ADRIAN MORPETH FOOTWEAR LIMITED

💤Zombieactive
04234668 · ltd · incorporated 2001-06-14
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 Jan 2025
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: Retail sale of footwear in specialised stores
Sector: Wholesale & retail
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 63-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (70/100, director aged 63). 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 24.8y

45/100
under pressure

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

  • · Oldest live charge is 24.8 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
  • · Distress signals active — lender appetite narrows.

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
5 officers (1 active, 5 linked, 3 with DOB)
82
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
64 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 accounts
Cash
—
Net Worth
—
Current Assets
—
Current Liabilities
—
£0£0£0£0£0£0Jan 2024Jan 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2025-01-312024-01-31
Average employees300300

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 (27 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-09-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-06-12
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  3. 2023-08-19
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  4. 2023-08-14
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  5. 2022-10-21
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  6. 2021-10-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  7. 2021-01-19
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  8. 2019-10-24
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  9. 2018-10-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  10. 2018-07-09
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  11. 2017-10-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  12. 2016-09-22
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  13. 2016-06-14
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  14. 2015-10-22
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  15. 2015-06-15
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  16. 2014-10-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  17. 2013-11-11
    ➖
    MORPETH, Amanda Dawn resigned
    director
  18. 2007-05-05
    ➖
    MORPETH, Amanda Dawn resigned
    secretary
  19. 2001-07-27
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: National Westminster Bank PLC
  20. 2001-06-14
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As ADRIAN MORPETH FOOTWEAR LIMITED
  21. 2001-06-14
    ➕
    MORPETH, Adrian Lee appointed
    director
  22. 2001-06-14
    ➕
    MORPETH, Amanda Dawn appointed
    secretary
  23. 2001-06-14
    ➕
    THOMAS, Howard appointed
    nominee-secretary
  24. 2001-06-14
    ➖
    THOMAS, Howard resigned
    nominee-secretary
  25. 2001-06-14
    ➕
    MORPETH, Amanda Dawn appointed
    director
  26. 2001-06-14
    ➕
    TESTER, William Andrew Joseph appointed
    nominee-director
  27. 2001-06-14
    ➖
    TESTER, William Andrew Joseph resigned
    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 "MORPETH" — strong identity link between founder and business.
  • +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 25 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Senior director age: Director aged approximately 63 — approaching natural succession window.

Succession & seller-readiness

95/100
Likely off-market candidate

Strong acquirability signals converging. Worth approaching directly — this is how off-market deals start.

SIGNALS
  • primaryFounder aged 63+: Senior director is approximately 63. Approaching typical UK retirement age — succession thinking likely.
  • primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
  • 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

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 · dominant holder ≥75%
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr Adrian Lee Morpeth
Individual · British · DOB 07/1963 · age 63
75–100%
75–100%75-100% shares · 75-100% voting06/04/2016

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

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———————
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 →
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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.

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Company details

Statusactive
Typeltd
Incorporated2001-06-14
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC47721 — Retail sale of footwear in specialised stores

Registered office

4 Kirkgate
Thirsk
YO7 1PQ
England

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-10-31
Last made up to: 2025-01-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-06-27
Last: 2025-06-13

Officers (1 active · 4 resigned)

MORPETH, Adrian Lee→
director · ~63y · appointed 2001-06-14
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
MORPETH, Amanda Dawn→
secretary · appointed 2001-06-14 · resigned 2007-05-05
Resigned
THOMAS, Howard→
nominee-secretary · appointed 2001-06-14 · resigned 2001-06-14
Resigned
MORPETH, Amanda Dawn→
director · ~58y · appointed 2001-06-14 · resigned 2013-11-11
Resigned
TESTER, William Andrew Joseph→
nominee-director · ~64y · appointed 2001-06-14 · resigned 2001-06-14
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
National Westminster Bank
National Westminster Bank PLC
Debenture1 property27/07/2001—
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (64 total)

accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-09-27
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-06-26
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-06-13
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-06-12
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-08-19
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2023-08-14
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-06-29
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-10-21
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-06-26
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-10-27
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-06-19
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-01-19
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-07-27
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2019-10-24
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-06-17