ACORN FINANCIAL SERVICES (SOUTH EAST) LIMITED

💤Zombieactive
06148268 · ltd · incorporated 2007-03-09
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
82/100
Exceptional
🔔
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What this business does
Primary activity: Financial intermediation not elsewhere classified
Sector: Financial & insurance
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 60-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (70/100, director aged 60). 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 (73/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

1 live charge · oldest 19.1y

45/100
under pressure

Refinance would be pressure-driven, not opportunity-driven. Expect tighter margins and covenant scrutiny.

  • · Oldest live charge is 19.1 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
  • · Distress signals active — lender appetite narrows.

Data confidence

Overall: high (81/100)

Strong data coverage across all sections. AI outputs should be trusted with minimal caveats.

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
3 officers (1 active, 3 linked, 2 with DOB)
83
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
9 connected companies via shared directors
72
Filing history
48 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.

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 employees100200

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

🔒Filing-note intelligence

3 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
0
filings
Last 90 days
0
filings
Last 180 days
1
filing
  • • 1 accounts
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (22 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-12-22
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2025-09-11
    📄
    notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
  3. 2025-09-11
    📄
    withdrawal-of-a-person-with-significant-control-statement
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC09
  4. 2025-02-26
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  5. 2024-12-11
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  6. 2023-12-06
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  7. 2022-12-13
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  8. 2021-12-21
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  9. 2021-08-26
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  10. 2021-03-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  11. 2019-12-19
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  12. 2019-04-12
    📄
    termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM01
  13. 2019-04-12
    📄
    termination-secretary-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM02
  14. 2019-04-04
    ➖
    RETALLICK, Hans resigned
    secretary
  15. 2019-04-04
    ➖
    RETALLICK, Hans resigned
    director
  16. 2018-12-20
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  17. 2017-12-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  18. 2007-04-19
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: Hsbc Bank PLC
  19. 2007-03-09
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As ACORN FINANCIAL SERVICES (SOUTH EAST) LIMITED
  20. 2007-03-09
    ➕
    DICKINSON, Andrew Charles appointed
    director
  21. 2007-03-09
    ➕
    RETALLICK, Hans appointed
    secretary
  22. 2007-03-09
    ➕
    RETALLICK, Hans appointed
    director

Owner dependency

93/100
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 19 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Senior director age: Director aged approximately 60 — approaching natural succession window.

Succession & seller-readiness

78/100
Likely off-market candidate

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

SIGNALS
  • secondaryFounder aged 58+: Senior director is approximately 60. Early succession window.
  • primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
  • secondary12+ year tenure: Director in role 19 years.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 19 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 Andrew Charles Dickinson
Individual · British · DOB 04/1966 · age 60
75–100%
75–100%board control75-100% shares · 75-100% voting · board control11/09/2025

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
Incorporated2007-03-09
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC64999 — Financial intermediation not elsewhere classified

Registered office

3 High Street
St Lawrence
Ramsgate
Kent
CT11 0QL
United Kingdom

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-12-31
Last made up to: 2025-03-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-08-19
Last: 2025-08-05

Officers (1 active · 2 resigned)

DICKINSON, Andrew Charles→
director · ~60y · appointed 2007-03-09
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
RETALLICK, Hans→
secretary · appointed 2007-03-09 · resigned 2019-04-04
Resigned
RETALLICK, Hans→
director · ~76y · appointed 2007-03-09 · resigned 2019-04-04
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
HSBC
Hsbc Bank PLC
Debenture1 property19/04/2007—
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (48 total)

accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-12-22
notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
2025-09-11
withdrawal-of-a-person-with-significant-control-statement
persons-with-significant-control · PSC09
2025-09-11
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-08-05
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-03-21
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2025-02-26
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-12-11
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-03-12
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-12-06
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-03-16
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-12-13
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-03-10
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-12-21
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2021-08-26
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-03-26