ACCESS IN DESIGN LIMITED

🌳Matureactive
06650684 · ltd · incorporated 2008-07-18
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 Jul 2025
Net worth
book net assets
Opportunity
80/100
Exceptional
🔔
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What this business does
Primary activity: Research and experimental development on social sciences and humanities
Sector: Professional, scientific & technical
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 72-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 80/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (63/100, director aged 72). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

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
4 officers (4 active, 4 linked, 3 with DOB)
85
Ownership & PSC
2 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared
90
Director network
5 connected companies via shared directors
60
Filing history
42 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.

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
Net Worth
Current Assets
Current Liabilities
£0£0£0£0£0£0Jul 2024Jul 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102
Metric2025-07-312024-07-31

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

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 (20 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-04-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  2. 2025-04-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  3. 2024-03-19
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  4. 2023-04-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  5. 2022-04-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  6. 2021-06-14
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  7. 2020-05-18
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  8. 2019-04-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  9. 2018-04-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  10. 2017-04-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  11. 2016-04-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  12. 2015-08-18
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  13. 2015-04-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  14. 2014-08-19
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  15. 2014-08-19
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  16. 2010-08-01
    ROBINSON, Debbie appointed
    director
  17. 2008-07-18
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As ACCESS IN DESIGN LIMITED
  18. 2008-07-18
    BASSFORD, Charles John appointed
    secretary
  19. 2008-07-18
    BASSFORD, Debra appointed
    director
  20. 2008-07-18
    ROBINSON, David Barry appointed
    director

Owner dependency

83/100
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
  • +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 18 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 72 — 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 72 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.)

Shareholders & ownership

2 active beneficial owners
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr Charles Bassford
Individual · British · DOB 11/1946 · age 80
25–50%sig. influence25-50% voting · significant influence01/07/2016
Mrs Debbie Bassford
Individual · British · DOB 02/1954 · age 72
sig. influencesignificant influence · firm interest01/07/2016

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
Incorporated2008-07-18
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC72200 — Research and experimental development on social sciences and humanities

Registered office

22 Woodend Way
Walsall
WS9 8SF

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2027-04-30
Last made up to: 2025-07-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-08-01
Last: 2025-07-18

Officers (4 active · 0 resigned)

BASSFORD, Charles John
secretary · appointed 2008-07-18
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
BASSFORD, Debra
director · ~72y · appointed 2008-07-18
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
ROBINSON, David Barry
director · ~59y · appointed 2008-07-18
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
ROBINSON, Debbie
director · ~64y · appointed 2010-08-01
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active

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

Recent filings (42 total)

accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2026-04-26
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-08-06
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2025-04-27
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-08-15
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2024-03-19
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-07-31
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2023-04-30
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-07-31
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2022-04-29
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-07-31
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2021-06-14
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-09-23
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2020-05-18
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-08-01
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2019-04-29