THE GARDENS GROUP LIMITED

🌳Matureactive
03498786 · ltd · incorporated 1998-01-20
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 28.3y old — refinance window within 12 months
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Dec 2024
Net worth
£308.3k
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: Other retail sale of new goods in specialised stores (other than commercial art galleries and opticians)
Sector: Wholesale & retail
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 63-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (70/100, director aged 63). 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 28.3y

65/100
clean up first

Refinance viable after a tidy-up — address the highlighted items first.

  • · Oldest live charge is 28.3 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: high (80/100)

Strong data coverage across all sections. AI outputs should be trusted with minimal caveats.

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
12 officers (3 active, 12 linked, 6 with DOB)
80
Ownership & PSC
2 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared
90
Director network
6 connected companies via shared directors
63
Filing history
109 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.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · accounting standard not declared
Positive net assets
Net assets £308,305
Cash YoY
+32%
Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
£2.0m
↑ 32% YoY
Net Worth
£308k
↑ 238% YoY
Current Assets
£3.9m
↑ 32% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
£0£788k£1.6m£2.4m£3.2m£3.9mDec 2023Dec 2024

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2024-12-312023-12-31
Total assets£558.3k£341.2k
Current assets£3.94M£2.99M
Cash£1.96M£1.49M
Debtors£1.98M£1.50M
Net assets£308.3k£91.2k

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

🔒Filing-note intelligence

3 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
0
filings
Last 180 days
1
filing
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (38 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-09-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2025-05-08
    📄
    capital-alter-shares-redemption-statement-of-capital
    capital · SH02
  3. 2025-04-11
    📄
    resolution
    resolution · RESOLUTIONS
  4. 2025-04-11
    📄
    memorandum-articles
    incorporation · MA
  5. 2024-09-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  6. 2023-09-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  7. 2022-09-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  8. 2021-09-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  9. 2021-01-01
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  10. 2019-09-09
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  11. 2018-09-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  12. 2017-09-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  13. 2016-10-19
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  14. 2016-03-24
    📄
    capital-variation-of-rights-attached-to-shares
    capital · SH10
  15. 2016-03-24
    📄
    capital-name-of-class-of-shares
    capital · SH08
  16. 2014-04-28
    ➖
    FOSTER PEGG, James resigned
    director
  17. 2009-12-23
    ➖
    RASH, Anthony Charles resigned
    director
  18. 2006-10-31
    ➕
    HUMPHRIES KIRK SERVICES LIMITED appointed
    corporate-secretary
  19. 2006-10-31
    ➖
    BATTENS SECRETARIAL SERVICES LTD resigned
    corporate-secretary
  20. 2006-01-30
    ➕
    FOSTER PEGG, James appointed
    director
  21. 1999-11-19
    ➖
    COONEY, Geoffrey Robert resigned
    secretary
  22. 1999-11-19
    ➕
    BATTENS SECRETARIAL SERVICES LTD appointed
    corporate-secretary
  23. 1999-11-19
    ➖
    COONEY, Geoffrey Robert resigned
    director
  24. 1998-02-17
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: Lloyds Bank PLC
  25. 1998-02-10
    ➕
    BURKS, Helen Louise appointed
    director
  26. 1998-02-10
    ➕
    BURKS, Michael David appointed
    director
  27. 1998-02-10
    ➕
    COONEY, Geoffrey Robert appointed
    secretary
  28. 1998-02-10
    ➖
    BATTENS SECRETARIAL SERVICES LTD resigned
    corporate-secretary
  29. 1998-02-10
    ➕
    COONEY, Geoffrey Robert appointed
    director
  30. 1998-02-10
    ➖
    EDWARDS, Raymond Martin resigned
    director
  31. 1998-02-10
    ➕
    RASH, Anthony Charles appointed
    director
  32. 1998-01-20
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As THE GARDENS GROUP LIMITED
  33. 1998-01-20
    ➕
    BATTENS SECRETARIAL SERVICES LTD appointed
    corporate-secretary
  34. 1998-01-20
    ➕
    SWIFT INCORPORATIONS LIMITED appointed
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  35. 1998-01-20
    ➖
    SWIFT INCORPORATIONS LIMITED resigned
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  36. 1998-01-20
    ➕
    EDWARDS, Raymond Martin appointed
    director
  37. 1998-01-20
    ➕
    INSTANT COMPANIES LIMITED appointed
    corporate-nominee-director
  38. 1998-01-20
    ➖
    INSTANT COMPANIES LIMITED resigned
    corporate-nominee-director

Owner dependency

84/100
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 28 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Senior director age: Director aged approximately 63 — approaching natural succession window.
  • +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 63. 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 28 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 28 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
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr Michael David Burks
Individual · British · DOB 09/1963 · age 63
25–50%
25–50%25-50% shares · 25-50% voting06/04/2016
Mrs Helen Louise Burks
Individual · British · DOB 09/1963 · age 63
25–50%
25–50%25-50% shares · 25-50% voting06/04/2016

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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Peers ranked by estimated value, then turnover, then opportunity score.See all →
🔒Tailored diligence questions

6 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
Incorporated1998-01-20
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC47789 — Other retail sale of new goods in specialised stores (other than commercial art galleries and opticians)

Registered office

40 High West Street
Dorchester
Dorset
DT1 1UR

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-09-30
Last made up to: 2024-12-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-02-22
Last: 2026-02-08

Officers (3 active · 9 resigned)

HUMPHRIES KIRK SERVICES LIMITED→
corporate-secretary · appointed 2006-10-31
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
BURKS, Helen Louise→
director · ~63y · appointed 1998-02-10
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
BURKS, Michael David→
director · ~63y · appointed 1998-02-10
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
COONEY, Geoffrey Robert→
secretary · appointed 1998-02-10 · resigned 1999-11-19
Resigned
BATTENS SECRETARIAL SERVICES LTD→
corporate-secretary · appointed 1999-11-19 · resigned 2006-10-31
Resigned
BATTENS SECRETARIAL SERVICES LTD→
corporate-secretary · appointed 1998-01-20 · resigned 1998-02-10
Resigned
SWIFT INCORPORATIONS LIMITED→
corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 1998-01-20 · resigned 1998-01-20
Resigned
COONEY, Geoffrey Robert→
director · ~62y · appointed 1998-02-10 · resigned 1999-11-19
Resigned
EDWARDS, Raymond Martin→
director · ~78y · appointed 1998-01-20 · resigned 1998-02-10
Resigned
FOSTER PEGG, James→
director · ~56y · appointed 2006-01-30 · resigned 2014-04-28
Resigned
RASH, Anthony Charles→
director · ~63y · appointed 1998-02-10 · resigned 2009-12-23
Resigned
INSTANT COMPANIES LIMITED→
corporate-nominee-director · appointed 1998-01-20 · resigned 1998-01-20
Resigned

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
TypeProperties
outstanding
Lloyds Banking Group
Lloyds Bank PLC
Debenture deed1 property17/02/1998—
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (109 total)

confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-02-12
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-09-26
capital-alter-shares-redemption-statement-of-capital
capital · SH02
2025-05-08
resolution
resolution · RESOLUTIONS
2025-04-11
memorandum-articles
incorporation · MA
2025-04-11
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-02-19
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-09-27
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-02-09
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-09-28
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-02-10
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-09-30
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-02-08
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-09-30
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-02-08
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-01-01