ACTIVE TOOLS LIMITED
🌳Matureactive
04644151 · ltd · incorporated 2003-01-22
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.
Opportunity decay
approaching window · 12-months
Approaching a transaction window — refinance or sale event plausible in the next 12 months.
- · Oldest live charge 10.5y old — refinance window within 12 months
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Jan 2025
Net worth
£-142.9k
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 32300
Sector: Manufacturing
Investor take
Pass (distressed without resilience)Distressed active trading company — structural issues outweigh the discount.
Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 71). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (73/100).
🏦
Refinance opportunity
1 live charge · oldest 10.5y
85/100
ready
Refinance conversation should be productive — structure clean and timing right.
- · Oldest live charge is 10.5 years old — likely at or near maturity.
- · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
- · Legal-friction score 15/100 — clean.
Data confidence
Overall: medium (79/100)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
6 officers (2 active, 6 linked, 3 with DOB)
80
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
1 connected companies via shared directors
48
Filing history
65 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 declaredNegative net assets
Liabilities exceed assets by £142,856
Cash YoY
+161%
Year on year
Key financials
2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accountsCash
£48k
↑ 161% YoY
Net Worth
-£143k
↓ 18% YoY
Current Assets
£99k
↓ 15% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series
Financials
Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown| Metric | 2025-01-31 | 2024-01-31 |
|---|---|---|
| Total assets | £-8.3k | £14.3k |
| Current assets | £98.7k | £116.0k |
| Cash | £47.8k | £18.3k |
| Debtors | £19.0k | £64.1k |
| Net assets | £-142.9k | £-120.7k |
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
1
filing
- • 1 confirmation-statement
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (26 events)Click to expand
- 2025-10-30📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2024-10-30📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2023-10-25📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2022-10-27📄change-person-director-company-with-change-dateofficers · CH01
- 2022-10-27📍change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-addressaddress · AD01
- 2022-10-27📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2022-01-31📄change-person-director-company-with-change-dateofficers · CH01
- 2022-01-31📄change-person-director-company-with-change-dateofficers · CH01
- 2021-10-28📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2020-10-28📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2019-10-02📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2018-10-31📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2018-04-11📄appoint-person-director-company-with-name-dateofficers · AP01
- 2018-04-01➕EDWARDS, Joseph appointeddirector
- 2017-10-31📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2015-11-27🔒Charge registered #1Lender: Barclays Bank PLC
- 2014-11-30➖MOORE, Amanda Lucy Louise resignedsecretary
- 2007-04-18➖BRYANT, Ashley Edward resigneddirector
- 2003-01-22🏢Company incorporatedAs ACTIVE TOOLS LIMITED
- 2003-01-22➕EWANS, John Frayn appointeddirector
- 2003-01-22➕MOORE, Amanda Lucy Louise appointedsecretary
- 2003-01-22➕LONDON LAW SECRETARIAL LIMITED appointedcorporate-nominee-secretary
- 2003-01-22➖LONDON LAW SECRETARIAL LIMITED resignedcorporate-nominee-secretary
- 2003-01-22➕BRYANT, Ashley Edward appointeddirector
- 2003-01-22➕LONDON LAW SERVICES LIMITED appointedcorporate-nominee-director
- 2003-01-22➖LONDON LAW SERVICES LIMITED resignedcorporate-nominee-director
Owner dependency
83/100
Critical — business is the founderThe 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 23 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
- +Founder age: Director aged approximately 71 — succession pressure is live.
Succession & seller-readiness
96/100
Likely off-market candidateStrong acquirability signals converging. Worth approaching directly — this is how off-market deals start.
SIGNALS
- primaryFounder aged 70+: Senior director is approximately 71 years old. Natural succession window is now.
- secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
- primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 23 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
- secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 23 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
cleanNo 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 · dominant holder ≥75%| Name | Shares | Voting rights | Nature of control | Notified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Mr John Frayn Ewans Individual · British · DOB 06/1955 · age 71 | 75–100% | — | 75-100% shares | 06/04/2016 |
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 · Manufacturing · RG postcode area| Company | Est. value | Turnover | Net worth | Staff | Age | Opp | Director |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 SISTERS PRINTING LTD→ 15122354 · est 2023 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 2y | — | — |
| 3M UNITED KINGDOM PUBLIC LIMITED COMPANY→ 01123045 · est 1973 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 52y | — | — |
| 4FRONT ELECTRICAL LTD→ 10500380 · est 2016 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 9y | — | — |
| A & F ENGINEERING LIMITED→ 03631558 · est 1998 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 27y | — | — |
| A. F. JONES STONEMASONS LIMITED→ 07112560 · est 2009 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 16y | — | — |
| ABSOLUTE REFLECTIONS LTD→ 07381048 · est 2010 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 15y | — | — |
| ACD GSE LTD→ 09585556 · est 2015 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 10y | — | — |
| ACERSTEEL LTD→ 11658990 · est 2018 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 7y | — | — |
| ACR BIDCO LIMITED→ 16379363 · est 2025 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 1y | — | — |
| ACROSPIRE PRODUCTS LIMITED→ 10702730 · est 2017 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 9y | — | — |
| ACS HYDROCARBONS LIMITED→ 09265706 · est 2014 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 11y | — | — |
| ACTIVE-DISPLAY SOLUTIONS LTD→ 10767945 · est 2017 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 8y | — | — |
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
Incorporated2003-01-22
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC32300 — SIC 32300
Registered office
Unit 10 Tavistock Industrial Estate
Twyford
Reading
Berkshire
RG10 9NJ
England
Filing status
Accounts
Next due: 2026-10-31
Last made up to: 2025-01-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-01-17
Last: 2026-01-03
Officers (2 active · 4 resigned)
EDWARDS, Joseph→
Activedirector · ~36y · appointed 2018-04-01
View their other companies + combined net worth →
EWANS, John Frayn→
Activedirector · ~71y · appointed 2003-01-22
View their other companies + combined net worth →
MOORE, Amanda Lucy Louise→
Resignedsecretary · appointed 2003-01-22 · resigned 2014-11-30
LONDON LAW SECRETARIAL LIMITED→
Resignedcorporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 2003-01-22 · resigned 2003-01-22
BRYANT, Ashley Edward→
Resigneddirector · ~59y · appointed 2003-01-22 · resigned 2007-04-18
LONDON LAW SERVICES LIMITED→
Resignedcorporate-nominee-director · appointed 2003-01-22 · resigned 2003-01-22
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
| Type | Properties | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| outstanding | Barclays Barclays Bank PLC | A registered charge | — | 27/11/2015 | — |
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.
Recent filings (65 total)
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-01-08
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2025-10-30
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-01-13
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2024-10-30
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-01-09
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2023-10-25
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-01-03
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2022-10-27
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2022-10-27
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2022-10-27
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2022-01-31
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2022-01-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-01-21
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2021-10-28
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-12-18