ABILITY PAPER LIMITED

🌳Matureactive
05518516 · ltd · incorporated 2005-07-26
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 Jul 2025
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
80/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: Other retail sale in non-specialised stores
Sector: Wholesale & retail
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 66-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 80/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 66). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. 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
3 officers (2 active, 3 linked, 2 with DOB)
83
Ownership & PSC
2 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
48 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.

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
—
Net Worth
—
Current Assets
—
Current Liabilities
—
£0£0£0£0£0£0Jul 2024Jul 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2025-07-312024-07-31
Average employees200200

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 accounts
Last 180 days
1
filing
  • • 1 accounts
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (20 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-03-10
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  2. 2025-03-18
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  3. 2025-02-28
    📄
    notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
  4. 2025-02-28
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  5. 2025-02-28
    📄
    termination-secretary-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM02
  6. 2025-02-01
    ➖
    HOLMES, Lynn resigned
    secretary
  7. 2024-04-09
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  8. 2023-04-12
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  9. 2022-03-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  10. 2021-04-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  11. 2020-04-09
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  12. 2019-04-11
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  13. 2018-04-03
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  14. 2017-04-12
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  15. 2016-04-12
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  16. 2015-07-31
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  17. 2005-07-26
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As ABILITY PAPER LIMITED
  18. 2005-07-26
    ➕
    WALLACE, Lynn appointed
    director
  19. 2005-07-26
    ➕
    WALLACE, William Henry appointed
    director
  20. 2005-07-26
    ➕
    HOLMES, Lynn appointed
    secretary

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 21 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 66 — succession pressure is live.
  • +Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

Succession & seller-readiness

86/100
Likely off-market candidate

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

SIGNALS
  • primaryFounder aged 63+: Senior director is approximately 66. Approaching typical UK retirement age — succession thinking likely.
  • secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
  • 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

2 active beneficial owners
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mrs Lynn Wallace
Individual · British · DOB 03/1961 · age 65
25–50%
25–50%25-50% shares · 25-50% voting31/12/2024
Mr William Henry Wallace
Individual · British · DOB 06/1960 · age 66
25–50%
25–50%board controlsig. influence25-50% shares · 25-50% voting · board control · significant influence · firm interest15/07/2016

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.

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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.

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Company details

Statusactive
Typeltd
Incorporated2005-07-26
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC47190 — Other retail sale in non-specialised stores

Registered office

11 Kenwood Road
Smithills
Bolton
Lancashire
BL1 6NA

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2027-04-30
Last made up to: 2025-07-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-07-19
Last: 2025-07-05

Officers (2 active · 1 resigned)

WALLACE, Lynn→
director · ~65y · appointed 2005-07-26
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
WALLACE, William Henry→
director · ~66y · appointed 2005-07-26
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
HOLMES, Lynn→
secretary · appointed 2005-07-26 · resigned 2025-02-01
Resigned

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

Recent filings (48 total)

accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2026-03-10
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-07-14
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-03-18
notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
2025-02-28
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2025-02-28
termination-secretary-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM02
2025-02-28
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-07-05
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-04-09
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-07-14
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-04-12
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-07-18
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-03-30
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-07-14
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-04-29
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-07-22