ADAMS READ AND HOCKING (FUNERAL DIRECTORS) LIMITED

🌳Matureactive
04534076 · ltd · incorporated 2002-09-12
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 Sept 2024
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
80/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: Funeral and related activities
Sector: Other service activities
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 79-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 80/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (63/100, director aged 79). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

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
Confirmed no charges registered
85
Directors & officers
7 officers (5 active, 7 linked, 4 with DOB)
81
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
68 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.

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
—
Net Worth
—
Current Assets
—
Current Liabilities
—
£0£0£0£0£0£0Sept 2023Sept 2024

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102
Metric2024-09-302023-09-30
Average employees700900

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

🔒Filing-note intelligence

2 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
0
filings
Last 90 days
0
filings
Last 180 days
0
filings
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (25 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-06-11
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-06-06
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  3. 2023-06-12
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  4. 2022-06-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  5. 2021-11-24
    📄
    accounts-amended-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AAMD
  6. 2021-07-02
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  7. 2020-07-06
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  8. 2019-04-04
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  9. 2018-06-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  10. 2017-06-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  11. 2016-06-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  12. 2015-09-17
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  13. 2015-06-24
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  14. 2014-09-12
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  15. 2014-06-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  16. 2007-06-06
    ➕
    PARKE, Ross Clement appointed
    director
  17. 2005-11-17
    ➕
    PARKE, Wendy appointed
    director
  18. 2002-09-12
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As ADAMS READ AND HOCKING (FUNERAL DIRECTORS) LIMITED
  19. 2002-09-12
    ➕
    ADAMS, Jean Margaret appointed
    secretary
  20. 2002-09-12
    ➕
    ADAMS, Jean Margaret appointed
    director
  21. 2002-09-12
    ➕
    ADAMS, Joseph appointed
    director
  22. 2002-09-12
    ➕
    WATERLOW SECRETARIES LIMITED appointed
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  23. 2002-09-12
    ➖
    WATERLOW SECRETARIES LIMITED resigned
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  24. 2002-09-12
    ➕
    WATERLOW NOMINEES LIMITED appointed
    corporate-nominee-director
  25. 2002-09-12
    ➖
    WATERLOW NOMINEES LIMITED resigned
    corporate-nominee-director

Owner dependency

88/100
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
  • -4 active directors: Broader management team in place — suggests transferable governance.
  • +Founder name in company name: Company name contains director surname "ADAMS" — strong identity link between founder and business.
  • +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 24 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 79 — succession pressure is live.
  • +Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

Succession & seller-readiness

90/100
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 79 years old. Natural succession window is now.
  • 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
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr Joseph Adams
Individual · British · DOB 08/1947 · age 79
50–75%
—50-75% shares06/04/2016

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

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
Incorporated2002-09-12
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC96030 — Funeral and related activities

Registered office

The Office Towerson Street Funeral Home
Towerson Street
Cleator
Cumbria
CA23 3EL

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-06-30
Last made up to: 2024-09-30
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-09-22
Last: 2025-09-08

Officers (5 active · 2 resigned)

ADAMS, Jean Margaret→
secretary · appointed 2002-09-12
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
ADAMS, Jean Margaret→
director · ~77y · appointed 2002-09-12
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
ADAMS, Joseph→
director · ~79y · appointed 2002-09-12
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
PARKE, Ross Clement→
director · ~57y · appointed 2007-06-06
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
PARKE, Wendy→
director · ~53y · appointed 2005-11-17
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
WATERLOW SECRETARIES LIMITED→
corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 2002-09-12 · resigned 2002-09-12
Resigned
WATERLOW NOMINEES LIMITED→
corporate-nominee-director · appointed 2002-09-12 · resigned 2002-09-12
Resigned

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

Recent filings (68 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-09-16
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-06-11
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-09-11
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-06-06
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-09-08
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-06-12
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-09-15
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-06-27
accounts-amended-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AAMD
2021-11-24
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-09-13
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-07-02
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-09-10
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-07-06
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-09-23
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-04-04