AARDVARK SOUND LIMITED
🌳Matureactive
04412681 · ltd · incorporated 2002-04-09
Investment thesis
Well-run mature business — low negotiation leverage; premium likely.
Why interesting: Textbook target; clean filings, stable trading.
Why risky: No pressure on seller; any deal likely at full price.
Why now
Window opening · medium confidence
More negotiable than before — 1 signals weakening over the last 30 days.
- · Refinance opportunity: clean_up_first → under_pressure
Opportunity decay
hardening · 12-months
Already tight — no obvious softening catalysts on the horizon.
- · Thesis: well-run, low negotiation leverage
What changed my view
Last 30 days
Picture worsened over the last 30 days — 1 negative signal vs 0 positive.
- ↓Refinance opportunity: clean_up_first → under_pressure
Last 90 days
No snapshot from 90 days ago — start tracking from today.
Last 180 days
No snapshot from 180 days ago — start tracking from today.
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Aug 2025
Net worth
£3.1k
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
What this business does
Primary activity: Sound recording and music publishing activities
Sector: Information & communication
Investor take
PursueActive trading company with a 61-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.
Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (70/100, director aged 61). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Cash flow review and working-capital discipline. Cash down -90% YoY — forensic review of receivables, stock turns, and creditor days. Most likely exit: strategic trade sale (73/100).
🏦
Refinance opportunity
2 live charges · oldest 24.0y
45/100
under pressure
Refinance would be pressure-driven, not opportunity-driven. Expect tighter margins and covenant scrutiny.
- · Oldest live charge is 24.0 years old — likely at or near maturity.
- · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
- · Cashflow trend is negative — lender view likely cautious.
Data confidence
Overall: high (83/100)Strong data coverage across all sections. AI outputs should be trusted with minimal caveats.
Company profile
address, 1 SIC codes, incorporation date
100
Financials
3 years of iXBRL accounts extracted + narrative notes parsed
95
Lenders & charges
2 charges (2/2 with lender, 2/2 with type)
90
Directors & officers
4 officers (3 active, 4 linked, 2 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
65 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 · accounting standard not declaredPositive net assets
Net assets £3,059
Net assets shrinking
Down £29,082 YoY
Cash draining
Cash down 90% YoY
Cash YoY
-90%
Year on year
Key financials
3 years extracted from filed iXBRL accountsCash
£1k
↓ 90% YoY
Net Worth
£3k
↓ 90% YoY
Current Assets
£24k
↓ 3.2% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series
Financials
Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown| Metric | 2025-08-31 | 2024-08-31 | 2023-08-31 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total assets | £3.1k | £35.8k | £19.9k |
| Current assets | £23.6k | £24.4k | £6.2k |
| Cash | £1.4k | £14.3k | £1.9k |
| Debtors | £22.2k | £10.1k | £4.3k |
| Net assets | £3.1k | £32.1k | £12.3k |
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
2
filings
- • 1 accounts
- • 1 confirmation-statement
Last 180 days
2
filings
- • 1 accounts
- • 1 confirmation-statement
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (23 events)Click to expand
- 2026-05-28📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2025-04-07📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2024-05-29📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2023-05-11📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2022-05-31📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2021-05-12📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2021-05-04📄change-person-director-company-with-change-dateofficers · CH01
- 2021-05-04📄change-person-director-company-with-change-dateofficers · CH01
- 2021-05-04📄change-to-a-person-with-significant-controlpersons-with-significant-control · PSC04
- 2021-05-04📄change-to-a-person-with-significant-controlpersons-with-significant-control · PSC04
- 2020-05-21📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2019-05-31📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2018-05-31📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2018-03-28📍change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-addressaddress · AD01
- 2017-05-31📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-smallaccounts · AA
- 2002-07-04🔒Charge registered #2Lender: Foumar Properties Limited
- 2002-07-04🔒Charge registered #1Lender: Foumar Properties Limited
- 2002-04-09🏢Company incorporatedAs AARDVARK SOUND LIMITED
- 2002-04-09➕GREGORY, Karen Elizabeth appointedsecretary
- 2002-04-09➕GREGORY, Karen Elizabeth appointeddirector
- 2002-04-09➕GREGORY, Ross appointeddirector
- 2002-04-09➕SWIFT INCORPORATIONS LIMITED appointedcorporate-nominee-secretary
- 2002-04-09➖SWIFT INCORPORATIONS LIMITED resignedcorporate-nominee-secretary
Owner dependency
84/100
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 24 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
- +Senior director age: Director aged approximately 61 — approaching natural succession window.
- +Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.
Succession & seller-readiness
76/100
Likely off-market candidateStrong acquirability signals converging. Worth approaching directly — this is how off-market deals start.
SIGNALS
- secondaryFounder aged 58+: Senior director is approximately 61. Early succession window.
- 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
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| Name | Shares | Voting rights | Nature of control | Notified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Mrs Karen Elizabeth Gregory Individual · British · DOB 07/1965 · age 61 | 25–50% | 25–50% | 25-50% shares · 25-50% voting | 06/04/2016 |
Mr Ross Gregory Individual · British · DOB 04/1966 · age 60 | 25–50% | 25–50% | 25-50% shares · 25-50% voting | 06/04/2016 |
From Companies House Persons with Significant Control filings. Share ranges are banded per the public PSC regime.
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| ANYBODYSEEN LTD→ 07917620 · est 2012 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 14y | — | — |
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Peers ranked by estimated value, then turnover, then opportunity score.See all →
🔒Tailored diligence questions
6 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
Incorporated2002-04-09
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC59200 — Sound recording and music publishing activities
Registered office
Blagdon Manor
Ashwater
Beaworthy
Devon
EX21 5DF
United Kingdom
Filing status
Accounts
Next due: 2027-05-31
Last made up to: 2025-08-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-04-23
Last: 2026-04-09
Officers (3 active · 1 resigned)
GREGORY, Karen Elizabeth→
Activesecretary · appointed 2002-04-09
View their other companies + combined net worth →
GREGORY, Karen Elizabeth→
Activedirector · ~61y · appointed 2002-04-09
View their other companies + combined net worth →
GREGORY, Ross→
Activedirector · ~60y · appointed 2002-04-09
View their other companies + combined net worth →
SWIFT INCORPORATIONS LIMITED→
Resignedcorporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 2002-04-09 · resigned 2002-04-09
Click a director name to see their full track record across all companies.
Mortgages & charges
2
Total charges
2
Outstanding
1
Active lenders
Status:Lender:2 of 2 shown
| Type | Properties | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| outstanding | Foumar Properties Foumar Properties Limited | Rent deposit deed | 1 property | 04/07/2002 | — | |
| outstanding | Foumar Properties Foumar Properties Limited | Rent deposit deed | 1 property | 04/07/2002 | — |
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.
Recent filings (65 total)
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2026-05-28
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-04-22
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-04-17
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2025-04-07
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-05-29
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-05-10
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2023-05-11
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-05-03
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2022-05-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-04-22
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2021-05-12
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-05-04
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2021-05-04
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2021-05-04
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2021-05-04