ACE FIXINGS (CUMBRIA) LIMITED

🌳Matureactive
04585380 · ltd · incorporated 2002-11-08
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 10.9y old — refinance window within 12 months
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Nov 2024
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
🔔
Follow this company (free)
Email alerts on filings, charges, director changes, gazette notices. No account needed.

Unsubscribe any time from any email. GDPR-respectful.

🔒Generate AI memo →🔒Outreach pack →🔒Corporate story →📑 Reports →Sign in to watch
What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 46620
Sector: Wholesale & retail
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 66-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 66). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

1 live charge · oldest 10.9y

85/100
ready

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

  • · Oldest live charge is 10.9 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
  • · Legal-friction score 15/100 — clean.

Data confidence

Overall: medium (77/100)

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
8 officers (3 active, 8 linked, 4 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
72 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.

Key financials

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

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2024-11-302023-11-30
Average employees900900

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
0
filings
Last 90 days
0
filings
Last 180 days
0
filings
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (30 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-04-04
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-07-18
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  3. 2023-06-12
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  4. 2022-05-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  5. 2021-07-19
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  6. 2020-05-04
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  7. 2019-05-14
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  8. 2018-07-05
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  9. 2017-11-13
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  10. 2017-11-13
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  11. 2017-11-13
    📍
    move-registers-to-sail-company-with-new-address
    address · AD03
  12. 2017-06-05
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  13. 2016-11-11
    📍
    change-sail-address-company-with-old-address-new-address
    address · AD02
  14. 2016-11-10
    📍
    move-registers-to-sail-company-with-new-address
    address · AD03
  15. 2016-11-10
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  16. 2015-07-03
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: National Westminster Bank PLC
  17. 2005-06-30
    ➕
    THOMPSON, Helen Julia appointed
    secretary
  18. 2005-06-30
    ➕
    SOWERBY, John Allan appointed
    director
  19. 2005-06-30
    ➕
    THOMPSON, Helen Julia appointed
    director
  20. 2005-06-30
    ➖
    HARRISON, Joyce resigned
    secretary
  21. 2005-06-30
    ➖
    HARRISON, Joyce resigned
    director
  22. 2005-06-30
    ➖
    HORN, Christopher resigned
    director
  23. 2002-11-08
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As ACE FIXINGS (CUMBRIA) LIMITED
  24. 2002-11-08
    ➕
    HARRISON, Irene Lesley appointed
    nominee-secretary
  25. 2002-11-08
    ➖
    HARRISON, Irene Lesley resigned
    nominee-secretary
  26. 2002-11-08
    ➕
    HARRISON, Joyce appointed
    secretary
  27. 2002-11-08
    ➕
    HARRISON, Joyce appointed
    director
  28. 2002-11-08
    ➕
    HORN, Christopher appointed
    director
  29. 2002-11-08
    ➕
    BUSINESS INFORMATION RESEARCH & REPORTING LIMITED appointed
    corporate-nominee-director
  30. 2002-11-08
    ➖
    BUSINESS INFORMATION RESEARCH & REPORTING LIMITED resigned
    corporate-nominee-director

Owner dependency

83/100
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 21 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 66 — succession pressure is live.

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 66. 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 21 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 John Allan Sowerby
Individual · British · DOB 06/1960 · age 66
25–50%
25–50%board control25-50% shares · 25-50% voting · board control06/04/2016
Ms Helen Julia Thompson
Individual · British · DOB 05/1965 · age 61
25–50%
25–50%board control25-50% shares · 25-50% voting · board control06/04/2016

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

Similar companies

Active · Wholesale & distribution · CA postcode area
CompanyEst. valueTurnoverNet worthStaffAgeOppDirector
A W BLAKE LTD→
02969527 · est 1994 · no financials extracted
————31y——
AGRIFEED SOLUTIONS LTD→
13163861 · est 2021 · no financials extracted
————5y——
ALPHAGREEN SOLUTIONS UK LIMITED→
16139115 · est 2024 · no financials extracted
————1y——
AMC SCRAP METALS LTD→
12465287 · est 2020 · no financials extracted
————6y——
ARCTEC INDUSTRIAL SUPPLIES LIMITED→
04682039 · est 2003 · no financials extracted
————23y——
ARMSTRONG BUILDING SUPPLIES LIMITED→
03962404 · est 2000 · no financials extracted
————26y——
ASOLO FOOTWEAR UK LIMITED→
08081148 · est 2012 · no financials extracted
————13y——
ATALAS TEXTILES LTD→
14711708 · est 2023 · no financials extracted
————3y——
AUDEK TIMBER LIMITED→
16326439 · est 2025 · no financials extracted
————1y——
AYLE COLLIERY COMPANY LIMITED→
00281899 · est 1933 · no financials extracted
————92y——
B. B. DAIRY LIMITED→
06956754 · est 2009 · no financials extracted
————16y——
B.L.GILBERT(BARROW)LIMITED→
00827152 · est 1964 · no financials extracted
————61y——
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
Incorporated2002-11-08
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC46620 — SIC 46620

Registered office

Unit 34 Gilwilly Road
Gilwilly Industrial Estate
Penrith
CA11 9BF
United Kingdom

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-08-31
Last made up to: 2024-11-30
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-11-03
Last: 2025-10-20

Officers (3 active · 5 resigned)

THOMPSON, Helen Julia→
secretary · appointed 2005-06-30
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
SOWERBY, John Allan→
director · ~66y · appointed 2005-06-30
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
THOMPSON, Helen Julia→
director · ~61y · appointed 2005-06-30
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
HARRISON, Irene Lesley→
nominee-secretary · appointed 2002-11-08 · resigned 2002-11-08
Resigned
HARRISON, Joyce→
secretary · appointed 2002-11-08 · resigned 2005-06-30
Resigned
HARRISON, Joyce→
director · ~71y · appointed 2002-11-08 · resigned 2005-06-30
Resigned
HORN, Christopher→
director · ~61y · appointed 2002-11-08 · resigned 2005-06-30
Resigned
BUSINESS INFORMATION RESEARCH & REPORTING LIMITED→
corporate-nominee-director · appointed 2002-11-08 · resigned 2002-11-08
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
National Westminster Bank
National Westminster Bank PLC
A registered charge—03/07/2015—
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (72 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-10-21
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-04-04
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-11-09
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-07-18
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-11-17
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-06-12
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-11-17
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-05-30
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-11-15
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-07-19
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-11-09
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-05-04
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-11-20
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-05-14
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2018-11-09