ABC BOOKS LIMITED
🌳Matureactive
05034144 · ltd · incorporated 2004-02-04
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 Dec 2024
Net worth
£3.8k
book net assets
Opportunity
76/100
Strong
What this business does
Primary activity: Other retail sale of new goods in specialised stores (other than commercial art galleries and opticians)
Sector: Wholesale & retail
ALSO REGISTERED FOR
- 62090Other information technology service activities
Investor take
PursueStrong opportunity: asset-holding vehicle with strong profile and bankable structure.
Opportunity 76/100 (strong), bankability 75/100. High owner-dependency — earn-out structure likely required for clean transition. Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: strategic trade sale (63/100).
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, 2 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 (3 active, 5 linked, 3 with DOB)
82
Ownership & PSC
0 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
69 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
76/100Strong
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional
Solid opportunity signal. Worth a dedicated memo and management meeting.
Business quality
70
Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.
Acquirability
65
Some acquirability indicators.
Risk profile
85
Few red flags.
Signal strength
90
Good data coverage for analysis.
Signals from accounts
Derived from iXBRL accounts · FRS 102Positive net assets
Net assets £3,770
Key financials
2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accountsCash
—
Net Worth
£4k
↑ 130% YoY
Current Assets
£92k
↑ 7.2% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series
Financials
Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102| Metric | 2024-12-31 | 2023-12-31 |
|---|---|---|
| Total assets | £3.8k | £-12.7k |
| Current assets | £91.9k | £85.7k |
| Debtors | £74.7k | £67.9k |
| Net assets | £3.8k | £-12.7k |
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
2
filings
- • 1 confirmation-statement
- • 1 officers
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (26 events)Click to expand
- 2026-03-04📄change-person-director-company-with-change-dateofficers · CH01
- 2025-03-28📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2024-09-27📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2023-12-22📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2023-05-26📄gazette-filings-brought-up-to-dategazette · DISS40
- 2023-05-25📄notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control-statementpersons-with-significant-control · PSC08
- 2023-05-25📄cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-controlpersons-with-significant-control · PSC07
- 2023-05-25📄cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-controlpersons-with-significant-control · PSC07
- 2023-04-25📄gazette-notice-compulsorygazette · GAZ1
- 2022-09-08📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2021-10-01📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2020-11-18📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2020-06-17📄change-to-a-person-with-significant-control-without-name-datepersons-with-significant-control · PSC04
- 2020-06-16📄change-to-a-person-with-significant-controlpersons-with-significant-control · PSC04
- 2020-06-16📄change-person-secretary-company-with-change-dateofficers · CH03
- 2020-06-16📄change-person-director-company-with-change-dateofficers · CH01
- 2020-06-16📄change-person-director-company-with-change-dateofficers · CH01
- 2020-06-16📍change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-addressaddress · AD01
- 2006-06-01➕MARKS, Jethro Ramon appointedsecretary
- 2006-06-01➕MARKS, Jethro Ramon appointeddirector
- 2006-06-01➖TAYLOR, Craig Michael resignedsecretary
- 2006-06-01➖TAYLOR, Craig Michael resigneddirector
- 2004-02-04🏢Company incorporatedAs ABC BOOKS LIMITED
- 2004-02-04➕TAYLOR, Mark Stephen appointeddirector
- 2004-02-04➕TAYLOR, Craig Michael appointedsecretary
- 2004-02-04➕TAYLOR, Craig Michael appointeddirector
Owner dependency
68/100
High — earn-out structure requiredMaterial founder dependency. Consider a 2-3 year earn-out and build in a handover plan before completion.
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 22 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
Succession & seller-readiness
66/100
Strong succession signalMultiple signals suggest succession is on the horizon. Candidate for proactive outreach.
SIGNALS
- secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
- primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 22 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
- secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 22 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.)
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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
Incorporated2004-02-04
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC47789 — Other retail sale of new goods in specialised stores (other than commercial art galleries and opticians)
Registered office
10 John Street
London
WC1N 2EB
United Kingdom
Filing status
Accounts
Next due: 2026-09-30
Last made up to: 2024-12-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-02-18
Last: 2026-02-04
Officers (3 active · 2 resigned)
MARKS, Jethro Ramon→
Activesecretary · appointed 2006-06-01
View their other companies + combined net worth →
MARKS, Jethro Ramon→
Activedirector · ~48y · appointed 2006-06-01
View their other companies + combined net worth →
TAYLOR, Mark Stephen→
Activedirector · ~48y · appointed 2004-02-04
View their other companies + combined net worth →
TAYLOR, Craig Michael→
Resignedsecretary · appointed 2004-02-04 · resigned 2006-06-01
TAYLOR, Craig Michael→
Resigneddirector · ~47y · appointed 2004-02-04 · resigned 2006-06-01
Click a director name to see their full track record across all companies.
Recent filings (69 total)
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-03-09
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2026-03-04
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-03-28
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-02-13
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-09-27
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-02-23
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-12-22
gazette-filings-brought-up-to-date
gazette · DISS40
2023-05-26
notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control-statement
persons-with-significant-control · PSC08
2023-05-25
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-05-25
cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
2023-05-25
cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
2023-05-25
gazette-notice-compulsory
gazette · GAZ1
2023-04-25
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-09-08
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-02-18