J. WATSON & SONS LIMITED

🌳Matureactive

06649142 · ltd · incorporated 2008-07-17

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

hardening · 12-months

Already tight — no obvious softening catalysts on the horizon.

· Thesis: well-run, low negotiation leverage

🔒Estimated value

—

Upgrade to see

Turnover

—

year to Jun 2025

Net worth

£2.62M

book net assets

Opportunity

80/100

Exceptional

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What this business does

Primary activity: SIC 38320

Sector: Water supply & waste

Investor take

Pursue

Asset-holding vehicle with a 74-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 80/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (63/100, director aged 74). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

Data confidence

Overall: medium (79/100)

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

7 officers (4 active, 7 linked, 4 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

1 active PSC(s) of 4 total, 4 with control declared

Director network

4 connected companies via shared directors

Filing history

59 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 £2,622,828

Cash YoY

+140%

Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts

Cash

£1.4m

↑ 140% YoY

Net Worth

£2.6m

↑ 17% YoY

Current Assets

£2.1m

↑ 43% YoY

Current Liabilities

—

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown

Metric	2025-06-30	2024-06-30
Total assets	£2.89M	£2.44M
Current assets	£2.15M	£1.50M
Cash	£1.40M	£584.4k
Debtors	£502.6k	£524.1k
Net assets	£2.62M	£2.24M

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

filings

Last 90 days

filings

Last 180 days

filings

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (29 events)Click to expand

2025-10-29
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-10-25
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-01-23
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-01-17
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-03-30
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-06-18
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-06-23
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2020-03-20
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2020-01-15
📄
notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC02
2020-01-15
📄
cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
2020-01-15
📄
cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
2020-01-15
📄
cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
2020-01-09
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-03-29
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2018-09-28
📄
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2018-09-28
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2018-09-27
📄
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2018-09-27
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2008-07-17
🏢
Company incorporated
As J. WATSON & SONS LIMITED
2008-07-17
➕
WATSON, Scott James appointed
secretary
2008-07-17
➕
WATSON, Arun Matthew appointed
director
2008-07-17
➕
WATSON, James appointed
director
2008-07-17
➕
WATSON, Scott James appointed
director
2008-07-17
➕
Incorporate Secretariat Limited appointed
corporate-secretary
2008-07-17
➖
Incorporate Secretariat Limited resigned
corporate-secretary
2008-07-17
➕
MIDLANDS SECRETARIAL MANAGEMENT LIMITED appointed
corporate-secretary
2008-07-17
➖
MIDLANDS SECRETARIAL MANAGEMENT LIMITED resigned
corporate-secretary
2008-07-17
➕
ALLSOPP, Nicholas James appointed
director
2008-07-17
➖
ALLSOPP, Nicholas James resigned
director

Owner dependency

98/100

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

+Founder name in company name: Company name contains director surname "WATSON" — strong identity link between founder and business.
+Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 18 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
+Founder age: Director aged approximately 74 — succession pressure is live.
+Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

Succession & seller-readiness

83/100

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 74 years old. Natural succession window is now.
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

J Watson Holdings Limited is the ultimate parent — holding 75%+ shares. This company sits inside their group.

🏛️

J Watson Holdings Limited

Corporate parent · holds 75-100% shares · board control

ultimate parent

⬇

J. WATSON & SONS LIMITED

This company · 06649142

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%

Name	Shares	Voting rights	Nature of control	Notified
J Watson Holdings Limited Corporate entity	75–100%	75–100%	board control75-100% shares · 75-100% voting · board control	31/12/2019

3 historic (ceased) PSCs

Mr Scott James Watsonceased 31/12/2019· 25-50% shares · 25-50% voting
Mr Arun Matthew Watsonceased 31/12/2019· 25-50% shares · 25-50% voting
Mr James Watsonceased 31/12/2019· 25-50% shares · 25-50% voting

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

Incorporated2008-07-17

Jurisdictionengland-wales

Primary SIC38320 — SIC 38320

Registered office

C/O Haines Watts Keepers Lane

The Wergs

Wolverhampton

WV6 8UA

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2027-03-31

Last made up to: 2025-06-30

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2026-07-31

Last: 2025-07-17

Officers (4 active · 3 resigned)

WATSON, Scott James→

secretary · appointed 2008-07-17

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

WATSON, Arun Matthew→

director · ~49y · appointed 2008-07-17

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

WATSON, James→

director · ~74y · appointed 2008-07-17

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

WATSON, Scott James→

director · ~47y · appointed 2008-07-17

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

Incorporate Secretariat Limited→

corporate-secretary · appointed 2008-07-17 · resigned 2008-07-17

Resigned

MIDLANDS SECRETARIAL MANAGEMENT LIMITED→

corporate-secretary · appointed 2008-07-17 · resigned 2008-07-17

Resigned

ALLSOPP, Nicholas James→

director · ~68y · appointed 2008-07-17 · resigned 2008-07-17

Resigned

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