A B FINE ART FOUNDRY LIMITED
🌳Matureactive
02762230 · ltd · incorporated 1992-11-05
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 33.5y old — refinance window within 12 months
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Oct 2024
Net worth
£1.04M
book net assets
Opportunity
83/100
Exceptional
What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 24540
Sector: Manufacturing
Investor take
PursueActive trading company with a 84-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.
Opportunity 83/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (63/100, director aged 84). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Discharge stale live charges. 1 live charge(s) created 15+ years ago — likely paid but undischarged. Clean register. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).
🏦
Refinance opportunity
1 live charge · oldest 33.5y
65/100
clean up first
Refinance viable after a tidy-up — address the highlighted items first.
- · Oldest live charge is 33.5 years old — likely at or near maturity.
- · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
- · Legal-friction score 25/100 — workable, but lender will want more DD.
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
8 officers (4 active, 8 linked, 4 with DOB)
80
Ownership & PSC
3 active PSC(s) of 3 total, 3 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
107 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
83/100Exceptional
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
85
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 £1,042,021
Net assets shrinking
Down £123,108 YoY
Cash YoY
-14%
Year on year
Key financials
2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accountsCash
£827k
↓ 14% YoY
Net Worth
£1.0m
↓ 11% YoY
Current Assets
£1.0m
↓ 12% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series
Financials
Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown| Metric | 2024-10-31 | 2023-10-31 |
|---|---|---|
| Total assets | £1.05M | £1.17M |
| Current assets | £1.00M | £1.13M |
| Cash | £826.8k | £960.1k |
| Debtors | £12.5k | £24.1k |
| Net assets | £1.04M | £1.17M |
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
0
filings
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (30 events)Click to expand
- 2025-07-21📄termination-director-company-with-name-termination-dateofficers · TM01
- 2025-07-17➖ABERCROMBIE, Henry Maurice resigneddirector
- 2025-06-17📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2024-07-22📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2023-07-18📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2022-07-05📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2021-07-05📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2020-07-08📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2019-03-25📄appoint-person-secretary-company-with-name-dateofficers · AP03
- 2019-03-25📄termination-secretary-company-with-name-termination-dateofficers · TM02
- 2019-03-22➕HUGHES, Nicola, Mrs. appointedsecretary
- 2019-03-22➖ABERCROMBIE, Deborah Gay resignedsecretary
- 2019-03-04📄appoint-person-director-company-with-name-dateofficers · AP01
- 2019-02-27📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2019-02-18➕PUGHE, Sorcha Elizabeth appointeddirector
- 2018-08-21📄capital-cancellation-sharescapital · SH06
- 2018-08-21📄capital-return-purchase-own-sharescapital · SH03
- 2018-03-07📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2017-11-27📄capital-cancellation-sharescapital · SH06
- 2017-11-27📄capital-return-purchase-own-sharescapital · SH03
- 2006-06-01➕HUGHES, Jeremy Charles appointeddirector
- 1992-11-20🔒Charge registered #1Lender: National Westminster Bank PLC
- 1992-11-05🏢Company incorporatedAs A B FINE ART FOUNDRY LIMITED
- 1992-11-05➕ABERCROMBIE, Deborah Gay appointeddirector
- 1992-11-05➕ABERCROMBIE, Deborah Gay appointedsecretary
- 1992-11-05➕WATERLOW SECRETARIES LIMITED appointedcorporate-nominee-secretary
- 1992-11-05➖WATERLOW SECRETARIES LIMITED resignedcorporate-nominee-secretary
- 1992-11-05➕ABERCROMBIE, Henry Maurice appointeddirector
- 1992-11-05➕WATERLOW NOMINEES LIMITED appointedcorporate-nominee-director
- 1992-11-05➖WATERLOW NOMINEES LIMITED resignedcorporate-nominee-director
Owner dependency
75/100
High — earn-out structure requiredMaterial founder dependency. Consider a 2-3 year earn-out and build in a handover plan before completion.
FACTORS
- +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 34 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
- +Founder age: Director aged approximately 84 — succession pressure is live.
Succession & seller-readiness
90/100
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 84 years old. Natural succession window is now.
- primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 34 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
- secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 34 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
3 active beneficial owners| Name | Shares | Voting rights | Nature of control | Notified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Mr Henry Maurice Abercrombie Individual · British · DOB 03/1943 · age 83 | 25–50% | 25–50% | 25-50% shares · 25-50% voting | 06/04/2016 |
Deborah Gay Abercrombie Individual · British · DOB 10/1942 · age 84 | 25–50% | 25–50% | 25-50% shares · 25-50% voting | 06/04/2016 |
Jeremy Charles Hughes Individual · British · DOB 10/1964 · age 62 | 25–50% | 25–50% | 25-50% shares · 25-50% voting | 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
Incorporated1992-11-05
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC24540 — SIC 24540
Registered office
Harben House
Harben Parade Finchley Road
London
NW3 6LH
Filing status
Accounts
Next due: 2026-07-31
Last made up to: 2024-10-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-11-19
Last: 2025-11-05
Officers (4 active · 4 resigned)
HUGHES, Nicola, Mrs.→
Activesecretary · appointed 2019-03-22
View their other companies + combined net worth →
ABERCROMBIE, Deborah Gay→
Activedirector · ~84y · appointed 1992-11-05
View their other companies + combined net worth →
HUGHES, Jeremy Charles→
Activedirector · ~62y · appointed 2006-06-01
View their other companies + combined net worth →
PUGHE, Sorcha Elizabeth→
Activedirector · ~61y · appointed 2019-02-18
View their other companies + combined net worth →
ABERCROMBIE, Deborah Gay→
Resignedsecretary · appointed 1992-11-05 · resigned 2019-03-22
WATERLOW SECRETARIES LIMITED→
Resignedcorporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 1992-11-05 · resigned 1992-11-05
ABERCROMBIE, Henry Maurice→
Resigneddirector · ~83y · appointed 1992-11-05 · resigned 2025-07-17
WATERLOW NOMINEES LIMITED→
Resignedcorporate-nominee-director · appointed 1992-11-05 · resigned 1992-11-05
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 | Mortgage debenture | 1 property | 20/11/1992 | — |
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.
Recent filings (107 total)
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-11-05
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2025-07-21
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-06-17
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-11-14
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-07-22
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-11-09
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-07-18
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-11-07
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-07-05
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-11-05
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-07-05
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-11-10
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-07-08
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-11-07
appoint-person-secretary-company-with-name-date
officers · AP03
2019-03-25