A W BLAKE LTD
🌳Matureactive
02969527 · ltd · incorporated 1994-09-20
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
approaching window · 12-months
Approaching a transaction window — refinance or sale event plausible in the next 12 months.
- · Oldest live charge 31.6y old — refinance window within 12 months
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Nov 2024
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 46610
Sector: Wholesale & retail
Investor take
PursueActive trading company with a 69-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.
Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 85/100. 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).
🏦
Refinance opportunity
1 live charge · oldest 31.6y
85/100
ready
Refinance conversation should be productive — structure clean and timing right.
- · Oldest live charge is 31.6 years old — likely at or near maturity.
- · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
- · Legal-friction score 15/100 — clean.
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, 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
6 officers (3 active, 6 linked, 2 with DOB)
77
Ownership & PSC
2 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
82 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
82/100Exceptional
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
80
Strong succession / seller-readiness signals.
Risk profile
85
Few red flags.
Signal strength
100
Good data coverage for analysis.
Key financials
2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accountsCash
—
Net Worth
—
Current Assets
—
Current Liabilities
—
Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series
Financials
Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown| Metric | 2024-11-30 | 2023-11-30 |
|---|---|---|
| Average employees | 1400 | 1400 |
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
1
filing
- • 1 confirmation-statement
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (27 events)Click to expand
- 2026-03-05📄replacement-filing-of-confirmation-statement-with-made-up-dateconfirmation-statement · RP01CS01
- 2025-10-28📄change-person-director-company-with-change-dateofficers · CH01
- 2025-06-24📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2024-08-06📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2023-06-30📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2023-04-25📄mortgage-satisfy-charge-fullmortgage · MR04
- 2023-04-25🔓Charge satisfied #1
- 2022-07-14📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2021-06-11📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2020-04-23📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2019-04-15📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2018-05-04📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2017-06-20📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-smallaccounts · AA
- 2016-05-19📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-smallaccounts · AA
- 2015-10-02📄annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholdersannual-return · AR01
- 2015-06-19📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-smallaccounts · AA
- 1994-11-08🔒Charge registered #1Lender: The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland
- 1994-09-27➕BLAKE, Elizabeth Ada appointedsecretary
- 1994-09-27➕BLAKE, Andrew William appointeddirector
- 1994-09-27➕BLAKE, Elizabeth Ada appointeddirector
- 1994-09-27➖COMBINED SECRETARIAL SERVICES LIMITED resignedcorporate-nominee-secretary
- 1994-09-27➖COMBINED NOMINEES LIMITED resignedcorporate-nominee-director
- 1994-09-27➖COMBINED SECRETARIAL SERVICES LIMITED resignedcorporate-nominee-director
- 1994-09-20🏢Company incorporatedAs A W BLAKE LTD
- 1994-09-20➕COMBINED SECRETARIAL SERVICES LIMITED appointedcorporate-nominee-secretary
- 1994-09-20➕COMBINED NOMINEES LIMITED appointedcorporate-nominee-director
- 1994-09-20➕COMBINED SECRETARIAL SERVICES LIMITED appointedcorporate-nominee-director
Owner dependency
100/100
Critical — business is the founderThe 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 name in company name: Company name contains director surname "BLAKE" — strong identity link between founder and business.
- +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 32 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 candidateStrong 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 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
cleanNo 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Andrew William Blake Individual · British · DOB 02/1957 · age 69 | 25–50% | 25–50% | 25-50% shares · 25-50% voting | 30/06/2016 |
Mrs Elizabeth Ada Blake Individual · British · DOB 01/1961 · age 65 | 25–50% | — | sig. influence25-50% shares · significant influence | 30/06/2016 |
From Companies House Persons with Significant Control filings. Share ranges are banded per the public PSC regime.
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| AGRIFEED SOLUTIONS LTD→ 13163861 · est 2021 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 5y | — | — |
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| BURROW & RUTTER-ARMSTRONG ENGINEERING LTD→ 12353425 · est 2019 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 6y | — | — |
| CEP NORTHWEST LIMITED→ 16693739 · est 2025 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| CORNVALE FOODS LIMITED→ 04188889 · est 2001 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 25y | — | — |
| CRAIG KENNEDY LIMITED→ 09332020 · est 2014 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 11y | — | — |
| CUMBERLAND ELECTRICAL WHOLESALERS LIMITED→ 00651292 · est 1960 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 66y | — | — |
| CUMBRIA BUILDING SUPPLIES HOLDINGS LTD→ 11931133 · est 2019 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 7y | — | — |
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
Incorporated1994-09-20
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC46610 — SIC 46610
Registered office
Swaithwaite Head
Ivegill
Carlisle
Cumbria
CA4 0PA
Filing status
Accounts
Next due: 2026-08-31
Last made up to: 2024-11-30
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-10-04
Last: 2025-09-20
Officers (3 active · 3 resigned)
BLAKE, Elizabeth Ada→
Activesecretary · appointed 1994-09-27
View their other companies + combined net worth →
BLAKE, Andrew William→
Activedirector · ~69y · appointed 1994-09-27
View their other companies + combined net worth →
BLAKE, Elizabeth Ada→
Activedirector · ~65y · appointed 1994-09-27
View their other companies + combined net worth →
COMBINED SECRETARIAL SERVICES LIMITED→
Resignedcorporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 1994-09-20 · resigned 1994-09-27
COMBINED NOMINEES LIMITED→
Resignedcorporate-nominee-director · appointed 1994-09-20 · resigned 1994-09-27
COMBINED SECRETARIAL SERVICES LIMITED→
Resignedcorporate-nominee-director · appointed 1994-09-20 · resigned 1994-09-27
Click a director name to see their full track record across all companies.
Mortgages & charges
1
Total charges
0
Outstanding
0
Active lenders
Status:Lender:1 of 1 shown
| Type | Properties | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| satisfied | Lloyds Banking Group The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland | Debenture | 1 property | 08/11/1994 | 25/04/2023 |
Recent filings (82 total)
replacement-filing-of-confirmation-statement-with-made-up-date
confirmation-statement · RP01CS01
2026-03-05
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2025-10-28
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-10-01
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-06-24
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-09-27
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-08-06
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-09-28
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-06-30
mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
mortgage · MR04
2023-04-25
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-09-23
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-07-14
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-10-01
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-06-11
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-10-02
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-04-23