ABACUS DESIGN U.K. LIMITED

💤Zombieactive
04004386 · ltd · incorporated 2000-05-31
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 Oct 2024
Net worth
£0
book net assets
Opportunity
80/100
Exceptional
🔔
Follow this company (free)
Email alerts on filings, charges, director changes, gazette notices. No account needed.

Unsubscribe any time from any email. GDPR-respectful.

🔒Generate AI memo →🔒Outreach pack →🔒Corporate story →📑 Reports →Sign in to watch
What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 29100
Sector: Manufacturing
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 80-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 80/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 80). 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 (75/100)

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 (2 active, 4 linked, 1 with DOB)
75
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
58 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.

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
—
Net Worth
£0
Current Assets
—
Current Liabilities
—
£0£0£0£0£0£0Oct 2023Oct 2024

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2024-10-302023-10-31
Total assets£0—
Net assets£0—

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 (23 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-07-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-07-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  3. 2023-07-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  4. 2022-07-24
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  5. 2021-07-22
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  6. 2020-07-21
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  7. 2019-07-22
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  8. 2018-07-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  9. 2017-07-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  10. 2016-07-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  11. 2016-06-27
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  12. 2015-07-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  13. 2015-06-18
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  14. 2014-07-17
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  15. 2014-06-19
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  16. 2013-07-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  17. 2000-10-20
    ➕
    CONNEW, Iris Elizabeth appointed
    secretary
  18. 2000-10-20
    ➕
    CONNEW, Peter Ernest appointed
    director
  19. 2000-10-20
    ➖
    MORGAN WEBSTER LAWRIE (SECRETARIES) LIMITED resigned
    corporate-secretary
  20. 2000-10-20
    ➖
    MWL DIRECTORS LTD resigned
    corporate-director
  21. 2000-05-31
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As ABACUS DESIGN U.K. LIMITED
  22. 2000-05-31
    ➕
    MORGAN WEBSTER LAWRIE (SECRETARIES) LIMITED appointed
    corporate-secretary
  23. 2000-05-31
    ➕
    MWL DIRECTORS LTD appointed
    corporate-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.
  • +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 26 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 80 — 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 80 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 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

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
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr Peter Ernest Connew
Individual · British · DOB 07/1946 · age 80
25–50%
—25-50% shares01/05/2016

From Companies House Persons with Significant Control filings. Share ranges are banded per the public PSC regime.

Similar companies

Active · Manufacturing · CM postcode area
CompanyEst. valueTurnoverNet worthStaffAgeOppDirector
21BEADS LTD→
15447123 · est 2024 · no financials extracted
————2y——
24HOURSTEEL LTD→
16823103 · est 2025 · no financials extracted
———————
2DMATERIAL.MOVIE LTD→
16671477 · est 2025 · no financials extracted
———————
360FORMWORK LTD→
11034330 · est 2017 · no financials extracted
————8y——
3E SECURITY LIMITED→
02721577 · est 1992 · no financials extracted
————33y——
3R BATTERY SOLUTIONS LTD→
16051961 · est 2024 · no financials extracted
————1y——
A & B INTERNATIONAL LIMITED→
12999048 · est 2020 · no financials extracted
————5y——
A. ASHTON LIMITED→
04729215 · est 2003 · no financials extracted
————23y——
A101 SOLUTIONS (LONDON) LIMITED→
06716618 · est 2008 · no financials extracted
————17y——
ABBA MOTORCYCLE EQUIPMENT UK LTD→
09695707 · est 2015 · no financials extracted
————10y——
ABENDANA ENTERPRISES LIMITED→
01606042 · est 1981 · no financials extracted
————44y——
ABSOLUTE UK SIGNS LTD.→
09504211 · est 2015 · no financials extracted
————11y——
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
Incorporated2000-05-31
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC29100 — SIC 29100

Registered office

The Willows
Leather Bottle Hill
Stock
Essex
CM4 9RE

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-07-31
Last made up to: 2024-10-30
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-06-06
Last: 2025-05-23

Officers (2 active · 2 resigned)

CONNEW, Iris Elizabeth→
secretary · appointed 2000-10-20
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
CONNEW, Peter Ernest→
director · ~80y · appointed 2000-10-20
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
MORGAN WEBSTER LAWRIE (SECRETARIES) LIMITED→
corporate-secretary · appointed 2000-05-31 · resigned 2000-10-20
Resigned
MWL DIRECTORS LTD→
corporate-director · appointed 2000-05-31 · resigned 2000-10-20
Resigned

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

Recent filings (58 total)

accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-07-28
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-07-09
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2024-07-27
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-06-26
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2023-07-26
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-05-23
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-07-24
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-07-04
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2021-07-22
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-06-23
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2020-07-21
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-05-31
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2019-07-22
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-06-13
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2018-07-30