ACORN FIRE & SECURITY LTD

🌳Matureactive

04421576 · ltd · incorporated 2002-04-22

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 Apr 2025

Net worth

—

book net assets

Opportunity

81/100

Exceptional

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What this business does

Primary activity: SIC 84250

Sector: Public administration

Investor take

Pursue

Conservative operator with a 64-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 81/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (70/100, director aged 64). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (85/100).

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

Lenders & charges

Confirmed no charges registered

Directors & officers

5 officers (2 active, 5 linked, 2 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

2 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared

Director network

1 connected companies via shared directors

Filing history

65 filings on record

Gazette notices

No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)

🔒Estimated company valuation

Sector-multiple EBITDA, turnover, and NAV-proxy valuation range with confidence tier — derived from extracted iXBRL financials.

Available from the Pro tier upwards.

See pricing →

Opportunity Score

81/100Exceptional

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.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · FRS 102

Profitable

Profit before tax £1,842,545

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	2025-04-30	2024-04-30
Profit before tax	£1.84M	—
Total assets	—	£7.32M
Current assets	—	£8.53M
Cash	—	£5.22M
Debtors	—	£2.36M
Net assets	—	£7.31M
Average employees	23	—

Amounts extracted automatically from iXBRL. Fields left blank were not reported or not mapped. Values in GBP unless stated.

🔒Filing-note intelligence

3 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

filing

• 1 confirmation-statement

Last 90 days

filings

• 2 confirmation-statement

Last 180 days

filings

• 2 confirmation-statement
• 1 accounts

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (24 events)Click to expand

2026-04-10
📄
replacement-filing-of-confirmation-statement-with-made-up-date
confirmation-statement · RP01CS01
2026-01-30
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-full
accounts · AA
2024-09-09
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-full
accounts · AA
2023-09-19
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-08-11
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-08-10
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-10-09
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-11-04
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2018-09-18
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2017-11-13
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2017-02-08
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2017-02-08
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2017-02-08
📍
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2016-09-29
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2016-04-25
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2013-04-07
➖
GRICE, Jean resigned
secretary
2011-01-18
➕
WILLIAMS, Deborah Louise appointed
director
2002-04-24
➕
GRICE, David appointed
director
2002-04-24
➕
GRICE, Jean appointed
secretary
2002-04-24
➖
CREDITREFORM (SECRETARIES) LIMITED resigned
corporate-nominee-secretary
2002-04-24
➖
CREDITREFORM LIMITED resigned
corporate-nominee-director
2002-04-22
🏢
Company incorporated
As ACORN FIRE & SECURITY LTD
2002-04-22
➕
CREDITREFORM (SECRETARIES) LIMITED appointed
corporate-nominee-secretary
2002-04-22
➕
CREDITREFORM LIMITED appointed
corporate-nominee-director

Owner dependency

76/100

High — earn-out structure required

Material founder dependency. Consider a 2-3 year earn-out and build in a handover plan before completion.

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 64 — approaching natural succession window.

Succession & seller-readiness

86/100

Likely off-market candidate

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

SIGNALS

primaryFounder aged 63+: Senior director is approximately 64. Approaching typical UK retirement age — succession thinking likely.
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

Name	Shares	Voting rights	Nature of control	Notified
Mr David Grice Individual · British · DOB 03/1962 · age 64	25–50%	25–50%	25-50% shares · 25-50% voting	23/04/2016
Mrs Deborah Louise Williams Individual · British · DOB 10/1966 · age 60	25–50%	25–50%	25-50% shares · 25-50% voting	23/04/2016

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 →

Similar companies

Active · Other · BB postcode area

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361ONLINESERVICES LTD→ 16578339 · est 2025 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
A & E PROPERTIES (BURNLEY) LTD→ 11553392 · est 2018 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	7y	—	—
A B C DIRECT LIMITED→ 05054844 · est 2004 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	22y	—	—
A.P.A. (KIRBY MUXLOE) LIMITED→ 16688119 · est 2025 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
A1 PAT TESTING NW LTD→ 15036840 · est 2023 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	2y	—	—
AA ENDEAVOURS LIMITED→ 12025245 · est 2019 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	6y	—	—
AA ONLINE SERVICES LIMITED→ 16089023 · est 2024 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	1y	—	—
ABBEY TELECOM LIMITED→ 13058261 · est 2020 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	5y	—	—
ACS PARTNERSHIP→ LP005193 · est 1996 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	29y	—	—
ADHAN COMMERCIALS PLC→ 08506013 · est 2013 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	12y	—	—
ADMAGNETICS LIMITED→ 06192894 · est 2007 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	19y	—	—
ADONSTAR (UK) LLP→ OC313829 · est 2005 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	20y	—	—

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

Incorporated2002-04-22

Jurisdictionengland-wales

Primary SIC84250 — SIC 84250

Registered office

Waterside House Trident Park

Trident Way

Blackburn

Lancashire

BB1 3NU

England

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2027-01-31

Last made up to: 2025-04-30

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2027-05-06

Last: 2026-04-22

Officers (2 active · 3 resigned)

GRICE, David→

director · ~64y · appointed 2002-04-24

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

WILLIAMS, Deborah Louise→

director · ~60y · appointed 2011-01-18

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

GRICE, Jean→

secretary · appointed 2002-04-24 · resigned 2013-04-07

Resigned

CREDITREFORM (SECRETARIES) LIMITED→

corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 2002-04-22 · resigned 2002-04-24

Resigned

CREDITREFORM LIMITED→

corporate-nominee-director · appointed 2002-04-22 · resigned 2002-04-24

Resigned

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

Recent filings (65 total)

confirmation-statement-with-updates

confirmation-statement · CS01

2026-04-30

replacement-filing-of-confirmation-statement-with-made-up-date

confirmation-statement · RP01CS01

2026-04-10

accounts-with-accounts-type-full

accounts · AA

2026-01-30

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates

confirmation-statement · CS01

2025-04-24

accounts-with-accounts-type-full

accounts · AA

2024-09-09

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates

confirmation-statement · CS01

2024-04-25