with-accounts-type-full
accounts · AA
2024-03-01
mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
mortgage · MR04
2024-01-17