A. SEARLE & COMPANY LIMITED

🌳Matureactive
06515709 · ltd · incorporated 2008-02-27
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
£1.22M
book net assets
Opportunity
80/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: Agents involved in the sale of a variety of goods
Sector: Wholesale & retail
Investor take
Pursue
Asset-holding vehicle with a 78-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 80/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 78). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (73/100).

Data confidence

Overall: high (80/100)

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
Confirmed no charges registered
85
Directors & officers
5 officers (2 active, 5 linked, 4 with DOB)
86
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
5 connected companies via shared directors
60
Filing history
52 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 · accounting standard not declared
Positive net assets
Net assets £1,219,807
Cash YoY
+28%
Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
£1.4m
↑ 28% YoY
Net Worth
£1.2m
↑ 81% YoY
Current Assets
—
Current Liabilities
—
£0£278k£556k£835k£1.1m£1.4mSept 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
Cash£1.39M£1.09M
Net assets£1.22M£674.4k

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
1
filing
  • • 1 accounts
Last 90 days
1
filing
  • • 1 accounts
Last 180 days
3
filings
  • • 1 accounts
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
  • • 1 officers
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (25 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-06-25
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2026-02-03
    📄
    termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM01
  3. 2026-01-24
    ➖
    OBORNE, Richard Ernest resigned
    director
  4. 2025-06-13
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  5. 2024-08-12
    📄
    termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM01
  6. 2024-08-12
    📄
    termination-secretary-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM02
  7. 2024-06-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  8. 2024-06-05
    ➖
    OBORNE, Richard Ernest Charles resigned
    secretary
  9. 2024-06-05
    ➖
    OBORNE, Richard Ernest Charles resigned
    director
  10. 2023-06-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  11. 2023-02-17
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  12. 2022-06-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  13. 2021-07-02
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  14. 2021-06-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  15. 2020-11-11
    📄
    appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
    officers · AP01
  16. 2020-11-11
    📄
    appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
    officers · AP01
  17. 2020-11-04
    ➕
    OBORNE, Nicki appointed
    director
  18. 2020-11-04
    ➕
    OBORNE, Richard Ernest appointed
    director
  19. 2020-06-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  20. 2019-06-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  21. 2018-06-25
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  22. 2008-02-27
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As A. SEARLE & COMPANY LIMITED
  23. 2008-02-27
    ➕
    OBORNE, Terence John appointed
    director
  24. 2008-02-27
    ➕
    OBORNE, Richard Ernest Charles appointed
    secretary
  25. 2008-02-27
    ➕
    OBORNE, Richard Ernest Charles appointed
    director

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 18 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 78 — 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 78 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 18 years.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 18 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.)

Group structure

Oborne Investments Limited is the ultimate parent — holding 75%+ shares. This company sits inside their group.

🏛️
Oborne Investments Limited
Corporate parent · holds 75-100% shares
ultimate parent
⬇
A. SEARLE & COMPANY LIMITED
This company · 06515709

Parent relationships inferred from Persons with Significant Control filings. Full subsidiary tree requires reverse-lookup (coming).

Shareholders & ownership

1 active beneficial owner · dominant holder ≥75%
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Oborne Investments Limited
Corporate entity
75–100%
75–100%75-100% shares · 75-100% voting06/04/2016

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
Incorporated2008-02-27
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC46190 — Agents involved in the sale of a variety of goods

Registered office

Unit 2 Mulberry Court
Bourne Industrial Park Bourne Road
Crayford
Kent
DA1 4BF
England

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2027-06-30
Last made up to: 2025-09-30
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-03-13
Last: 2026-02-27

Officers (2 active · 3 resigned)

OBORNE, Nicki→
director · ~53y · appointed 2020-11-04
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
OBORNE, Terence John→
director · ~78y · appointed 2008-02-27
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
OBORNE, Richard Ernest Charles→
secretary · appointed 2008-02-27 · resigned 2024-06-05
Resigned
OBORNE, Richard Ernest→
director · ~52y · appointed 2020-11-04 · resigned 2026-01-24
Resigned
OBORNE, Richard Ernest Charles→
director · ~82y · appointed 2008-02-27 · resigned 2024-06-05
Resigned

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

Recent filings (52 total)

accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2026-06-25
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-03-30
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2026-02-03
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-06-13
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-02-27
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2024-08-12
termination-secretary-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM02
2024-08-12
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-06-26
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-03-07
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-06-29
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-02-27
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2023-02-17
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-06-28
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-03-07
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2021-07-02