ABBOTT & REES FUNERAL DIRECTORS LIMITED

💤Zombieactive

06010962 · ltd · incorporated 2006-11-27

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 Dec 2024

Net worth

£4.6k

book net assets

Opportunity

80/100

Exceptional

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What this business does

Primary activity: Funeral and related activities

Sector: Other service activities

Investor take

Pursue

Asset-holding vehicle with a 79-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 80/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 79). 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).

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

Lenders & charges

Confirmed no charges registered

Directors & officers

2 officers (1 active, 2 linked, 1 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared

Director network

Network not yet resolved

Filing history

45 filings on record

Gazette notices

No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)

Opportunity Score

80/100Exceptional

PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional

Strong composite across quality, acquirability, and risk. High-priority target — progress to serious diligence.

Business quality

Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.

Acquirability

Strong succession / seller-readiness signals.

Risk profile

Few red flags.

Signal strength

Good data coverage for analysis.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · accounting standard not declared

Positive net assets

Net assets £4,595

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts

Cash

—

Net Worth

£5k

↑ 180% YoY

Current Assets

£53k

↑ 103% YoY

Current Liabilities

—

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown

Metric	2024-12-31	2023-12-31
Total assets	£7.0k	£-3.4k
Current assets	£53.5k	£26.4k
Net assets	£4.6k	£-5.8k

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

filings

Last 90 days

filings

Last 180 days

filings

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (19 events)Click to expand

2025-08-20
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-09-27
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-08-09
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-09-22
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-09-29
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-01-05
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2019-10-25
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2019-09-25
📄
change-account-reference-date-company-previous-shortened
accounts · AA01
2018-10-15
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2018-09-27
📄
change-account-reference-date-company-previous-shortened
accounts · AA01
2018-06-18
📍
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2017-09-29
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2016-09-29
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2015-12-15
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2015-09-11
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2010-09-16
➖
SOUTHORN, Kerry resigned
secretary
2006-11-27
🏢
Company incorporated
As ABBOTT & REES FUNERAL DIRECTORS LIMITED
2006-11-27
➕
REES, Stephen Thomas appointed
director
2006-11-27
➕
SOUTHORN, Kerry appointed
secretary

Owner dependency

100/100

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.
+Founder name in company name: Company name contains director surname "REES" — strong identity link between founder and business.
+Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 20 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
+Founder age: Director aged approximately 79 — succession pressure is live.

Succession & seller-readiness

98/100

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 79 years old. Natural succession window is now.
primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
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%

Name	Shares	Voting rights	Nature of control	Notified
Stephen Thomas Rees Individual · British · DOB 09/1947 · age 79	75–100%	75–100%	board control75-100% shares · 75-100% voting · board control	06/04/2016

From Companies House Persons with Significant Control filings. Share ranges are banded per the public PSC regime.

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ALWAYS RECRUITING LIMITED→ 10237032 · est 2016 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	9y	—	—
ANB SERVICE SOLUTIONS LTD→ 11706960 · est 2018 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	7y	—	—
ANDY PARSONS & ASSOCIATES LIMITED→ 06379623 · est 2007 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	18y	—	—
ANGEL CLEAN 1972 LIMITED→ 12532621 · est 2020 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	6y	—	—

Peers ranked by estimated value, then turnover, then opportunity score.See all →

🔒Tailored diligence questions

8 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

Incorporated2006-11-27

Jurisdictionengland-wales

Primary SIC96030 — Funeral and related activities

Registered office

Leanne House

6 Avon Close

Weymouth

Dorset

DT4 9UX

United Kingdom

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2026-09-29

Last made up to: 2024-12-31

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2026-12-11

Last: 2025-11-27

Officers (1 active · 1 resigned)

REES, Stephen Thomas→

director · ~79y · appointed 2006-11-27

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

SOUTHORN, Kerry→

secretary · appointed 2006-11-27 · resigned 2010-09-16

Resigned

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