ABBOTSPEN LTD

💤Zombieactive
04474670 · ltd · incorporated 2002-07-01
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 Jul 2025
Net worth
£15.5k
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 47781
Sector: Wholesale & retail
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 73-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 73). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Discharge stale live charges. 1 live charge(s) created 15+ years ago — likely paid but undischarged. Clean register. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (73/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

1 live charge · oldest 23.8y

45/100
under pressure

Refinance would be pressure-driven, not opportunity-driven. Expect tighter margins and covenant scrutiny.

  • · Oldest live charge is 23.8 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
  • · Distress signals active — lender appetite narrows.

Data confidence

Overall: medium (76/100)

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
1 charges (1/1 with lender, 1/1 with type)
90
Directors & officers
4 officers (2 active, 4 linked, 1 with DOB)
75
Ownership & PSC
2 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
63 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 declared
Positive net assets
Net assets £15,486

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
—
Net Worth
£15k
↑ 8.5% YoY
Current Assets
£101
↓ 95% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
£0£3k£6k£9k£12k£15kJul 2024Jul 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2025-07-312024-07-31
Total assets£3.3k£193
Current assets£101£2.0k
Net assets£15.5k£14.3k

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
0
filings
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (23 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-10-07
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  2. 2025-03-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  3. 2023-12-02
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  4. 2023-01-05
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  5. 2022-02-14
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  6. 2020-11-04
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  7. 2020-04-02
    📄
    capital-allotment-shares
    capital · SH01
  8. 2020-03-10
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  9. 2018-10-22
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  10. 2018-03-09
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  11. 2017-04-07
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  12. 2016-03-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  13. 2015-07-02
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  14. 2015-04-02
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  15. 2014-08-06
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  16. 2002-08-15
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: Hsbc Bank PLC
  17. 2002-07-30
    ➕
    ELSWORTH, Jane Elizabeth appointed
    secretary
  18. 2002-07-30
    ➕
    ELSWORTH, Thomas John appointed
    director
  19. 2002-07-09
    ➖
    FORM 10 SECRETARIES FD LTD resigned
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  20. 2002-07-09
    ➖
    FORM 10 DIRECTORS FD LTD resigned
    corporate-nominee-director
  21. 2002-07-01
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As ABBOTSPEN LTD
  22. 2002-07-01
    ➕
    FORM 10 SECRETARIES FD LTD appointed
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  23. 2002-07-01
    ➕
    FORM 10 DIRECTORS FD LTD appointed
    corporate-nominee-director

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 73 — 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 73 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
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr Thomas John Elsworth
Individual · British · DOB 07/1953 · age 73
25–50%
—25-50% shares01/07/2016
Mrs Jane Elizabeth Elsworth
Individual · British · DOB 07/1955 · age 71
25–50%
—25-50% shares01/07/2016

From Companies House Persons with Significant Control filings. Share ranges are banded per the public PSC regime.

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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
Incorporated2002-07-01
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC47781 — SIC 47781

Registered office

11 Minns Road
Grove
Wantage
OX12 7NA

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2027-04-30
Last made up to: 2025-07-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-07-15
Last: 2025-07-01

Officers (2 active · 2 resigned)

ELSWORTH, Jane Elizabeth→
secretary · appointed 2002-07-30
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
ELSWORTH, Thomas John→
director · ~73y · appointed 2002-07-30
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
FORM 10 SECRETARIES FD LTD→
corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 2002-07-01 · resigned 2002-07-09
Resigned
FORM 10 DIRECTORS FD LTD→
corporate-nominee-director · appointed 2002-07-01 · resigned 2002-07-09
Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

1
Total charges
1
Outstanding
1
Active lenders
Status:Lender:1 of 1 shown
TypeProperties
outstanding
HSBC
Hsbc Bank PLC
Debenture1 property15/08/2002—
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (63 total)

accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-10-07
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-07-01
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-03-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-07-01
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-12-02
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-07-01
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-01-05
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-07-01
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-02-14
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-07-01
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2020-11-04
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-07-08
capital-allotment-shares
capital · SH01
2020-04-02
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2020-03-10
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-07-05