ASHFIELD NURSERY AND EARLY LEARNING CENTRE LIMITED
🌳Matureactive
04114682 · ltd · incorporated 2000-11-27
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 24.4y old — refinance window within 12 months
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Mar 2025
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
What this business does
Primary activity: Pre-primary education
Sector: Education
Investor take
PursueActive trading company with a 75-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.
Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 75). 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 (65/100).
🏦
Refinance opportunity
2 live charges · oldest 24.4y
65/100
clean up first
Refinance viable after a tidy-up — address the highlighted items first.
- · Oldest live charge is 24.4 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 (79/100)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
2 charges (2/2 with lender, 2/2 with type)
90
Directors & officers
6 officers (3 active, 6 linked, 3 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
71 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.
Key financials
2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accountsCash
—
Net Worth
—
Current Assets
—
Current Liabilities
—
Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series
Financials
Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102| Metric | 2025-03-31 | 2024-03-31 |
|---|---|---|
| Average employees | 3500 | 3500 |
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 (28 events)Click to expand
- 2025-11-26📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2024-07-16📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2023-12-18📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2022-11-22📄change-person-secretary-company-with-change-dateofficers · CH03
- 2022-11-22📄change-person-director-company-with-change-dateofficers · CH01
- 2022-11-22📄change-person-director-company-with-change-dateofficers · CH01
- 2022-11-22📄termination-director-company-with-name-termination-dateofficers · TM01
- 2022-09-21➖HENRY, Stanley resigneddirector
- 2022-08-01📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2021-09-08📄mortgage-satisfy-charge-fullmortgage · MR04
- 2021-09-08🔓Charge satisfied #2
- 2021-07-23📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2020-08-17📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2019-07-03📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2018-06-05📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2017-12-01📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2016-08-09📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-smallaccounts · AA
- 2012-07-10🔒Charge registered #2Lender: Lloyds Tsb Bank PLC
- 2001-12-28🔒Charge registered #1Lender: Lloyds Tsb Bank PLC
- 2001-01-05➕POWELL, Brian Anthony appointedsecretary
- 2001-01-05➕POWELL, Brian Anthony appointeddirector
- 2001-01-05➕POWELL, Karen appointeddirector
- 2001-01-05➖SWIFT INCORPORATIONS LIMITED resignedcorporate-nominee-secretary
- 2001-01-05➕HENRY, Stanley appointeddirector
- 2001-01-05➖INSTANT COMPANIES LIMITED resignedcorporate-nominee-director
- 2000-11-27🏢Company incorporatedAs ASHFIELD NURSERY AND EARLY LEARNING CENTRE LIMITED
- 2000-11-27➕SWIFT INCORPORATIONS LIMITED appointedcorporate-nominee-secretary
- 2000-11-27➕INSTANT COMPANIES LIMITED appointedcorporate-nominee-director
Owner dependency
91/100
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.
- +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 25 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
- +Founder age: Director aged approximately 75 — succession pressure is live.
- +Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.
Succession & seller-readiness
96/100
Likely off-market candidateStrong acquirability signals converging. Worth approaching directly — this is how off-market deals start.
SIGNALS
- primaryFounder aged 70+: Senior director is approximately 75 years old. Natural succession window is now.
- secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
- primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 25 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
1 active beneficial owner| Name | Shares | Voting rights | Nature of control | Notified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Mr Stanley Henry Individual · British · DOB 12/1929 · age 97 | 25–50% | 25–50% | 25-50% shares · 25-50% voting | 06/04/2016 |
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 →Similar companies
Active · Education & training · NE postcode area| Company | Est. value | Turnover | Net worth | Staff | Age | Opp | Director |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A SPACE TO BE LTD→ 13369276 · est 2021 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 4y | — | — |
| ALNWICK COMMUNITY ENTERPRISE LIMITED→ 16700410 · est 2025 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| AM MINDSET AND SPACE LTD→ 14657681 · est 2023 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 3y | — | — |
| AM VOCAL STUDIO LTD→ 16622083 · est 2025 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| APOLLO SCHOOL OF MOTORING LTD→ 11632319 · est 2018 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 7y | — | — |
| AQUASCHOOL LTD→ 12968184 · est 2020 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 5y | — | — |
| ARC ADVANCED TRAINING SPECIALISTS LTD→ 06932532 · est 2009 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 16y | — | — |
| AROMA VIVA LTD→ 16316213 · est 2025 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 1y | — | — |
| ASHFIELD NURSERY AND CHILDCARE LIMITED→ 14979318 · est 2023 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 2y | — | — |
| ASHINGTON LEARNING PARTNERSHIP TRUST→ 06356262 · est 2007 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 18y | — | — |
| ASHREINU→ 04804699 · est 2003 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 22y | — | — |
| ASPIRE PREP LIMITED→ 16382487 · est 2025 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 1y | — | — |
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
Incorporated2000-11-27
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC85100 — Pre-primary education
Registered office
259 Stanhope Road
South Shields
Tyne And Wear
NE33 4RT
Filing status
Accounts
Next due: 2026-12-31
Last made up to: 2025-03-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-12-07
Last: 2025-11-23
Officers (3 active · 3 resigned)
POWELL, Brian Anthony→
Activesecretary · appointed 2001-01-05
View their other companies + combined net worth →
POWELL, Brian Anthony→
Activedirector · ~75y · appointed 2001-01-05
View their other companies + combined net worth →
POWELL, Karen→
Activedirector · ~71y · appointed 2001-01-05
View their other companies + combined net worth →
SWIFT INCORPORATIONS LIMITED→
Resignedcorporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 2000-11-27 · resigned 2001-01-05
HENRY, Stanley→
Resigneddirector · ~97y · appointed 2001-01-05 · resigned 2022-09-21
INSTANT COMPANIES LIMITED→
Resignedcorporate-nominee-director · appointed 2000-11-27 · resigned 2001-01-05
Click a director name to see their full track record across all companies.
Mortgages & charges
2
Total charges
1
Outstanding
1
Active lenders
Status:Lender:2 of 2 shown
| Type | Properties | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| satisfied | Lloyds Banking Group Lloyds Tsb Bank PLC | Deposit agreement to secure own liabilities | 1 property | 10/07/2012 | 08/09/2021 | |
| outstanding | Lloyds Banking Group Lloyds Tsb Bank PLC | Debenture | 1 property | 28/12/2001 | — |
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.
Recent filings (71 total)
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-12-03
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-11-26
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-11-27
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-07-16
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-12-18
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-11-27
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-11-23
change-person-secretary-company-with-change-date
officers · CH03
2022-11-22
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2022-11-22
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2022-11-22
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2022-11-22
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2022-08-01
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-12-01
mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
mortgage · MR04
2021-09-08
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2021-07-23