ALBERTS COLLECTABLES LIMITED

💤Zombieactive
04376427 · ltd · incorporated 2002-02-19
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
£-421
book net assets
Opportunity
80/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: Research and experimental development on social sciences and humanities
Sector: Professional, scientific & technical
ALSO REGISTERED FOR
  • 74909Other professional, scientific and technical activities n.e.c.
Investor take
Pass (distressed without resilience)
Distressed active trading company — structural issues outweigh the discount.

Opportunity 80/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 81). 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).

Data confidence

Overall: high (80/100)

Strong data coverage across all sections. AI outputs should be trusted with minimal caveats.

Company profile
address, 2 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
3 officers (1 active, 3 linked, 1 with DOB)
77
Ownership & PSC
2 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared
90
Director network
10 connected companies via shared directors
75
Filing history
66 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 · FRS 102
Negative net assets
Liabilities exceed assets by £421
Net assets shrinking
Down £842 YoY

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
Net Worth
-£421
↓ 200% YoY
Current Assets
Current Liabilities
-£421-£253-£84£84£253£421Dec 2023Dec 2024

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102
Metric2024-12-312023-12-31
Total assets£-421£421
Net assets£-421£421

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
1
filing
  • 1 confirmation-statement
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (21 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-09-20
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-09-17
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  3. 2023-09-13
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  4. 2022-09-10
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  5. 2021-09-02
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  6. 2020-03-21
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  7. 2019-09-19
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  8. 2019-04-09
    📄
    resolution
    resolution · RESOLUTIONS
  9. 2018-09-02
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  10. 2018-02-13
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  11. 2018-02-11
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  12. 2018-02-11
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  13. 2018-02-11
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  14. 2018-02-11
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  15. 2017-08-21
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  16. 2010-01-31
    KOBA ASSOCIATES LIMITED resigned
    corporate-secretary
  17. 2002-02-22
    OSMAN, David Robert appointed
    director
  18. 2002-02-22
    DCS CORPORATE SECRETARIES LIMITED resigned
    corporate-secretary
  19. 2002-02-22
    KOBA ASSOCIATES LIMITED appointed
    corporate-secretary
  20. 2002-02-19
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As ALBERTS COLLECTABLES LIMITED
  21. 2002-02-19
    DCS CORPORATE SECRETARIES LIMITED appointed
    corporate-secretary

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 24 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 81 — 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 81 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 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 · dominant holder ≥75%
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mrs Sandra Dorothy Osman
Individual · English · DOB 07/1945 · age 81
75100%
75-100% shares06/04/2016
Mr David Robert Osman
Individual · English · DOB 06/1945 · age 81
75100%
75-100% 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

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
Incorporated2002-02-19
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC72200 — Research and experimental development on social sciences and humanities

Registered office

20 Rougemont Avenue
Devon
Devon
TQ2 7JP
United Kingdom

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-09-30
Last made up to: 2024-12-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-02-20
Last: 2026-02-06

Officers (1 active · 2 resigned)

OSMAN, David Robert
director · ~81y · appointed 2002-02-22
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
DCS CORPORATE SECRETARIES LIMITED
corporate-secretary · appointed 2002-02-19 · resigned 2002-02-22
Resigned
KOBA ASSOCIATES LIMITED
corporate-secretary · appointed 2002-02-22 · resigned 2010-01-31
Resigned

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

Recent filings (66 total)

confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-02-08
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2025-09-20
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-03-11
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-09-17
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-02-09
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-09-13
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-03-07
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-09-10
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-02-14
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-09-02
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-04-03
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2020-03-21
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-02-06
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-09-19
resolution
resolution · RESOLUTIONS
2019-04-09