ANTHEM PUBLISHING LIMITED

🌳Matureactive
04542063 · ltd · incorporated 2002-09-23
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.
Opportunity decay
approaching window · 12-months
Approaching a transaction window — refinance or sale event plausible in the next 12 months.
  • · Oldest live charge 23.6y old — refinance window within 12 months
🔒Estimated value
Upgrade to see
Turnover
year to Mar 2025
Net worth
£427.3k
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: Publishing of consumer and business journals and periodicals
Sector: Information & communication
Investor take
Pursue
Asset-holding vehicle with a 60-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 85/100. Strong seller-intent signal (70/100, director aged 60). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: strategic trade sale (73/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

1 live charge · oldest 23.6y

85/100
ready

Refinance conversation should be productive — structure clean and timing right.

  • · Oldest live charge is 23.6 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
  • · Legal-friction score 15/100 — clean.

Data confidence

Overall: medium (72/100)

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
1 year of iXBRL accounts extracted (no YoY comparison) + narrative notes parsed
50
Lenders & charges
1 charges (1/1 with lender, 1/1 with type)
90
Directors & officers
6 officers (4 active, 6 linked, 4 with DOB)
83
Ownership & PSC
2 active PSC(s) of 3 total, 3 with control declared
90
Director network
1 connected companies via shared directors
48
Filing history
102 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 £427,341

Key financials

1 year extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
£392k
Net Worth
£427k
Current Assets
£1.5m
Current Liabilities

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2025-03-31
Total assets£431.2k
Current assets£1.47M
Cash£392.4k
Debtors£1.04M
Net assets£427.3k

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
0
filings
Last 180 days
0
filings
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (31 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-12-19
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2025-12-15
    📄
    change-person-secretary-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH03
  3. 2025-12-15
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  4. 2025-12-15
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  5. 2025-12-15
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  6. 2025-12-15
    📄
    change-person-secretary-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH03
  7. 2025-12-15
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC05
  8. 2025-11-13
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  9. 2025-11-13
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC05
  10. 2025-06-24
    📄
    appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
    officers · AP01
  11. 2025-04-01
    BICKLEY, Catherine Elizabeth appointed
    director
  12. 2025-03-06
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  13. 2025-01-02
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  14. 2024-11-20
    📄
    resolution
    resolution · RESOLUTIONS
  15. 2024-11-20
    📄
    memorandum-articles
    incorporation · MA
  16. 2024-11-06
    📄
    notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC02
  17. 2024-11-06
    📄
    termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM01
  18. 2024-11-06
    📄
    cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
  19. 2024-10-29
    LEWIS, Simon Jeremy Lewis resigned
    director
  20. 2024-06-05
    📄
    change-account-reference-date-company-previous-extended
    accounts · AA01
  21. 2023-09-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  22. 2022-10-07
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  23. 2020-04-22
    BICKLEY, Catherine appointed
    secretary
  24. 2018-09-11
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #1
  25. 2015-04-21
    PETTENGALE, Paul resigned
    director
  26. 2002-12-03
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: Lloyds Tsb Bank PLC
  27. 2002-09-23
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As ANTHEM PUBLISHING LIMITED
  28. 2002-09-23
    BICKLEY, Jonathan Robert Harold appointed
    secretary
  29. 2002-09-23
    BICKLEY, Jonathan Robert Harold appointed
    director
  30. 2002-09-23
    LEWIS, Simon Jeremy Lewis appointed
    director
  31. 2002-09-23
    PETTENGALE, Paul appointed
    director

Owner dependency

84/100
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
  • +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 60 — approaching natural succession window.
  • +Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

Succession & seller-readiness

66/100
Strong succession signal

Multiple signals suggest succession is on the horizon. Candidate for proactive outreach.

SIGNALS
  • secondaryFounder aged 58+: Senior director is approximately 60. 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.
  • 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.)

Group structure

Anthem Publishing Holdings Limited holds 25-50% — a significant corporate investor but not a controlling parent.

🏛️
Anthem Publishing Holdings Limited
Corporate parent · holds 25-50% shares
significant stake
ANTHEM PUBLISHING LIMITED
This company · 04542063

Parent relationships inferred from Persons with Significant Control filings. Full subsidiary tree requires reverse-lookup (coming).

Shareholders & ownership

2 active beneficial owners
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Anthem Publishing Holdings Limited
Corporate entity
2550%
25–50%25-50% shares · 25-50% voting29/10/2024
Mr Jonathan Robert Harold Bickley
Individual · British · DOB 03/1967 · age 59
2550%
25–50%25-50% shares · 25-50% voting06/04/2016
1 historic (ceased) PSC
  • Simon Jeremy Lewis Lewisceased 29/10/2024· 25-50% shares

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

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
Incorporated2002-09-23
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC58142 — Publishing of consumer and business journals and periodicals

Registered office

Media House
1 Widcombe Parade
Bath
BA2 4JT
England

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-12-31
Last made up to: 2025-03-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-11-20
Last: 2025-11-06

Officers (4 active · 2 resigned)

BICKLEY, Catherine
secretary · appointed 2020-04-22
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
BICKLEY, Jonathan Robert Harold
secretary · appointed 2002-09-23
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
BICKLEY, Catherine Elizabeth
director · ~60y · appointed 2025-04-01
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
BICKLEY, Jonathan Robert Harold
director · ~59y · appointed 2002-09-23
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
LEWIS, Simon Jeremy Lewis
director · ~70y · appointed 2002-09-23 · resigned 2024-10-29
Resigned
PETTENGALE, Paul
director · ~55y · appointed 2002-09-23 · resigned 2015-04-21
Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

1
Total charges
0
Outstanding
0
Active lenders
Status:Lender:1 of 1 shown
TypeProperties
satisfied
Lloyds Banking Group
Lloyds Tsb Bank PLC
Debenture1 property03/12/200211/09/2018

Recent filings (102 total)

accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-12-19
change-person-secretary-company-with-change-date
officers · CH03
2025-12-15
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-12-15
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2025-12-15
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2025-12-15
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2025-12-15
change-person-secretary-company-with-change-date
officers · CH03
2025-12-15
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC05
2025-12-15
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2025-11-13
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC05
2025-11-13
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2025-06-24
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2025-03-06
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-01-02
resolution
resolution · RESOLUTIONS
2024-11-20
memorandum-articles
incorporation · MA
2024-11-20