A & J RETAIL UK LTD

💤Zombieactive
05480502 · ltd · incorporated 2005-06-14
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 Jun 2025
Net worth
£358.1k
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 46120
Sector: Wholesale & retail
ALSO REGISTERED FOR
  • 46170SIC 46170
  • 46190Agents involved in the sale of a variety of goods
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 62-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (70/100, director aged 62). 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).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

2 live charges · oldest 10.8y

45/100
under pressure

Refinance would be pressure-driven, not opportunity-driven. Expect tighter margins and covenant scrutiny.

  • · Oldest live charge is 10.8 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
  • · Distress signals active — lender appetite narrows.

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, 3 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
1 connected companies via shared directors
48
Filing history
51 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 declared
Positive net assets
Net assets £358,070
Net assets shrinking
Down £612 YoY
Cash YoY
-0%
Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
£81k
~ YoY
Net Worth
£358k
~ YoY
Current Assets
£569k
↑ 132% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
£0£114k£228k£341k£455k£569kJun 2024Jun 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2025-06-302024-06-30
Total assets£986.9k£738.6k
Current assets£568.8k£245.2k
Cash£81.1k£81.3k
Debtors£327.7k£6.2k
Net assets£358.1k£358.7k

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
1
filing
  • • 1 accounts
Last 180 days
1
filing
  • • 1 accounts
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (21 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-03-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  2. 2025-01-03
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  3. 2024-03-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  4. 2023-03-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  5. 2022-03-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  6. 2021-06-17
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  7. 2020-03-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  8. 2019-03-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  9. 2018-03-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  10. 2017-07-20
    📄
    notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
  11. 2017-03-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  12. 2016-06-22
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  13. 2016-04-08
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  14. 2015-10-21
    📄
    mortgage-create-with-deed-with-charge-number-charge-creation-date
    mortgage · MR01
  15. 2015-10-15
    🔒
    Charge registered #2
    Lender: Hsbc Bank PLC
  16. 2015-07-14
    📄
    mortgage-create-with-deed-with-charge-number-charge-creation-date
    mortgage · MR01
  17. 2015-07-14
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: Hsbc Bank PLC
  18. 2015-06-19
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  19. 2005-06-14
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As A & J RETAIL UK LTD
  20. 2005-06-14
    ➕
    AMIRTHARAJA, Jennifer Shiromi appointed
    secretary
  21. 2005-06-14
    ➕
    AMIRTHARAJA, Merwin Amirthan appointed
    director

Owner dependency

98/100
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 21 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Senior director age: Director aged approximately 62 — approaching natural succession window.
  • +No director turnover: Company is 21 years old with no director changes — suggests a very tight-knit founder team never broadened.

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 62. 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 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

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 Merwin Amirthan Amirtharaja
Individual · British · DOB 08/1964 · age 62
75–100%
—75-100% shares06/04/2016

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 →

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AFS FASHION LTD→
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————15y——
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
Incorporated2005-06-14
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC46120 — SIC 46120

Registered office

16a London Road
Stanford-Le-Hope
Essex
SS17 0LD

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2027-03-31
Last made up to: 2025-06-30
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-06-28
Last: 2025-06-14

Officers (2 active · 0 resigned)

AMIRTHARAJA, Jennifer Shiromi→
secretary · appointed 2005-06-14
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
AMIRTHARAJA, Merwin Amirthan→
director · ~62y · appointed 2005-06-14
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active

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

Mortgages & charges

2
Total charges
2
Outstanding
1
Active lenders
Status:Lender:2 of 2 shown
TypeProperties
outstanding
HSBC
Hsbc Bank PLC
A registered charge1 property15/10/2015—
outstanding
HSBC
Hsbc Bank PLC
A registered charge1 property14/07/2015—
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (51 total)

accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2026-03-23
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-06-18
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2025-01-03
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-06-19
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2024-03-28
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-06-22
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2023-03-30
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-06-15
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2022-03-31
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2021-06-17
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-06-14
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-06-18
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2020-03-23
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-07-24
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2019-03-30