AH SOFTWARE TESTING SERVICES LTD

🌳Matureactive
05074849 · ltd · incorporated 2004-03-16
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
hardening · 12-months
Already tight — no obvious softening catalysts on the horizon.
  • · Thesis: well-run, low negotiation leverage
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Mar 2025
Net worth
£6.0k
book net assets
Opportunity
80/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 16290
Sector: Manufacturing
ALSO REGISTERED FOR
  • 62090Other information technology service activities
Investor take
Pursue
Asset-holding vehicle with a 71-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 80/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 71). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

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
6 officers (3 active, 6 linked, 2 with DOB)
77
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
65 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 £6,011
Net assets shrinking
Down £13,031 YoY

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
—
Net Worth
£6k
↓ 68% YoY
Current Assets
£22k
↑ 101% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
£0£4k£9k£13k£17k£22kMar 2024Mar 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2025-03-312024-03-31
Total assets£6.0k£19.0k
Current assets£21.7k£10.8k
Net assets£6.0k£19.0k

Amounts extracted automatically from iXBRL. Fields left blank were not reported or not mapped. Values in GBP unless stated.

Recent activity

Last 30 days
0
filings
Last 90 days
1
filing
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
Last 180 days
2
filings
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
  • • 1 accounts
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (25 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-12-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-12-08
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  3. 2023-12-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  4. 2022-12-08
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  5. 2021-11-19
    📄
    accounts-amended-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AAMD
  6. 2021-11-10
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  7. 2021-01-06
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  8. 2019-12-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  9. 2018-12-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  10. 2017-04-03
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  11. 2016-12-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  12. 2016-04-12
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  13. 2015-12-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  14. 2015-03-16
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  15. 2015-03-16
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  16. 2009-10-01
    ➖
    HOWES, Victoria resigned
    secretary
  17. 2009-03-01
    ➕
    HOWES, Victoria appointed
    director
  18. 2009-03-01
    ➕
    HOWES, Victoria appointed
    secretary
  19. 2004-03-17
    ➖
    DUPORT SECRETARY LIMITED resigned
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  20. 2004-03-17
    ➖
    DUPORT DIRECTOR LIMITED resigned
    corporate-nominee-director
  21. 2004-03-16
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As AH SOFTWARE TESTING SERVICES LTD
  22. 2004-03-16
    ➕
    HOWES, Victoria appointed
    secretary
  23. 2004-03-16
    ➕
    HOWES, Adrian Colin appointed
    director
  24. 2004-03-16
    ➕
    DUPORT SECRETARY LIMITED appointed
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  25. 2004-03-16
    ➕
    DUPORT DIRECTOR LIMITED appointed
    corporate-nominee-director

Owner dependency

91/100
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 22 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 71 — succession pressure is live.
  • +Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

Succession & seller-readiness

96/100
Likely off-market candidate

Strong 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 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

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
Mr Adrian Colin Howes
Individual · British · DOB 10/1955 · age 71
75–100%
75–100%board control75-100% shares · 75-100% voting · board control16/03/2017

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 →
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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.

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Company details

Statusactive
Typeltd
Incorporated2004-03-16
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC16290 — SIC 16290

Registered office

40 Tynedale Road Tynedale Road
Strood Green
Betchworth
Surrey
RH3 7HX

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-12-31
Last made up to: 2025-03-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-03-30
Last: 2026-03-16

Officers (3 active · 3 resigned)

HOWES, Victoria→
secretary · appointed 2004-03-16
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
HOWES, Adrian Colin→
director · ~71y · appointed 2004-03-16
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
HOWES, Victoria→
director · ~56y · appointed 2009-03-01
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
HOWES, Victoria→
secretary · appointed 2009-03-01 · resigned 2009-10-01
Resigned
DUPORT SECRETARY LIMITED→
corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 2004-03-16 · resigned 2004-03-17
Resigned
DUPORT DIRECTOR LIMITED→
corporate-nominee-director · appointed 2004-03-16 · resigned 2004-03-17
Resigned

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

Recent filings (65 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-03-16
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-12-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-03-17
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-12-08
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-03-17
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-12-28
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-03-28
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-12-08
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-03-16
accounts-amended-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AAMD
2021-11-19
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-11-10
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-03-27
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-01-06
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-03-16
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2019-12-30