AFFORDABLE HOUSING UK (DEVON) LIMITED
💤Zombieactive
05403180 · private-limited-guarant-nsc · incorporated 2005-03-24
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 2025
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
What this business does
Primary activity: Development of building projects
Sector: Construction
Investor take
PursueActive trading company with a 65-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.
Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 65). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Discharge stale live charges. 2 live charge(s) created 15+ years ago — likely paid but undischarged. Clean register. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (73/100).
🏦
Refinance opportunity
2 live charges · 2 lenders · oldest 20.4y
30/100
under pressure
Refinance would be pressure-driven, not opportunity-driven. Expect tighter margins and covenant scrutiny.
- · Oldest live charge is 20.4 years old — likely at or near maturity.
- · Two lenders — manageable, but coordination required.
- · Distress signals active — lender appetite narrows.
Data confidence
Overall: high (81/100)Strong data coverage across all sections. AI outputs should be trusted with minimal caveats.
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
2 charges (2/2 with lender, 2/2 with type)
90
Directors & officers
2 officers (2 active, 2 linked, 1 with DOB)
80
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
10 connected companies via shared directors
75
Filing history
56 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 accountsCash
—
Net Worth
—
Current Assets
—
Current Liabilities
—
Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series
Financials
Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown| Metric | 2025-12-31 | 2024-12-31 |
|---|---|---|
| Average employees | 100 | 100 |
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
2
filings
- • 1 confirmation-statement
- • 1 accounts
Last 180 days
2
filings
- • 1 confirmation-statement
- • 1 accounts
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (20 events)Click to expand
- 2026-03-18📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2025-04-28📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2025-03-20📄notification-of-a-person-with-significant-controlpersons-with-significant-control · PSC01
- 2025-03-20📄withdrawal-of-a-person-with-significant-control-statementpersons-with-significant-control · PSC09
- 2024-07-30📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2023-03-07📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2022-04-20📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2021-09-22📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2020-10-06📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2019-09-24📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2019-05-03📄change-person-secretary-company-with-change-dateofficers · CH03
- 2019-05-03📄change-person-director-company-with-change-dateofficers · CH01
- 2019-05-03📄change-person-director-company-with-change-dateofficers · CH01
- 2018-09-20📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2017-09-20📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2006-04-25🔒Charge registered #2Lender: Midas Homes Limited
- 2006-01-30🔒Charge registered #1Lender: Strongvox Limited
- 2005-03-24🏢Company incorporatedAs AFFORDABLE HOUSING UK (DEVON) LIMITED
- 2005-03-24➕PUTTICK, Raymond Eric appointedsecretary
- 2005-03-24➕COTTINGHAM, John Charles appointeddirector
Owner dependency
100/100
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
- +Sole director: Only one active director — all governance concentrated on one person.
- +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 21 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
- +Founder age: Director aged approximately 65 — succession pressure is live.
- +No director turnover: Company is 21 years old with no director changes — suggests a very tight-knit founder team never broadened.
Succession & seller-readiness
95/100
Likely off-market candidateStrong acquirability signals converging. Worth approaching directly — this is how off-market deals start.
SIGNALS
- primaryFounder aged 63+: Senior director is approximately 65. Approaching typical UK retirement age — succession thinking likely.
- primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
- primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 21 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
- secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 21 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| Name | Shares | Voting rights | Nature of control | Notified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Mr John Charles Cottingham Individual · British · DOB 11/1961 · age 65 | — | — | sig. influencesignificant influence | 24/03/2017 |
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 · Construction · EX postcode area| Company | Est. value | Turnover | Net worth | Staff | Age | Opp | Director |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A J HEARD BUILDERS LIMITED→ 06160138 · est 2007 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 19y | — | — |
| A LEE PLASTERING LIMITED→ 13806318 · est 2021 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 4y | — | — |
| A.J. PROCTOR BUILDERS LIMITED→ 04647257 · est 2003 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 23y | — | — |
| ADVENTURE BUILD LTD→ 10471784 · est 2016 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 9y | — | — |
| AE SERVICES (ELECTRICAL) LTD→ 16356320 · est 2025 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 1y | — | — |
| AELFRYTH HOLDINGS LTD→ 14826786 · est 2023 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 2y | — | — |
| AELFRYTH INVESTMENTS LTD→ 13573970 · est 2021 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 4y | — | — |
| AF EXTERNAL WORKS LIMITED→ 16550185 · est 2025 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| AFFORDABLE HOUSING UK (KERNOW) LIMITED→ 05405069 · est 2005 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 21y | — | — |
| AFIT COMMERCIAL LTD→ 09401624 · est 2015 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 11y | — | — |
| AG CLIMATICS LTD→ 12269373 · est 2019 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 6y | — | — |
| AGC ENERGY LTD→ 16850804 · est 2025 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Peers ranked by estimated value, then turnover, then opportunity score.See all →
🔒Tailored diligence questions
8 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
Typeprivate-limited-guarant-nsc
Incorporated2005-03-24
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC41100 — Development of building projects
Registered office
Easterbrook Eaton Limited Chartered Accountants
Cosmopolitan House, Old Fore Street
Sidmouth
Devon
EX10 8LS
Filing status
Accounts
Next due: 2027-09-30
Last made up to: 2025-12-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-04-07
Last: 2026-03-24
Officers (2 active · 0 resigned)
PUTTICK, Raymond Eric→
Activesecretary · appointed 2005-03-24
View their other companies + combined net worth →
COTTINGHAM, John Charles→
Activedirector · ~65y · appointed 2005-03-24
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Click a director name to see their full track record across all companies.
Mortgages & charges
2
Total charges
2
Outstanding
2
Active lenders
Status:Lender:2 of 2 shown
| Type | Properties | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| outstanding | Midas Homes Midas Homes Limited | Legal charge | 1 property | 25/04/2006 | — | |
| outstanding | Strongvox Strongvox Limited | Legal charge | 2 properties | 30/01/2006 | — |
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.
Recent filings (56 total)
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-04-01
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2026-03-18
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-04-28
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-03-27
notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
2025-03-20
withdrawal-of-a-person-with-significant-control-statement
persons-with-significant-control · PSC09
2025-03-20
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-07-30
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-03-25
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-03-24
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2023-03-07
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2022-04-20
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-03-24
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2021-09-22
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-03-25
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2020-10-06