GRAHAM BELL DESIGN (SUSSEX) LTD.

💤Zombieactive
03614766 · ltd · incorporated 1998-08-13
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 Dec 2024
Net worth
£21.6k
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: Information technology consultancy activities
Sector: Information & communication
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 71-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 71). 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 (73/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

1 live charge · oldest 26.3y

45/100
under pressure

Refinance would be pressure-driven, not opportunity-driven. Expect tighter margins and covenant scrutiny.

  • · Oldest live charge is 26.3 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
  • · Distress signals active — lender appetite narrows.

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
1 charges (1/1 with lender, 1/1 with type)
90
Directors & officers
5 officers (1 active, 5 linked, 1 with DOB)
74
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
3 connected companies via shared directors
54
Filing history
79 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 £21,633

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
—
Net Worth
£22k
~ YoY
Current Assets
£1k
~ YoY
Current Liabilities
—
£0£4k£9k£13k£17k£22kDec 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£1.4k£1.4k
Current assets£1.3k£1.3k
Net assets£21.6k£21.6k

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

Recent activity

Last 30 days
0
filings
Last 90 days
0
filings
Last 180 days
0
filings
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (26 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-09-22
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-09-24
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  3. 2023-09-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  4. 2022-09-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  5. 2021-10-22
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  6. 2020-12-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  7. 2019-09-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  8. 2019-04-27
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  9. 2018-09-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  10. 2017-09-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  11. 2017-08-07
    📄
    resolution
    resolution · RESOLUTIONS
  12. 2016-09-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  13. 2015-09-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  14. 2015-09-28
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  15. 2015-02-15
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  16. 2012-09-06
    ➖
    BELL, Hubert Graham resigned
    secretary
  17. 2001-05-01
    ➕
    BELL, Hubert Graham appointed
    secretary
  18. 2001-02-28
    ➖
    BELL, Monica Shirley resigned
    secretary
  19. 2000-03-18
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: Clydesdale Bank Public Limited Company
  20. 1998-08-13
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As GRAHAM BELL DESIGN (SUSSEX) LTD.
  21. 1998-08-13
    ➕
    BELL, John Graham appointed
    director
  22. 1998-08-13
    ➕
    BELL, Monica Shirley appointed
    secretary
  23. 1998-08-13
    ➕
    SAME-DAY COMPANY SERVICES LIMITED appointed
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  24. 1998-08-13
    ➖
    SAME-DAY COMPANY SERVICES LIMITED resigned
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  25. 1998-08-13
    ➕
    WILDMAN & BATTELL LIMITED appointed
    corporate-nominee-director
  26. 1998-08-13
    ➖
    WILDMAN & BATTELL LIMITED resigned
    corporate-nominee-director

Owner dependency

100/100
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.
  • +Founder name in company name: Company name contains director surname "BELL" — strong identity link between founder and business.
  • +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 28 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 71 — succession pressure is live.

Succession & seller-readiness

100/100
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 71 years old. Natural succession window is now.
  • 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.)

Group structure

Stane Street Investments Ltd is the ultimate parent — holding 75%+ shares. This company sits inside their group.

🏛️
Stane Street Investments Ltd
Corporate parent · holds 75-100% shares · board control
ultimate parent
⬇
GRAHAM BELL DESIGN (SUSSEX) LTD.
This company · 03614766

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

Shareholders & ownership

1 active beneficial owner · dominant holder ≥75%
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Stane Street Investments Ltd
Corporate entity
75–100%
75–100%board controlsig. influence75-100% shares · 75-100% voting · board control · significant influence07/04/2016

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

8 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
Incorporated1998-08-13
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC62020 — Information technology consultancy activities

Registered office

Watergate Mill
Watergate
Brecon
LD3 9AN
Wales

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-09-30
Last made up to: 2024-12-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-08-27
Last: 2025-08-13

Officers (1 active · 4 resigned)

BELL, John Graham→
director · ~71y · appointed 1998-08-13
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
BELL, Hubert Graham→
secretary · appointed 2001-05-01 · resigned 2012-09-06
Resigned
BELL, Monica Shirley→
secretary · appointed 1998-08-13 · resigned 2001-02-28
Resigned
SAME-DAY COMPANY SERVICES LIMITED→
corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 1998-08-13 · resigned 1998-08-13
Resigned
WILDMAN & BATTELL LIMITED→
corporate-nominee-director · appointed 1998-08-13 · resigned 1998-08-13
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
Virgin Money
Clydesdale Bank Public Limited Company
Debenture1 property18/03/2000—
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (79 total)

accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-09-22
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-08-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-09-24
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-09-24
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-09-28
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-09-04
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-09-28
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-09-20
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-10-22
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-09-12
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2020-12-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-11-22
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2019-09-29
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-08-26
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2019-04-27