ABINGDON DESIGNS LIMITED

🌳Matureactive

02764972 · ltd · incorporated 1992-11-16

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

—

Upgrade to see

Turnover

—

year to Nov 2024

Net worth

—

book net assets

Opportunity

80/100

Exceptional

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What this business does

Primary activity: SIC 99999

Sector: Extraterritorial bodies

Investor take

Pursue

Active trading company with a 69-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 80/100 (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).

Data confidence

Overall: medium (68/100)

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

Lenders & charges

Confirmed no charges registered

Directors & officers

5 officers (3 active, 5 linked, 2 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

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

Director network

Network not yet resolved

Filing history

78 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.

Key financials

1 year extracted from filed iXBRL accounts

Cash

—

Net Worth

—

Current Assets

—

Current Liabilities

—

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102

Metric	2024-11-30
Average employees	200

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

filings

Last 90 days

filings

Last 180 days

filing

• 1 accounts

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (23 events)Click to expand

2025-12-30
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2025-02-10
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2023-12-07
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2022-12-19
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2022-01-26
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2021-08-24
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2020-11-24
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2019-01-11
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2018-03-28
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2018-03-06
📄
withdrawal-of-a-person-with-significant-control-statement
persons-with-significant-control · PSC09
2017-07-28
📄
notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
2017-07-28
📄
notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
2017-02-17
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2016-02-11
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2016-02-02
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
1992-11-16
🏢
Company incorporated
As ABINGDON DESIGNS LIMITED
1992-11-16
➕
SALMONS, Ruth Annabel appointed
secretary
1992-11-16
➕
SALMONS, Darryl Michael appointed
director
1992-11-16
➕
SALMONS, Ruth Annabel appointed
director
1992-11-16
➕
HARRISON, Irene Lesley appointed
nominee-secretary
1992-11-16
➖
HARRISON, Irene Lesley resigned
nominee-secretary
1992-11-16
➕
BUSINESS INFORMATION RESEARCH & REPORTING LIMITED appointed
corporate-nominee-director
1992-11-16
➖
BUSINESS INFORMATION RESEARCH & REPORTING LIMITED resigned
corporate-nominee-director

Owner dependency

91/100

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.
+Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 34 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 candidate

Strong 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 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

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
Mrs Ruth Annabel Salmons Individual · British · DOB 09/1957 · age 69	25–50%	25–50%	25-50% shares · 25-50% voting	06/04/2016
Mr Darryl Michael Salmons Individual · British · DOB 03/1958 · age 68	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

Incorporated1992-11-16

Jurisdictionengland-wales

Primary SIC99999 — SIC 99999

Registered office

8 King Edward Street

Oxford

Oxon

OX1 4HL

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2027-08-31

Last made up to: 2025-11-30

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2026-12-01

Last: 2025-11-17

Officers (3 active · 2 resigned)

SALMONS, Ruth Annabel→

secretary · appointed 1992-11-16

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

SALMONS, Darryl Michael→

director · ~68y · appointed 1992-11-16

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

SALMONS, Ruth Annabel→

director · ~69y · appointed 1992-11-16

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

HARRISON, Irene Lesley→

nominee-secretary · appointed 1992-11-16 · resigned 1992-11-16

Resigned

BUSINESS INFORMATION RESEARCH & REPORTING LIMITED→

corporate-nominee-director · appointed 1992-11-16 · resigned 1992-11-16

Resigned

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