ASHBROOKE FUNERAL DIRECTORS LIMITED

💤Zombieactive
04269980 · ltd · incorporated 2001-08-14
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 Dec 2024
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: Funeral and related activities
Sector: Other service activities
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 72-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 85/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 72). 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).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

1 live charge · oldest 24.7y

45/100
under pressure

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

  • · Oldest live charge is 24.7 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
  • · Distress signals active — lender appetite narrows.

Data confidence

Overall: medium (76/100)

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, 2 with DOB)
78
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
67 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£0Dec 2023Dec 2024

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · IFRS
Metric2024-12-312023-12-31
Average employees00

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
0
filings
Last 180 days
0
filings
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (27 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-10-06
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  2. 2025-09-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  3. 2025-09-09
    📄
    mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
    mortgage · MR04
  4. 2025-09-09
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #1
  5. 2024-09-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  6. 2023-09-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  7. 2022-09-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  8. 2021-09-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  9. 2021-03-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  10. 2019-09-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  11. 2019-09-04
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  12. 2018-12-24
    📄
    accounts-amended-with-made-up-date
    accounts · AAMD
  13. 2018-09-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  14. 2017-09-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  15. 2016-09-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  16. 2015-09-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  17. 2010-10-01
    ➖
    PEARSON, Mark resigned
    secretary
  18. 2010-10-01
    ➖
    PEARSON, Mark resigned
    director
  19. 2001-11-05
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: Hsbc Bank PLC
  20. 2001-08-14
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As ASHBROOKE FUNERAL DIRECTORS LIMITED
  21. 2001-08-14
    ➕
    LOWES, Phillip Crossley appointed
    director
  22. 2001-08-14
    ➕
    PEARSON, Mark appointed
    secretary
  23. 2001-08-14
    ➕
    JL NOMINEES TWO LIMITED appointed
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  24. 2001-08-14
    ➖
    JL NOMINEES TWO LIMITED resigned
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  25. 2001-08-14
    ➕
    PEARSON, Mark appointed
    director
  26. 2001-08-14
    ➕
    JL NOMINEES ONE LIMITED appointed
    corporate-nominee-director
  27. 2001-08-14
    ➖
    JL NOMINEES ONE LIMITED resigned
    corporate-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.
  • +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 25 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 72 — 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 72 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 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 Phillip Crossley Lowes
Individual · British · DOB 06/1954 · age 72
75–100%
75–100%board controlsig. influence75-100% shares · 75-100% voting · board control · significant influence · trust interest · firm interest06/04/2016

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

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
Incorporated2001-08-14
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC96030 — Funeral and related activities

Registered office

7 Grange Crescent
Sunderland
SR2 7BN
England

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-09-30
Last made up to: 2024-12-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-08-26
Last: 2025-08-12

Officers (1 active · 4 resigned)

LOWES, Phillip Crossley→
director · ~72y · appointed 2001-08-14
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
PEARSON, Mark→
secretary · appointed 2001-08-14 · resigned 2010-10-01
Resigned
JL NOMINEES TWO LIMITED→
corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 2001-08-14 · resigned 2001-08-14
Resigned
PEARSON, Mark→
director · ~62y · appointed 2001-08-14 · resigned 2010-10-01
Resigned
JL NOMINEES ONE LIMITED→
corporate-nominee-director · appointed 2001-08-14 · resigned 2001-08-14
Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

1
Total charges
0
Outstanding
0
Active lenders
Status:Lender:1 of 1 shown
TypeProperties
satisfied
HSBC
Hsbc Bank PLC
Debenture1 property05/11/200109/09/2025

Recent filings (67 total)

change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2025-10-06
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-09-29
mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
mortgage · MR04
2025-09-09
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-08-12
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-09-30
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-08-16
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-09-29
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-08-15
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-09-30
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-08-17
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-09-30
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-08-12
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-03-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-09-07
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2019-09-27