ALEX WILLIS FUNERAL HOME LIMITED

🌳Matureactive

04227429 · ltd · incorporated 2001-06-01

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

hardening · 12-months

Already tight — no obvious softening catalysts on the horizon.

· Thesis: well-run, low negotiation leverage

🔒Estimated value

—

Upgrade to see

Turnover

—

year to Mar 2025

Net worth

—

book net assets

Opportunity

82/100

Exceptional

🔒Generate AI memo →🔒Outreach pack →🔒Corporate story →📑 Reports →Sign in to watch

What this business does

Primary activity: Funeral and related activities

Sector: Other service activities

Investor take

Pursue

Active trading company with a 84-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (63/100, director aged 84). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

1 live charge · oldest 2.6y

50/100

clean up first

Refinance viable after a tidy-up — address the highlighted items first.

· Newest facility, 2.6 years old — likely still in initial term.
· Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
· Legal-friction score 15/100 — clean.

Data confidence

Overall: high (81/100)

Strong data coverage across all sections. AI outputs should be trusted with minimal caveats.

Company profile

address, 1 SIC codes, incorporation date

100

Financials

2 years of iXBRL accounts extracted (YoY deltas available) + narrative notes parsed

Lenders & charges

1 charges (1/1 with lender, 1/1 with type)

Directors & officers

10 officers (7 active, 10 linked, 8 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

3 active PSC(s) of 4 total, 4 with control declared

Director network

5 connected companies via shared directors

Filing history

98 filings on record

Gazette notices

No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)

Opportunity Score

82/100Exceptional

PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional

Strong composite across quality, acquirability, and risk. High-priority target — progress to serious diligence.

Business quality

Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.

Acquirability

Strong succession / seller-readiness signals.

Risk profile

Few red flags.

Signal strength

100

Good data coverage for analysis.

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts

Cash

—

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	800	900

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

🔒Filing-note intelligence

2 signals 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

filings

Last 90 days

filings

Last 180 days

filings

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (32 events)Click to expand

2025-11-10
📍
move-registers-to-sail-company-with-new-address
address · AD03
2025-11-07
📍
change-sail-address-company-with-new-address
address · AD02
2025-07-14
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-08-09
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-11-21
📄
mortgage-create-with-deed-with-charge-number-charge-creation-date
mortgage · MR01
2023-11-17
🔒
Charge registered #1
Lender: Handelsbanken PLC
2023-07-18
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-11-10
📄
notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC02
2022-11-10
📄
notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC02
2022-11-08
📄
notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC02
2022-11-08
📄
withdrawal-of-a-person-with-significant-control-statement
persons-with-significant-control · PSC09
2022-11-07
📄
notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control-statement
persons-with-significant-control · PSC08
2022-11-07
📄
cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
2022-07-22
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-11-09
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-07-17
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2019-07-16
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2018-06-15
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2016-12-01
➕
MCVERNON, Joanne appointed
director
2016-12-01
➕
MCVERNON, Suzanne Elizabeth appointed
director
2003-06-23
➕
MCVERNON, David Stewart appointed
director
2003-06-23
➕
MCVERNON, Jonathan Keith appointed
director
2001-06-29
➖
MCVERNON, David resigned
director
2001-06-29
➖
MCVERNON, Jonathan resigned
director
2001-06-01
🏢
Company incorporated
As ALEX WILLIS FUNERAL HOME LIMITED
2001-06-01
➕
MCVERNON, Stewart Keith appointed
secretary
2001-06-01
➕
MCVERNON, Kathleen appointed
director
2001-06-01
➕
MCVERNON, Stewart Keith appointed
director
2001-06-01
➕
SWIFT INCORPORATIONS LIMITED appointed
corporate-nominee-secretary
2001-06-01
➖
SWIFT INCORPORATIONS LIMITED resigned
corporate-nominee-secretary
2001-06-01
➕
MCVERNON, David appointed
director
2001-06-01
➕
MCVERNON, Jonathan appointed
director

Owner dependency

73/100

High — earn-out structure required

Material founder dependency. Consider a 2-3 year earn-out and build in a handover plan before completion.

FACTORS

-6 active directors: Broader management team in place — suggests transferable governance.
+Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 25 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
+Founder age: Director aged approximately 84 — succession pressure is live.
+Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

Succession & seller-readiness

90/100

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 84 years old. Natural succession window is now.
primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 25 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 25 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

1 low

Multiple registered office changes

low

Multiple address changes in a short period can indicate operational instability or admin disorder.

Group structure

3 corporate shareholders identified. Group structure is distributed.

🏛️

The Lodge Damp House Limited

Corporate parent

🏛️

Hillsea Limited

Corporate parent

🏛️

Willis One Ltd

Corporate parent

⬇

ALEX WILLIS FUNERAL HOME LIMITED

This company · 04227429

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

Shareholders & ownership

3 active beneficial owners

Name	Shares	Voting rights	Nature of control	Notified
The Lodge Damp House Limited Corporate entity	—	25–50%	25-50% voting	10/11/2022
Hillsea Limited Corporate entity	—	25–50%	25-50% voting	10/11/2022
Willis One Ltd Corporate entity	—	25–50%	25-50% voting	08/11/2022

1 historic (ceased) PSC

Willis One Limitedceased 07/11/2022· 25-50% shares

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 · Trade services · LA postcode area

Company	Est. value	Turnover	Net worth	Staff	Age	Opp	Director
A MOSSOP ENGINEERING & AGRICULTURAL SERVICES LIMITED→ 07001015 · est 2009 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	16y	—	—
A&GN CLEANING SERVICES LTD→ 17002957 · est 2026 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
AAS CORP LIMITED→ 16549393 · est 2025 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
ACCOUNTAX EXPERTS LTD→ 16426163 · est 2025 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
ADVANCED NANOTECHNOLOGIES LAB LTD→ 11095528 · est 2017 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	8y	—	—
AESTHETICS BY LAURA W LTD→ 12928099 · est 2020 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	5y	—	—
AESTHETICS BY SARAH LIMITED→ 17070390 · est 2026 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
AG’S DEVELOPMENTS LIMITED→ 16768356 · est 2025 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
ALAN WELLS LIMITED→ 14676030 · est 2023 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	3y	—	—
ALERTA SYSTEMS LTD→ 13578821 · est 2021 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	4y	—	—
ALEX ROCKE CONSULTING LIMITED→ 06089980 · est 2007 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	19y	—	—
ALEXONPROJECTS LIMITED→ 08500034 · est 2013 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	12y	—	—

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

Incorporated2001-06-01

Jurisdictionengland-wales

Primary SIC96030 — Funeral and related activities

Registered office

2 Middleton Road

Heysham

Morecambe

Lancashire

LA3 2QD

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2026-12-31

Last made up to: 2025-03-31

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2026-11-20

Last: 2025-11-06