ACE HARDWARE & DIY LTD

🌳Matureactive
04335966 · ltd · incorporated 2001-12-07
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.
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Mar 2025
Net worth
£142.2k
book net assets
Opportunity
80/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: Retail sale of hardware, paints and glass in specialised stores
Sector: Wholesale & retail
Investor take
Pursue
Asset-holding vehicle with a 82-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 80/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 82). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

Data confidence

Overall: medium (78/100)

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
Confirmed no charges registered
85
Directors & officers
5 officers (3 active, 5 linked, 2 with DOB)
78
Ownership & PSC
2 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared
90
Director network
2 connected companies via shared directors
51
Filing history
64 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
80/100Exceptional
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
90
Good data coverage for analysis.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · accounting standard not declared
Positive net assets
Net assets £142,244
Cash YoY
+32%
Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
£72k
↑ 32% YoY
Net Worth
£142k
↑ 6.1% YoY
Current Assets
£186k
↓ 5.7% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
£0£39k£79k£118k£158k£197kMar 2024Mar 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2025-03-312024-03-31
Total assets£143.1k£135.5k
Current assets£186.2k£197.4k
Cash£72.2k£54.6k
Debtors£44.5k£72.5k
Net assets£142.2k£134.1k

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
0
filings
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (23 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-07-14
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-06-07
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  3. 2023-07-14
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  4. 2022-08-08
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  5. 2021-07-22
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  6. 2020-11-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  7. 2019-08-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  8. 2018-08-20
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  9. 2018-05-29
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  10. 2018-05-29
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  11. 2017-10-26
    📄
    notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
  12. 2017-10-23
    ➕
    PRIEM, Virginia Rose appointed
    director
  13. 2017-10-23
    📄
    appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
    officers · AP01
  14. 2017-05-22
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  15. 2016-06-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  16. 2015-12-16
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  17. 2002-02-21
    ➕
    PRIEM, Virginia Rose appointed
    secretary
  18. 2002-02-21
    ➕
    PRIEM, John Carl appointed
    director
  19. 2002-02-21
    ➖
    DUPORT SECRETARY LIMITED resigned
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  20. 2002-02-21
    ➖
    DUPORT DIRECTOR LIMITED resigned
    corporate-nominee-director
  21. 2001-12-07
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As ACE HARDWARE & DIY LTD
  22. 2001-12-07
    ➕
    DUPORT SECRETARY LIMITED appointed
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  23. 2001-12-07
    ➕
    DUPORT DIRECTOR LIMITED appointed
    corporate-nominee-director

Owner dependency

91/100
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
  • +Two-director setup: Only two active directors — typical of owner-managed SMEs but limits succession.
  • +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 24 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 82 — 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 candidate

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

SIGNALS
  • primaryFounder aged 70+: Senior director is approximately 82 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 24 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 24 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

2 active beneficial owners
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mrs Virginia Rose Priem
Individual · British · DOB 02/1951 · age 75
25–50%
—25-50% shares24/10/2017
Mr John Carl Priem
Individual · British · DOB 09/1944 · age 82
25–50%
—25-50% shares06/04/2016

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 →

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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
Incorporated2001-12-07
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC47520 — Retail sale of hardware, paints and glass in specialised stores

Registered office

5 Centurions Court
Caerwent
Monmouthshire
NP26 5FG

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-12-31
Last made up to: 2025-03-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-08-08
Last: 2025-07-25

Officers (3 active · 2 resigned)

PRIEM, Virginia Rose→
secretary · appointed 2002-02-21
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
PRIEM, John Carl→
director · ~82y · appointed 2002-02-21
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
PRIEM, Virginia Rose→
director · ~75y · appointed 2017-10-23
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
DUPORT SECRETARY LIMITED→
corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 2001-12-07 · resigned 2002-02-21
Resigned
DUPORT DIRECTOR LIMITED→
corporate-nominee-director · appointed 2001-12-07 · resigned 2002-02-21
Resigned

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

Recent filings (64 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-07-25
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-07-14
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-07-25
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-06-07
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-12-07
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-07-14
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-01-09
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-08-08
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-12-07
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-07-22
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-12-07
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-11-30
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-12-17
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-08-29
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2018-12-11