A.R.L. DESIGN AND WELDING LIMITED
🌳Matureactive
04324548 · ltd · incorporated 2001-11-19
Investment thesis
Established operating company — standard diligence applies, no dominant angle.
Why interesting: Live, filing, normal profile.
Why risky: No standout signals in either direction.
Opportunity decay
approaching window · 12-months
Approaching a transaction window — refinance or sale event plausible in the next 12 months.
- · Oldest live charge 10.1y old — refinance window within 12 months
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Nov 2024
Net worth
£493
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
What this business does
Primary activity: Manufacture of metal structures and parts of structures
Sector: Manufacturing
Investor take
PursueActive trading company with a 76-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.
Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 76). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (73/100).
🏦
Refinance opportunity
1 live charge · oldest 10.1y
85/100
ready
Refinance conversation should be productive — structure clean and timing right.
- · Oldest live charge is 10.1 years old — likely at or near maturity.
- · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
- · Legal-friction score 15/100 — clean.
Data confidence
Overall: medium (69/100)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
1 year of iXBRL accounts extracted (no YoY comparison) + narrative notes parsed
50
Lenders & charges
1 charges (1/1 with lender, 1/1 with type)
90
Directors & officers
6 officers (2 active, 6 linked, 3 with DOB)
80
Ownership & PSC
2 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 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.
Signals from accounts
Derived from iXBRL accounts · FRS 102Positive net assets
Net assets £493
Key financials
1 year extracted from filed iXBRL accountsCash
—
Net Worth
£493
Current Assets
£76k
Current Liabilities
—
Financials
Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102| Metric | 2024-11-30 |
|---|---|
| Total assets | £6.1k |
| Current assets | £76.1k |
| Debtors | £68.2k |
| Net assets | £493 |
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
0
filings
Last 90 days
0
filings
Last 180 days
1
filing
- • 1 confirmation-statement
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (27 events)Click to expand
- 2025-11-25📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2025-06-12📄accounts-amended-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AAMD
- 2024-11-27📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2023-11-22📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2023-08-25📄change-account-reference-date-company-previous-shortenedaccounts · AA01
- 2022-11-28📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2022-08-29📄change-account-reference-date-company-previous-shortenedaccounts · AA01
- 2021-11-26📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2021-08-27📄change-account-reference-date-company-previous-shortenedaccounts · AA01
- 2020-11-24📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2019-08-30📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2018-11-23📍change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-addressaddress · AD01
- 2018-08-31📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2018-06-13📍change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-addressaddress · AD01
- 2017-08-31📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-smallaccounts · AA
- 2016-10-11➕LUDGATE, Daniel Richard appointeddirector
- 2016-05-04🔒Charge registered #1Lender: National Westminster Bank PLC
- 2011-11-30➖LUDGATE, Daniel Richard resigneddirector
- 2009-10-01➖LUDGATE, Jennifer Elaine resignedsecretary
- 2001-11-19🏢Company incorporatedAs A.R.L. DESIGN AND WELDING LIMITED
- 2001-11-19➕LUDGATE, Andrew Richard appointeddirector
- 2001-11-19➕HARRISON, Irene Lesley appointednominee-secretary
- 2001-11-19➖HARRISON, Irene Lesley resignednominee-secretary
- 2001-11-19➕LUDGATE, Jennifer Elaine appointedsecretary
- 2001-11-19➕LUDGATE, Daniel Richard appointeddirector
- 2001-11-19➕BUSINESS INFORMATION RESEARCH & REPORTING LIMITED appointedcorporate-nominee-director
- 2001-11-19➖BUSINESS INFORMATION RESEARCH & REPORTING LIMITED resignedcorporate-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 76 — 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 76 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 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
cleanNo red flags detected from available public data. (This is not a clean bill of health — detailed accounts review still recommended.)
Shareholders & ownership
2 active beneficial owners · dominant holder ≥75%| Name | Shares | Voting rights | Nature of control | Notified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Mr Andrew Richard Ludgate Individual · British · DOB 02/1950 · age 76 | 75–100% | — | 75-100% shares | 18/11/2016 |
Mr Daniel Richard Ludgate Individual · British · DOB 03/1980 · age 46 | — | — | sig. influencesignificant influence | 18/11/2016 |
From Companies House Persons with Significant Control filings. Share ranges are banded per the public PSC regime.
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| A.R.M. (PRODUCTIONS) LIMITED→ 00790539 · est 1964 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 62y | — | — |
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| ALUNA INTERIORS LIMITED→ 14242930 · est 2022 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 3y | — | — |
| ALUTEC UK LIMITED→ 03035795 · est 1995 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 31y | — | — |
| AMARI METALS ENGINEERING GROUP LIMITED→ 14134425 · est 2022 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 3y | — | — |
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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 →🔒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
Incorporated2001-11-19
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC25110 — Manufacture of metal structures and parts of structures
Registered office
Unit 20 Cobbett Road Zone 1 Cobbett Road
Burntwood Business Park
Burntwood
WS7 3GL
England
Filing status
Accounts
Next due: 2026-08-27
Last made up to: 2024-11-30
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-12-03
Last: 2025-11-19
Officers (2 active · 4 resigned)
LUDGATE, Andrew Richard→
Activedirector · ~76y · appointed 2001-11-19
View their other companies + combined net worth →
LUDGATE, Daniel Richard→
Activedirector · ~46y · appointed 2016-10-11
View their other companies + combined net worth →
HARRISON, Irene Lesley→
Resignednominee-secretary · appointed 2001-11-19 · resigned 2001-11-19
LUDGATE, Jennifer Elaine→
Resignedsecretary · appointed 2001-11-19 · resigned 2009-10-01
LUDGATE, Daniel Richard→
Resigneddirector · ~46y · appointed 2001-11-19 · resigned 2011-11-30
BUSINESS INFORMATION RESEARCH & REPORTING LIMITED→
Resignedcorporate-nominee-director · appointed 2001-11-19 · resigned 2001-11-19
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
| Type | Properties | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| outstanding | National Westminster Bank National Westminster Bank PLC | A registered charge | — | 04/05/2016 | — |
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.
Recent filings (67 total)
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-01-06
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-11-25
accounts-amended-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AAMD
2025-06-12
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-12-11
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-11-27
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-12-13
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2023-11-22
change-account-reference-date-company-previous-shortened
accounts · AA01
2023-08-25
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-01-10
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2022-11-28
change-account-reference-date-company-previous-shortened
accounts · AA01
2022-08-29
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-01-14
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2021-11-26
change-account-reference-date-company-previous-shortened
accounts · AA01
2021-08-27
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-01-29