ABBOTT, TROWER & COMPANY LIMITED

🌳Matureactive

02903835 · ltd · incorporated 1994-03-02

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 May 2025

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 84-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 80/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 84). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

Data confidence

Overall: medium (78/100)

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

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

Ownership & PSC

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

Director network

3 connected companies via shared directors

Filing history

71 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

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts

Cash

—

Net Worth

—

Current Assets

—

Current Liabilities

—

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102

Metric	2025-05-31	2024-05-31

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

Recent activity

Last 30 days

filings

Last 90 days

filings

• 1 confirmation-statement
• 1 accounts

Last 180 days

filings

• 1 confirmation-statement
• 1 accounts

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (23 events)Click to expand

2026-02-04
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2025-02-24
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2024-02-26
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2023-02-20
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2022-02-28
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2021-03-01
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2020-01-31
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2019-02-18
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2018-02-28
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2017-02-21
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2016-03-17
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2016-03-14
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2015-04-22
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2015-02-25
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2014-03-10
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
1996-02-17
➕
CROCKFORD, Douglas Frederick appointed
secretary
1996-02-16
➖
RALSTON, Michael Duncan resigned
secretary
1994-03-02
🏢
Company incorporated
As ABBOTT, TROWER & COMPANY LIMITED
1994-03-02
➕
CROCKFORD, Douglas Frederick appointed
director
1994-03-02
➕
DEE SHAPLAND, Simon appointed
director
1994-03-02
➕
RALSTON, Michael Duncan appointed
secretary
1994-03-02
➕
SWIFT INCORPORATIONS LIMITED appointed
corporate-nominee-secretary
1994-03-02
➖
SWIFT INCORPORATIONS LIMITED resigned
corporate-nominee-secretary

Owner dependency

83/100

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 32 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
+Founder age: Director aged approximately 84 — succession pressure is live.

Succession & seller-readiness

96/100

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 84 years old. Natural succession window is now.
secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 32 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 32 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 Douglas Frederick Crockford Individual · British · DOB 09/1944 · age 82	25–50%	25–50%	25-50% shares · 25-50% voting	06/04/2016
Mr Simon Dee Shapland Individual · British · DOB 09/1942 · age 84	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.

🔒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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A&E FIRE AND SECURITY (HOLDINGS) LIMITED→ 11861632 · est 2019 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	7y	—	—
ABBEY MILL (TEWKESBURY) MANAGEMENT LIMITED→ 05557874 · est 2005 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	20y	—	—
ABBOTT, TROWER & CO (WILTSHIRE) LIMITED→ 02903991 · est 1994 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	32y	—	—
ABBOTT,TROWER & CO (DEVON) LTD.→ 02905570 · est 1994 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	32y	—	—
ABLATIVE HOSTING LIMITED→ 10602465 · est 2017 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	9y	—	—
ABU DHABI CONSULTING GROUP LIMITED→ 13066524 · est 2020 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	5y	—	—
ACADEMY OF PROFESSIONAL DIALOGUE→ 10685375 · est 2017 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	9y	—	—

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

Incorporated1994-03-02

Jurisdictionengland-wales

Primary SIC99999 — SIC 99999

Registered office

Abberley House

Park Street

Cirencester

GL7 2BX

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2027-02-28

Last made up to: 2025-05-31

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2027-03-12

Last: 2026-02-26

Officers (3 active · 2 resigned)

CROCKFORD, Douglas Frederick→

secretary · appointed 1996-02-17

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

CROCKFORD, Douglas Frederick→

director · ~82y · appointed 1994-03-02

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

DEE SHAPLAND, Simon→

director · ~84y · appointed 1994-03-02

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

RALSTON, Michael Duncan→

secretary · appointed 1994-03-02 · resigned 1996-02-16

Resigned

SWIFT INCORPORATIONS LIMITED→

corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 1994-03-02 · resigned 1994-03-02

Resigned

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