AQUA CITY (HERTFORD) LIMITED

🌳Matureactive
06451836 · ltd · incorporated 2007-12-12
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 Sept 2025
Net worth
£-353.1k
book net assets
Opportunity
81/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: Retail sale of furniture, lighting, and similar (not musical instruments or scores) in specialised stores
Sector: Wholesale & retail
Investor take
Pass (distressed without resilience)
Distressed active trading company — structural issues outweigh the discount.

Opportunity 81/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (70/100, director aged 60). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Cash flow review and working-capital discipline. Cash down -89% YoY — forensic review of receivables, stock turns, and creditor days. 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, 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
5 officers (3 active, 5 linked, 2 with DOB)
78
Ownership & PSC
2 active PSC(s) of 4 total, 4 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
81/100Exceptional
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
85
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 · accounting standard not declared
Negative net assets
Liabilities exceed assets by £353,088
Cash draining
Cash down 89% YoY
Cash YoY
-89%
Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
£257
↓ 89% YoY
Net Worth
-£353k
↓ 10.0% YoY
Current Assets
£63k
↓ 39% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
-£353k-£262k-£171k-£80k£12k£103kSept 2024Sept 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2025-09-302024-09-30
Total assets£6.6k£24.1k
Current assets£62.9k£102.8k
Cash£257£2.3k
Debtors£54.7k£80.6k
Net assets£-353.1k£-321.0k

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
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. 2026-06-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2025-08-01
    📄
    notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
  3. 2025-08-01
    📄
    cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
  4. 2025-06-22
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  5. 2025-04-09
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  6. 2025-04-09
    📄
    notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
  7. 2025-04-09
    📄
    cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
  8. 2024-06-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  9. 2023-06-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  10. 2022-06-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  11. 2021-06-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  12. 2020-06-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  13. 2019-06-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  14. 2018-06-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  15. 2007-12-14
    ➖
    ABERGAN REED NOMINEES LTD resigned
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  16. 2007-12-14
    ➖
    ABERGAN REED LIMITED resigned
    corporate-director
  17. 2007-12-12
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As AQUA CITY (HERTFORD) LIMITED
  18. 2007-12-12
    ➕
    FLETCHER, David appointed
    secretary
  19. 2007-12-12
    ➕
    COFFEY, Richard James appointed
    director
  20. 2007-12-12
    ➕
    FLETCHER, David appointed
    director
  21. 2007-12-12
    ➕
    ABERGAN REED NOMINEES LTD appointed
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  22. 2007-12-12
    ➕
    ABERGAN REED LIMITED appointed
    corporate-director

Owner dependency

76/100
High — earn-out structure required

Material founder dependency. Consider a 2-3 year earn-out and build in a handover plan before completion.

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

Succession & seller-readiness

69/100
Strong succession signal

Multiple signals suggest succession is on the horizon. Candidate for proactive outreach.

SIGNALS
  • secondaryFounder aged 58+: Senior director is approximately 60. Early succession window.
  • secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
  • 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

2 active beneficial owners
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr David Fletcher
Individual · British · DOB 07/1966 · age 60
25–50%
—25-50% shares01/08/2025
Mr Richard James Coffey
Individual · British · DOB 04/1966 · age 60
25–50%
—25-50% shares06/04/2016
2 historic (ceased) PSCs
  • Miss Jodie Fletcherceased 01/08/2025· 25-50% shares
  • Mr David Fletcherceased 08/04/2025· 25-50% shares

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

6 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
Incorporated2007-12-12
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC47599 — Retail sale of furniture, lighting, and similar (not musical instruments or scores) in specialised stores

Registered office

32 Chambers Street
Hertford
SG14 1PL
England

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2027-06-30
Last made up to: 2025-09-30
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-01-01
Last: 2025-12-18

Officers (3 active · 2 resigned)

FLETCHER, David→
secretary · appointed 2007-12-12
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
COFFEY, Richard James→
director · ~60y · appointed 2007-12-12
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
FLETCHER, David→
director · ~60y · appointed 2007-12-12
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
ABERGAN REED NOMINEES LTD→
corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 2007-12-12 · resigned 2007-12-14
Resigned
ABERGAN REED LIMITED→
corporate-director · appointed 2007-12-12 · resigned 2007-12-14
Resigned

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

Recent filings (58 total)

accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2026-06-30
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-12-18
notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
2025-08-01
cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
2025-08-01
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-06-22
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2025-04-09
notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
2025-04-09
cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
2025-04-09
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-12-18
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-12-11
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-06-28
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-12-22
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-06-29
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-12-19
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-06-30