A.J.W. DISTRIBUTION LIMITED

🌳Matureactive

03534330 · ltd · incorporated 1998-03-25

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.

🔒Estimated value

—

Upgrade to see

Turnover

—

year to Mar 2025

Net worth

£1.95M

book net assets

Opportunity

80/100

Exceptional

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What this business does

Primary activity: Non-specialised wholesale trade

Sector: Wholesale & retail

Investor take

Pursue

Active trading company with a 77-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 80/100 (exceptional), bankability 67/100. Strong seller-intent signal (73/100, director aged 77). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Consolidate lender relationships. 4 distinct lenders creates friction — refinance into single-lender structure for cleaner diligence. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

4 live charges · 4 lenders · oldest 23.6y

35/100

too messy

Refinance path is blocked by complexity. Rethink structure or expect bespoke, expensive terms.

· Oldest live charge is 23.6 years old — likely at or near maturity.
· 4 lenders named — inter-creditor friction likely.
· Legal-friction score 25/100 — workable, but lender will want more DD.

Data confidence

Overall: high (81/100)

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

Lenders & charges

4 charges (4/4 with lender, 4/4 with type)

Directors & officers

13 officers (7 active, 13 linked, 8 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

2 active PSC(s) of 3 total, 3 with control declared

Director network

9 connected companies via shared directors

Filing history

105 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

100

Good data coverage for analysis.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · accounting standard not declared

Positive net assets

Net assets £1,952,715

Cash YoY

+1120%

Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts

Cash

£1.1m

↑ 1120% YoY

Net Worth

£2.0m

↑ 193% YoY

Current Assets

£6.9m

↑ 316% YoY

Current Liabilities

—

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown

Metric	2025-03-31	2024-03-31
Total assets	£2.76M	£1.38M
Current assets	£6.87M	£1.65M
Cash	£1.15M	£94.2k
Debtors	£3.43M	£1.11M
Net assets	£1.95M	£666.3k

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

🔒Filing-note intelligence

2 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

filing

• 1 confirmation-statement

Last 90 days

filing

• 1 confirmation-statement

Last 180 days

filings

• 1 confirmation-statement
• 1 accounts

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (46 events)Click to expand

2025-12-23
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-group
accounts · AA
2025-03-20
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2024-12-19
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-small
accounts · AA
2024-05-09
📄
memorandum-articles
incorporation · MA
2024-04-23
📄
capital-allotment-shares
capital · SH01
2023-12-21
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-small
accounts · AA
2023-11-07
📄
mortgage-create-with-deed-with-charge-number-charge-creation-date
mortgage · MR01
2023-10-30
🔒
Charge registered #4
Lender: Lloyds Bank Commercial Finance Limited
2023-10-16
📄
mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
mortgage · MR04
2023-10-16
📄
mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
mortgage · MR04
2023-10-16
🔓
Charge satisfied #3
2023-10-16
🔓
Charge satisfied #1
2023-04-19
📄
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC05
2022-12-14
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-small
accounts · AA
2022-07-18
📄
mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
mortgage · MR04
2022-07-18
🔓
Charge satisfied #2
2022-05-31
📄
notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
2022-05-31
📄
cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
2022-05-31
📄
notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC02
2022-04-19
📄
capital-alter-shares-subdivision
capital · SH02
2022-04-19
📄
capital-name-of-class-of-shares
capital · SH08
2022-04-19
📄
resolution
resolution · RESOLUTIONS
2022-02-14
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2021-05-19
➕
PATRICK, Kevin appointed
director
2020-06-03
🔒
Charge registered #3
Lender: Barclays Security Trustee Limited
2019-12-18
🔒
Charge registered #2
Lender: Marketfinance Limited
2014-09-18
➕
WOODS, Charlotte Louise appointed
director
2014-09-18
➕
WOODS, Gareth Mark appointed
director
2014-09-18
➕
WOODS, Thomas Luke appointed
director
2002-12-06
➖
LOASBY, Joyce Ann resigned
secretary
2002-12-06
➖
LOASBY, Graham resigned
director
2002-12-06
➖
LOASBY, Joyce Ann resigned
director
2002-10-30
🔒
Charge registered #1
Lender: Barclays Bank PLC
2002-10-01
➕
WOODS, Julie appointed
secretary
1999-04-22
➕
LOASBY, Joyce Ann appointed
secretary
1999-04-22
➖
MARKLAND, Brierley Paul resigned
secretary
1999-04-22
➕
LOASBY, Graham appointed
director
1999-04-22
➕
LOASBY, Joyce Ann appointed
director
1998-03-25
🏢
Company incorporated
As A.J.W. DISTRIBUTION LIMITED
1998-03-25
➕
WOODS, Alan John appointed
director
1998-03-25
➕
WOODS, Julie appointed
director
1998-03-25
➕
MARKLAND, Brierley Paul appointed
secretary
1998-03-25
➕
WATERLOW SECRETARIES LIMITED appointed
corporate-nominee-secretary
1998-03-25
➖
WATERLOW SECRETARIES LIMITED resigned
corporate-nominee-secretary
1998-03-25
➕
WATERLOW NOMINEES LIMITED appointed
corporate-nominee-director
1998-03-25
➖
WATERLOW NOMINEES LIMITED resigned
corporate-nominee-director

Owner dependency

73/100

High — earn-out structure required

Material founder dependency. Consider a 2-3 year earn-out and build in a handover plan before completion.

FACTORS

-6 active directors: Broader management team in place — suggests transferable governance.
+Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 28 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
+Founder age: Director aged approximately 77 — succession pressure is live.
+Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

Succession & seller-readiness

90/100

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 77 years old. Natural succession window is now.
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

1 med ·

Charge satisfaction-then-recreation pattern

medium

Multiple instances where a charge was satisfied and a new charge created within 6 months. Suggests active refinancing cycle.

Group structure

Ajw Group Ltd is the ultimate parent — holding 75%+ shares. This company sits inside their group.

🏛️

Ajw Group Ltd

Corporate parent · holds 75-100% shares · board control

ultimate parent

⬇

A.J.W. DISTRIBUTION LIMITED

This company · 03534330

Parent relationships inferred from Persons with Significant Control filings. Full subsidiary tree requires reverse-lookup (coming).

Shareholders & ownership

2 active beneficial owners · dominant holder ≥75%

Name	Shares	Voting rights	Nature of control	Notified
Ajw Group Ltd Corporate entity	75–100%	75–100%	board control75-100% shares · 75-100% voting · board control	06/04/2016
Mr Alan John Woods Individual · British · DOB 08/1949 · age 77	—	—	sig. influencesignificant influence	06/04/2016

1 historic (ceased) PSC

Ajw Group Limitedceased 06/04/2016· 75-100% shares · 75-100% voting · board control

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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ADRRA ASSOCIATES LIMITED→ 05507279 · est 2005 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	20y	—	—
ADSALL LTD→ 15818267 · est 2024 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	1y	—	—
AFB CONSULTANTS LIMITED→ 11393513 · est 2018 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	7y	—	—
AFRICAN BLUE (UK) LIMITED→ 11756329 · est 2019 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	7y	—	—
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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.

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Company details

Statusactive

Typeltd

Incorporated1998-03-25

Jurisdictionengland-wales

Primary SIC46900 — Non-specialised wholesale trade

Registered office

Units 6-7 Honeysome Industrial Estate

Honeysome Road

Chatteris

Cambridgeshire

PE16 6TG

England

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2026-12-31

Last made up to: 2025-03-31

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2027-05-07

Last: 2026-04-23