ASHDOWN EDUCATION LIMITED

🌳Matureactive

04367814 · ltd · incorporated 2002-02-06

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 Dec 2024

Net worth

—

book net assets

Opportunity

80/100

Exceptional

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What this business does

Primary activity: Post-secondary non-tertiary education

Sector: Education

Investor take

Pursue

Active trading company with a 74-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 80/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 74). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

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

Lenders & charges

Confirmed no charges registered

Directors & officers

6 officers (3 active, 6 linked, 2 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared

Director network

1 connected companies via shared directors

Filing history

72 filings on record

Gazette notices

No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)

Opportunity Score

80/100Exceptional

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

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	2024-12-31	2023-12-31
Average employees	100	100

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

filings

Last 90 days

filing

• 1 confirmation-statement

Last 180 days

filing

• 1 confirmation-statement

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (23 events)Click to expand

2025-09-17
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-07-31
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-09-25
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-09-27
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accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-09-23
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2020-09-17
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2019-09-29
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2018-09-26
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2018-04-26
📄
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2017-09-27
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2016-09-28
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2016-02-10
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2015-09-30
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2004-02-13
➕
HOLMES, John Robert appointed
secretary
2004-02-13
➖
CLARKE, Roger John resigned
secretary
2003-04-08
➕
HOLMES, John Robert appointed
director
2002-02-10
➕
HOLMES, Shirley Jane appointed
director
2002-02-10
➕
CLARKE, Roger John appointed
secretary
2002-02-06
🏢
Company incorporated
As ASHDOWN EDUCATION LIMITED
2002-02-06
➕
ENERGIZE SECRETARY LIMITED appointed
corporate-nominee-secretary
2002-02-06
➖
ENERGIZE SECRETARY LIMITED resigned
corporate-nominee-secretary
2002-02-06
➕
ENERGIZE DIRECTOR LIMITED appointed
corporate-nominee-director
2002-02-06
➖
ENERGIZE DIRECTOR LIMITED resigned
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 74 — 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 74 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

1 active beneficial owner

Name	Shares	Voting rights	Nature of control	Notified
Mrs Shirley Jane Holmes Individual · British · DOB 11/1953 · age 73	25–50%	—	25-50% shares	01/06/2016

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 →

Similar companies

Active · Education & training · M postcode area

Company	Est. value	Turnover	Net worth	Staff	Age	Opp	Director
AURA MUSIC (WILMSLOW) LTD→ 14261486 · est 2022 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	3y	—	—
AURASOL LTD→ 14507166 · est 2022 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	3y	—	—
BE PART OF CHANGE C.I.C.→ 14614504 · est 2023 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	3y	—	—
BEACON COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY LTD→ 14822490 · est 2023 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	2y	—	—
BEACONHOUSE INTERNATIONAL COLLEGE LTD→ 14445924 · est 2022 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	3y	—	—
BEAR NECESSITIES CHILDCARE LIMITED→ 12291131 · est 2019 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	6y	—	—
BEAUTY EDUCATION KIT LTD→ 16744227 · est 2025 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
BEE REALITY LTD→ 16408746 · est 2025 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
BEE YOU! PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT LTD→ 11046901 · est 2017 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	8y	—	—
BEE-SAFE MANCHESTER C.I.C.→ 14935236 · est 2023 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	2y	—	—
BEE’S KNEES NURSERY & PRE-SCHOOL ECCLES LIMITED→ 16178409 · est 2025 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	1y	—	—
BEE’S KNEES NURSERY & PRE-SCHOOL LTD→ 15286754 · est 2023 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	2y	—	—

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

Incorporated2002-02-06

Jurisdictionengland-wales

Primary SIC85410 — Post-secondary non-tertiary education

Registered office

C/O Murphy Thompson Moore Llp 3rd Floor

82 King Street

Manchester

M2 4WQ

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2026-09-30

Last made up to: 2024-12-31

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2027-05-13

Last: 2026-04-29

Officers (3 active · 3 resigned)

HOLMES, John Robert→

secretary · appointed 2004-02-13

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

HOLMES, John Robert→

director · ~74y · appointed 2003-04-08

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

HOLMES, Shirley Jane→

director · ~73y · appointed 2002-02-10

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

CLARKE, Roger John→

secretary · appointed 2002-02-10 · resigned 2004-02-13

Resigned

ENERGIZE SECRETARY LIMITED→

corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 2002-02-06 · resigned 2002-02-06

Resigned

ENERGIZE DIRECTOR LIMITED→

corporate-nominee-director · appointed 2002-02-06 · resigned 2002-02-06

Resigned

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

Recent filings (72 total)

confirmation-statement-with-updates

confirmation-statement · CS01

2026-05-13

accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full

accounts · AA

2025-09-17