A.F. BROWN & SONS LIMITED
🌳Matureactive
03942610 · ltd · incorporated 2000-03-08
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 24.1y old — refinance window within 12 months
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Mar 2025
Net worth
£53.4k
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
What this business does
Primary activity: Other service activities n.e.c.
Sector: Other service activities
Investor take
PursueStrong opportunity: active trading company with exceptional profile and bankable structure.
Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (70/100, director aged 59). 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 24.1y
65/100
clean up first
Refinance viable after a tidy-up — address the highlighted items first.
- · Oldest live charge is 24.1 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: medium (77/100)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
7 officers (2 active, 7 linked, 5 with DOB)
84
Ownership & PSC
2 active PSC(s) of 3 total, 3 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
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 · FRS 105 (micro)Positive net assets
Net assets £53,429
Net assets shrinking
Down £20,410 YoY
Key financials
2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accountsCash
—
Net Worth
£53k
↓ 28% YoY
Current Assets
£35k
↓ 2.2% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series
Financials
Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 105 (micro)| Metric | 2025-03-31 | 2024-03-31 |
|---|---|---|
| Total assets | £65.8k | £92.3k |
| Current assets | £34.6k | £35.4k |
| Net assets | £53.4k | £73.8k |
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
1
filing
- • 1 confirmation-statement
Last 180 days
1
filing
- • 1 confirmation-statement
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (32 events)Click to expand
- 2025-06-18📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2024-08-19📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2023-12-21📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2023-11-23📄notification-of-a-person-with-significant-controlpersons-with-significant-control · PSC01
- 2023-11-23📄cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-controlpersons-with-significant-control · PSC07
- 2023-03-30📄appoint-person-director-company-with-name-dateofficers · AP01
- 2023-03-28📄capital-return-purchase-own-sharescapital · SH03
- 2023-03-23➕BROWN, Lisa Claire appointeddirector
- 2023-03-07📄resolutionresolution · RESOLUTIONS
- 2023-03-06📄capital-cancellation-sharescapital · SH06
- 2023-02-17📄termination-director-company-with-name-termination-dateofficers · TM01
- 2023-02-14➖BROWN, Robert Anthony resigneddirector
- 2022-10-31📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2021-11-04📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2021-03-18📄notification-of-a-person-with-significant-controlpersons-with-significant-control · PSC01
- 2021-03-18📄notification-of-a-person-with-significant-controlpersons-with-significant-control · PSC01
- 2021-03-12📄withdrawal-of-a-person-with-significant-control-statementpersons-with-significant-control · PSC09
- 2020-09-08📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2019-11-19📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2019-03-25📄change-person-director-company-with-change-dateofficers · CH01
- 2018-03-06➖BROWN, Myra resignedsecretary
- 2018-02-14➖BROWN, Anthony Frank resigneddirector
- 2018-02-14➖BROWN, Myra resigneddirector
- 2002-03-28🔒Charge registered #1Lender: Barclays Bank PLC
- 2000-03-08🏢Company incorporatedAs A.F. BROWN & SONS LIMITED
- 2000-03-08➕BROWN, James Edward appointeddirector
- 2000-03-08➕BROWN, Myra appointedsecretary
- 2000-03-08➕SWIFT INCORPORATIONS LIMITED appointedcorporate-nominee-secretary
- 2000-03-08➖SWIFT INCORPORATIONS LIMITED resignedcorporate-nominee-secretary
- 2000-03-08➕BROWN, Anthony Frank appointeddirector
- 2000-03-08➕BROWN, Myra appointeddirector
- 2000-03-08➕BROWN, Robert Anthony appointeddirector
Owner dependency
99/100
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 "BROWN" — strong identity link between founder and business.
- +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 26 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
- +Senior director age: Director aged approximately 59 — approaching natural succession window.
- +Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.
Succession & seller-readiness
76/100
Likely off-market candidateStrong 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.
- secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
- primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 26 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
- secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 26 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Mrs Lisa Claire Brown Individual · British · DOB 08/1968 · age 58 | 25–50% | 25–50% | 25-50% shares · 25-50% voting | 23/03/2023 |
Mr James Edward Brown Individual · British · DOB 04/1967 · age 59 | 25–50% | 25–50% | 25-50% shares · 25-50% voting | 08/02/2018 |
1 historic (ceased) PSC
- Robert Anthony Brownceased 20/02/2023· 25-50% shares · 25-50% voting
From Companies House Persons with Significant Control filings. Share ranges are banded per the public PSC regime.
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| AB PEST CONTROL LIMITED→ 16711100 · est 2025 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
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
Incorporated2000-03-08
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC96090 — Other service activities n.e.c.
Registered office
Harscombe House 1 Darklake View
Estover
Plymouth
Devon
PL6 7TL
Filing status
Accounts
Next due: 2026-12-31
Last made up to: 2025-03-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-03-08
Last: 2026-02-22
Officers (2 active · 5 resigned)
BROWN, James Edward→
Activedirector · ~59y · appointed 2000-03-08
View their other companies + combined net worth →
BROWN, Lisa Claire→
Activedirector · ~58y · appointed 2023-03-23
View their other companies + combined net worth →
BROWN, Myra→
Resignedsecretary · appointed 2000-03-08 · resigned 2018-03-06
SWIFT INCORPORATIONS LIMITED→
Resignedcorporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 2000-03-08 · resigned 2000-03-08
BROWN, Anthony Frank→
Resigneddirector · ~88y · appointed 2000-03-08 · resigned 2018-02-14
BROWN, Myra→
Resigneddirector · ~87y · appointed 2000-03-08 · resigned 2018-02-14
BROWN, Robert Anthony→
Resigneddirector · ~61y · appointed 2000-03-08 · resigned 2023-02-14
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
| Type | Properties | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| outstanding | Barclays Barclays Bank PLC | Legal charge | 1 property | 28/03/2002 | — |
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.
Recent filings (79 total)
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-02-23
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-06-18
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-03-06
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-08-19
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-03-11
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-12-21
notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
2023-11-23
cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
2023-11-23
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2023-03-30
capital-return-purchase-own-shares
capital · SH03
2023-03-28
resolution
resolution · RESOLUTIONS
2023-03-07
capital-cancellation-shares
capital · SH06
2023-03-06
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-02-22
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2023-02-17
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-10-31