ADVANTAGE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS LTD

💤Zombieactive
05704090 · ltd · incorporated 2006-02-09
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 Mar 2025
Net worth
book net assets
Opportunity
73/100
Strong
🔔
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What this business does
Primary activity: Retail sale of musical instruments and scores
Sector: Wholesale & retail
Investor take
Pursue
Strong opportunity: active trading company with strong profile and bankable structure.

Opportunity 73/100 (strong), bankability 75/100. High owner-dependency — earn-out structure likely required for clean transition. 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 (58/100).

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
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
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
52 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
73/100Strong
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional 

Solid opportunity signal. Worth a dedicated memo and management meeting.

Business quality
70
Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.
Acquirability
60
Some acquirability indicators.
Risk profile
77
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£0Mar 2024Mar 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102
Metric2025-03-312024-03-31
Average employees200100

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
0
filings
Last 180 days
3
filings
  • 1 confirmation-statement
  • 1 officers
  • 1 persons-with-significant-control
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (18 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-02-10
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  2. 2026-02-10
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  3. 2025-12-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  4. 2024-12-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  5. 2024-11-29
    ✏️
    certificate-change-of-name-company
    change-of-name · CERTNM
  6. 2023-12-22
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  7. 2022-10-04
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  8. 2022-02-18
    📄
    change-person-secretary-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH03
  9. 2022-01-14
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  10. 2021-01-25
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  11. 2021-01-25
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  12. 2020-11-04
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  13. 2019-08-04
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  14. 2018-12-10
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  15. 2017-12-08
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  16. 2006-02-09
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As ADVANTAGE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS LTD
  17. 2006-02-09
    CORBETT, Deborah appointed
    secretary
  18. 2006-02-09
    CORBETT, Colin Francis appointed
    director

Owner dependency

90/100
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 20 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +No director turnover: Company is 20 years old with no director changes — suggests a very tight-knit founder team never broadened.

Succession & seller-readiness

75/100
Likely off-market candidate

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

SIGNALS
  • primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
  • primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 20 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 20 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

1 med ·
Name changed recently
medium

Name changes can be benign (rebrand) but can also precede distress, phoenix activity, or buyer concealment.

Evidence: 2024-11-29: certificate-change-of-name-company

Shareholders & ownership

1 active beneficial owner
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr Colin Francis Corbett
Individual · British · DOB 04/1977 · age 49
sig. influencesignificant influence01/02/2017

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
Incorporated2006-02-09
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC47591 — Retail sale of musical instruments and scores

Registered office

Thorn House
Road One
Winsford
Cheshire
CW7 3PZ
England

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-12-31
Last made up to: 2025-03-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-02-23
Last: 2026-02-09

Officers (2 active · 0 resigned)

CORBETT, Deborah
secretary · appointed 2006-02-09
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
CORBETT, Colin Francis
director · ~49y · appointed 2006-02-09
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active

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

Recent filings (52 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-02-11
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2026-02-10
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2026-02-10
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-12-29
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-02-18
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-12-23
certificate-change-of-name-company
change-of-name · CERTNM
2024-11-29
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-02-20
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-12-22
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-02-16
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-10-04
change-person-secretary-company-with-change-date
officers · CH03
2022-02-18
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-02-18
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-01-14
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-02-17