ABRAXAS COOKSHOP (NORTHAMPTON) LIMITED

🌳Matureactive
05928609 · ltd · incorporated 2006-09-08
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
approaching window · 12-months
Approaching a transaction window — refinance or sale event plausible in the next 12 months.
  • · Oldest live charge 19.7y old — refinance window within 12 months
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Mar 2025
Net worth
£27.1k
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: Other retail sale of new goods in specialised stores (other than commercial art galleries and opticians)
Sector: Wholesale & retail
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 71-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 71). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Discharge stale live charges. 1 live charge(s) created 15+ years ago — likely paid but undischarged. Clean register. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

1 live charge · oldest 19.7y

65/100
clean up first

Refinance viable after a tidy-up — address the highlighted items first.

  • · Oldest live charge is 19.7 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
  • · Legal-friction score 25/100 — workable, but lender will want more DD.

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, 1 SIC codes, incorporation date
100
Financials
2 years of iXBRL accounts extracted (YoY deltas available) + narrative notes parsed
75
Lenders & charges
1 charges (1/1 with lender, 1/1 with type)
90
Directors & officers
5 officers (3 active, 5 linked, 2 with DOB)
78
Ownership & PSC
2 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared
90
Director network
1 connected companies via shared directors
48
Filing history
58 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 £27,123
Net assets shrinking
Down £19,320 YoY
Cash YoY
+1262%
Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
£1k
↑ 1262% YoY
Net Worth
£27k
↓ 42% YoY
Current Assets
£129k
↓ 14% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
£0£30k£60k£90k£120k£150kMar 2024Mar 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2025-03-312024-03-31
Total assets£35.5k£63.1k
Current assets£129.3k£149.6k
Cash£1.4k£100
Debtors£14.2k£21.5k
Net assets£27.1k£46.4k

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
0
filings
Last 180 days
1
filing
  • • 1 accounts
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (27 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-12-15
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2025-10-14
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  3. 2025-10-14
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  4. 2025-10-14
    📄
    change-person-secretary-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH03
  5. 2025-10-14
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  6. 2025-10-14
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  7. 2025-09-09
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  8. 2025-09-09
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  9. 2024-12-17
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  10. 2023-12-21
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  11. 2022-12-19
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  12. 2022-03-10
    📄
    accounts-amended-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AAMD
  13. 2021-12-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  14. 2021-11-01
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  15. 2021-02-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  16. 2019-12-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  17. 2019-11-15
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  18. 2018-10-18
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  19. 2006-10-04
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: Smith & Sons (Northampton) Limited
  20. 2006-09-08
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As ABRAXAS COOKSHOP (NORTHAMPTON) LIMITED
  21. 2006-09-08
    ➕
    SPARROW, Helen Mary appointed
    secretary
  22. 2006-09-08
    ➕
    GEORGE, Sarah Elizabeth appointed
    director
  23. 2006-09-08
    ➕
    SPARROW, Helen Mary appointed
    director
  24. 2006-09-08
    ➕
    TEMPLE SECRETARIES LIMITED appointed
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  25. 2006-09-08
    ➖
    TEMPLE SECRETARIES LIMITED resigned
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  26. 2006-09-08
    ➕
    COMPANY DIRECTORS LIMITED appointed
    corporate-nominee-director
  27. 2006-09-08
    ➖
    COMPANY DIRECTORS LIMITED resigned
    corporate-nominee-director

Owner dependency

83/100
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 71 — succession pressure is live.

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 71 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

2 active beneficial owners
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Ms Helen Mary Sparrow
Individual · British · DOB 04/1955 · age 71
25–50%
25–50%25-50% shares · 25-50% voting08/09/2016
Ms Sarah Elizabeth George
Individual · British · DOB 04/1961 · age 65
25–50%
25–50%25-50% shares · 25-50% voting08/09/2016

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
Incorporated2006-09-08
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC47789 — Other retail sale of new goods in specialised stores (other than commercial art galleries and opticians)

Registered office

A5, Heart Of The Shires Shopping Village Watling Street
Weedon
Northampton
NN7 4LB
England

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-12-31
Last made up to: 2025-03-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-09-22
Last: 2025-09-08

Officers (3 active · 2 resigned)

SPARROW, Helen Mary→
secretary · appointed 2006-09-08
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
GEORGE, Sarah Elizabeth→
director · ~65y · appointed 2006-09-08
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
SPARROW, Helen Mary→
director · ~71y · appointed 2006-09-08
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
TEMPLE SECRETARIES LIMITED→
corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 2006-09-08 · resigned 2006-09-08
Resigned
COMPANY DIRECTORS LIMITED→
corporate-nominee-director · appointed 2006-09-08 · resigned 2006-09-08
Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

1
Total charges
1
Outstanding
1
Active lenders
Status:Lender:1 of 1 shown
TypeProperties
outstanding
Smith & Sons (Northampton) / Smith & Sons (Northampton)
Smith & Sons (Northampton) Limited / Smith & Sons (Northampton) Limited
Rent deposit deed1 property04/10/2006—
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (58 total)

accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-12-15
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2025-10-14
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2025-10-14
change-person-secretary-company-with-change-date
officers · CH03
2025-10-14
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2025-10-14
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2025-10-14
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-09-09
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2025-09-09
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2025-09-09
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-12-17
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-09-11
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-12-21
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-09-08
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-12-19
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-09-20