1ST 4 ACCOUNTS LIMITED

💤Zombieactive
04912102 · ltd · incorporated 2003-09-25
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 Dec 2024
Net worth
£17.5k
book net assets
Opportunity
80/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: Bookkeeping activities
Sector: Professional, scientific & technical
Investor take
Pursue
Asset-holding vehicle with a 61-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 80/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (70/100, director aged 61). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Broaden director team. Sole director creates succession risk and reduces buyer comfort. Appoint a second director or strong #2. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (73/100).

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
5 officers (1 active, 5 linked, 2 with DOB)
78
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
64 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.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · accounting standard not declared
Positive net assets
Net assets £17,463
Cash YoY
-29%
Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
£28k
↓ 29% YoY
Net Worth
£17k
↑ 80% YoY
Current Assets
£62k
↓ 24% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
£0£16k£33k£49k£65k£81kDec 2023Dec 2024

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2024-12-312023-12-31
Total assets£32.3k£34.2k
Current assets£61.9k£81.4k
Cash£27.8k£38.9k
Debtors£34.1k£42.4k
Net assets£17.5k£9.7k

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 (24 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-07-25
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  2. 2025-07-01
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  3. 2024-06-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  4. 2023-11-14
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  5. 2023-07-17
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  6. 2022-08-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  7. 2021-09-08
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  8. 2020-09-09
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  9. 2020-03-17
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  10. 2019-09-03
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  11. 2018-10-19
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  12. 2018-10-16
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  13. 2018-09-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  14. 2017-09-11
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  15. 2012-01-01
    ➖
    DENNIS, Heidi resigned
    secretary
  16. 2011-12-01
    ➖
    DENNIS, Heidi resigned
    director
  17. 2003-09-28
    ➕
    DARBY, Tracey Elizabeth appointed
    director
  18. 2003-09-28
    ➕
    DENNIS, Heidi appointed
    secretary
  19. 2003-09-28
    ➕
    DENNIS, Heidi appointed
    director
  20. 2003-09-26
    ➖
    BRIGHTON SECRETARY LTD resigned
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  21. 2003-09-26
    ➖
    BRIGHTON DIRECTOR LTD resigned
    corporate-nominee-director
  22. 2003-09-25
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As 1ST 4 ACCOUNTS LIMITED
  23. 2003-09-25
    ➕
    BRIGHTON SECRETARY LTD appointed
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  24. 2003-09-25
    ➕
    BRIGHTON DIRECTOR LTD appointed
    corporate-nominee-director

Owner dependency

93/100
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 23 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Senior director age: Director aged approximately 61 — approaching natural succession window.

Succession & seller-readiness

85/100
Likely off-market candidate

Strong acquirability signals converging. Worth approaching directly — this is how off-market deals start.

SIGNALS
  • secondaryFounder aged 58+: Senior director is approximately 61. Early succession window.
  • primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
  • 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

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 · dominant holder ≥75%
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mrs Tracey Elizabeth Darby
Individual · British · DOB 12/1965 · age 61
75–100%
75–100%75-100% shares · 75-100% voting25/09/2016

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
Incorporated2003-09-25
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC69202 — Bookkeeping activities

Registered office

7-8 Portmill Lane
Hitchin
Hertfordshire
SG5 1DJ
England

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-09-30
Last made up to: 2024-12-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-10-09
Last: 2025-09-25

Officers (1 active · 4 resigned)

DARBY, Tracey Elizabeth→
director · ~61y · appointed 2003-09-28
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
DENNIS, Heidi→
secretary · appointed 2003-09-28 · resigned 2012-01-01
Resigned
BRIGHTON SECRETARY LTD→
corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 2003-09-25 · resigned 2003-09-26
Resigned
DENNIS, Heidi→
director · ~46y · appointed 2003-09-28 · resigned 2011-12-01
Resigned
BRIGHTON DIRECTOR LTD→
corporate-nominee-director · appointed 2003-09-25 · resigned 2003-09-26
Resigned

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

Recent filings (64 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-10-02
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2025-07-25
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-07-01
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-10-08
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-06-26
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2023-11-14
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-09-25
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-07-17
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-09-26
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-09-23
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-08-26
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-09-27
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2021-09-08
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-09-23
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2020-09-09