CHOCOLATE STUDIO LIMITED

🌳Matureactive
05830741 · ltd · incorporated 2006-05-30
Investment thesis
Established operating company — standard diligence applies, no dominant angle.
Why interesting: Live, filing, normal profile.
Why risky: No standout signals in either direction.
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Jul 2025
Net worth
£61.8k
book net assets
Opportunity
80/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 10821
Sector: Manufacturing
ALSO REGISTERED FOR
  • 47240Retail sale of bread, cakes, flour confectionery and sugar confectionery in specialised stores
Investor take
Pursue
Asset-holding vehicle with a 84-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 80/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 84). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

Data confidence

Overall: medium (78/100)

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
4 officers (3 active, 4 linked, 2 with DOB)
80
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
3 connected companies via shared directors
54
Filing history
45 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 · FRS 102
Positive net assets
Net assets £61,830
Cash YoY
-5%
Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
£47k
↓ 5.4% YoY
Net Worth
£62k
↑ 21% YoY
Current Assets
£79k
↓ 4.9% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
£0£17k£33k£50k£66k£83kJul 2024Jul 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102
Metric2025-07-312024-07-31
Total assets£98.5k£72.2k
Current assets£78.9k£83.0k
Cash£46.7k£49.4k
Debtors£9.3k£14.7k
Net assets£61.8k£51.0k

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

🔒Filing-note intelligence

2 signals 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
1
filing
  • • 1 accounts
Last 90 days
1
filing
  • • 1 accounts
Last 180 days
1
filing
  • • 1 accounts
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (22 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-04-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2025-04-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  3. 2024-04-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  4. 2023-07-06
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  5. 2023-07-06
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  6. 2023-04-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  7. 2022-04-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  8. 2021-04-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  9. 2020-04-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  10. 2019-04-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  11. 2018-05-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  12. 2017-05-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  13. 2016-07-08
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  14. 2016-05-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  15. 2015-07-20
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  16. 2015-04-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  17. 2007-06-18
    ➕
    SMITH, Lawrence John appointed
    secretary
  18. 2007-06-18
    ➕
    SMITH, Lawrence John appointed
    director
  19. 2007-06-18
    ➖
    WOOD, Diane Alyson resigned
    secretary
  20. 2006-05-30
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As CHOCOLATE STUDIO LIMITED
  21. 2006-05-30
    ➕
    SMITH, Trevor appointed
    director
  22. 2006-05-30
    ➕
    WOOD, Diane Alyson 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 20 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 84 — succession pressure is live.
  • +Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

Succession & seller-readiness

89/100
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 84 years old. Natural succession window is now.
  • secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
  • secondary12+ year tenure: Director in role 20 years.
  • 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

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 Trevor Russell Smith
Individual · British · DOB 05/1969 · age 57
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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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
Incorporated2006-05-30
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC10821 — SIC 10821

Registered office

Beaulieu Chocolate Studio
High Street
Beaulieu
Hampshire
SO42 7YA

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2027-04-30
Last made up to: 2025-07-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-06-13
Last: 2025-05-30

Officers (3 active · 1 resigned)

SMITH, Lawrence John→
secretary · appointed 2007-06-18
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
SMITH, Lawrence John→
director · ~84y · appointed 2007-06-18
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
SMITH, Trevor→
director · ~57y · appointed 2006-05-30
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
WOOD, Diane Alyson→
secretary · appointed 2006-05-30 · resigned 2007-06-18
Resigned

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

Recent filings (45 total)

accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2026-04-29
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-06-18
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-04-29
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-07-01
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-04-29
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-07-06
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2023-07-06
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2023-07-06
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-04-29
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-07-04
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-04-30
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-07-01
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-04-30
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-06-08
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-04-30