ABSTRACT WORLDS LIMITED

💤Zombieactive
03563906 · ltd · incorporated 1998-05-14
Investment thesis
Zombie company — trading but stalled; unlikely mover.
Why interesting: Quiet, steady; could be a succession or carve-out candidate with the right conversation.
Why risky: No growth signal; thin margin for error on price.
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Jan 2025
Net worth
£-44.2k
book net assets
Opportunity
80/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: Other information technology service activities
Sector: Information & communication
Investor take
Pass (distressed without resilience)
Distressed active trading company — structural issues outweigh the discount.

Opportunity 80/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (70/100, director aged 59). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Broaden director team. Sole director creates succession risk and reduces buyer comfort. Appoint a second director or strong #2. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (73/100).

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
75
Lenders & charges
Confirmed no charges registered
85
Directors & officers
4 officers (1 active, 4 linked, 2 with DOB)
80
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
2 connected companies via shared directors
51
Filing history
72 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
80/100Exceptional
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
90
Good data coverage for analysis.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · FRS 102
Negative net assets
Liabilities exceed assets by £44,176
Cash YoY
+31%
Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
£1k
↑ 31% YoY
Net Worth
-£44k
↓ 2.3% YoY
Current Assets
£2k
↑ 11% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
-£44k-£35k-£26k-£16k-£7k£2kJan 2024Jan 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102
Metric2025-01-312024-01-31
Total assets£-44.2k£-43.2k
Current assets£2.3k£2.1k
Cash£1.3k£954
Debtors£1.0k£1.1k
Net assets£-44.2k£-43.2k

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
1
filing
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
Last 90 days
1
filing
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
Last 180 days
1
filing
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (23 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-10-16
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-10-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  3. 2023-10-19
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  4. 2022-11-01
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  5. 2021-10-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  6. 2020-11-02
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  7. 2019-10-24
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  8. 2018-07-20
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  9. 2017-09-07
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  10. 2016-05-19
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  11. 2016-03-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  12. 2015-10-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  13. 2015-05-19
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  14. 2014-10-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  15. 2014-05-29
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  16. 2010-12-31
    ➖
    IRELAND, Steve resigned
    secretary
  17. 1998-06-01
    ➕
    IRELAND, Paul appointed
    director
  18. 1998-06-01
    ➕
    IRELAND, Steve appointed
    secretary
  19. 1998-05-14
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As ABSTRACT WORLDS LIMITED
  20. 1998-05-14
    ➕
    BUHAGIAR, Bryan appointed
    nominee-secretary
  21. 1998-05-14
    ➖
    BUHAGIAR, Bryan resigned
    nominee-secretary
  22. 1998-05-14
    ➕
    BUHAGIAR, Susan appointed
    nominee-director
  23. 1998-05-14
    ➖
    BUHAGIAR, Susan resigned
    nominee-director

Owner dependency

93/100
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
  • +Sole director: Only one active director — all governance concentrated on one person.
  • +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 28 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Senior director age: Director aged approximately 59 — approaching natural succession window.

Succession & seller-readiness

85/100
Likely off-market candidate

Strong acquirability signals converging. Worth approaching directly — this is how off-market deals start.

SIGNALS
  • secondaryFounder aged 58+: Senior director is approximately 59. Early succession window.
  • primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
  • 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

1 active beneficial owner · dominant holder ≥75%
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr Paul Ireland
Individual · British · DOB 08/1967 · age 59
75–100%
75–100%board control75-100% shares · 75-100% voting · board control06/04/2016

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

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
Incorporated1998-05-14
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC62090 — Other information technology service activities

Registered office

9 Laburnum Close
Wellingborough
Northamptonshire
NN8 3GP

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-10-31
Last made up to: 2025-01-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-05-28
Last: 2026-05-14

Officers (1 active · 3 resigned)

IRELAND, Paul→
director · ~59y · appointed 1998-06-01
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
BUHAGIAR, Bryan→
nominee-secretary · appointed 1998-05-14 · resigned 1998-05-14
Resigned
IRELAND, Steve→
secretary · appointed 1998-06-01 · resigned 2010-12-31
Resigned
BUHAGIAR, Susan→
nominee-director · ~66y · appointed 1998-05-14 · resigned 1998-05-14
Resigned

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

Recent filings (72 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-06-05
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-10-16
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-05-29
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2024-10-31
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-05-28
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-10-19
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-05-19
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2022-11-01
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-05-20
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2021-10-27
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-05-26
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2020-11-02
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-05-19
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2019-10-24
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-05-20