ALPHABET PHOTOGRAPHY SHOWS UK LIMITED

💤Zombieactive
07001998 · ltd · incorporated 2009-08-26
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 Aug 2025
Net worth
£175.8k
book net assets
Opportunity
80/100
Exceptional
🔔
Follow this company (free)
Email alerts on filings, charges, director changes, gazette notices. No account needed.

Unsubscribe any time from any email. GDPR-respectful.

🔒Generate AI memo →🔒Outreach pack →🔒Corporate story →📑 Reports →Sign in to watch
What this business does
Primary activity: Other retail sale of new goods in specialised stores (other than commercial art galleries and opticians)
Sector: Wholesale & retail
Investor take
Pursue
Asset-holding vehicle with a 63-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 80/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (70/100, director aged 63). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Cash flow review and working-capital discipline. Cash down -78% YoY — forensic review of receivables, stock turns, and creditor days. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (73/100).

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
1 officers (1 active, 1 linked, 1 with DOB)
90
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
45 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 · FRS 102
Positive net assets
Net assets £175,839
Cash draining
Cash down 78% YoY
Cash YoY
-78%
Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
£704
↓ 78% YoY
Net Worth
£176k
↑ 1.5% YoY
Current Assets
£9k
↓ 43% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
£0£35k£70k£106k£141k£176kAug 2024Aug 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102
Metric2025-08-312024-08-31
Total assets£195.4k£206.3k
Current assets£8.7k£15.2k
Cash£704£3.2k
Debtors£561£468
Net assets£175.8k£173.2k

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

🔒Filing-note intelligence

2 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 (19 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-04-15
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2025-01-18
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  3. 2024-03-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  4. 2023-04-21
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  5. 2022-08-26
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  6. 2022-05-19
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  7. 2022-02-04
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  8. 2021-10-04
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  9. 2021-10-04
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  10. 2021-03-24
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  11. 2021-03-17
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  12. 2021-03-17
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  13. 2021-01-06
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  14. 2020-05-22
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  15. 2019-05-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  16. 2018-10-16
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  17. 2018-10-16
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  18. 2009-08-26
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As ALPHABET PHOTOGRAPHY SHOWS UK LIMITED
  19. 2009-08-26
    ➕
    WISE, Michael Albert appointed
    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
  • +Sole director: Only one active director — all governance concentrated on one person.
  • +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 17 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Senior director age: Director aged approximately 63 — approaching natural succession window.
  • +No director turnover: Company is 17 years old with no director changes — suggests a very tight-knit founder team never broadened.

Succession & seller-readiness

88/100
Likely off-market candidate

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

SIGNALS
  • primaryFounder aged 63+: Senior director is approximately 63. Approaching typical UK retirement age — succession thinking likely.
  • primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
  • secondary12+ year tenure: Director in role 17 years.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 17 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 Michael Albert Wise
Individual · British · DOB 12/1963 · age 63
75–100%
—sig. influence75-100% shares · significant influence · firm interest26/08/2016

From Companies House Persons with Significant Control filings. Share ranges are banded per the public PSC regime.

Similar companies

Active · Retail · SS postcode area
CompanyEst. valueTurnoverNet worthStaffAgeOppDirector
ADESUYI VENTURES LTD→
15484555 · est 2024 · no financials extracted
————2y——
AGGLO UK LTD→
11456127 · est 2018 · no financials extracted
————7y——
AGORIUM LTD→
11127716 · est 2017 · no financials extracted
————8y——
AI ZEUM LIMITED→
15924231 · est 2024 · no financials extracted
————1y——
AILA ILANA & CO LIMITED→
16498400 · est 2025 · no financials extracted
———————
AL BARKA TRADING LTD→
16606876 · est 2025 · no financials extracted
———————
ALAIVI LTD→
15882395 · est 2024 · no financials extracted
————1y——
ALL YOUR NEEDS LIMITED→
05591551 · est 2005 · no financials extracted
————20y——
ALLNUTT PARKER FINANCIAL SERVICES LTD→
04926504 · est 2003 · no financials extracted
————22y——
ALLYNESS LTD→
12724170 · est 2020 · no financials extracted
————5y——
ALPHAMERCE LIMITED→
10536394 · est 2016 · no financials extracted
————9y——
ALPHASONN LTD→
16486155 · est 2025 · no financials extracted
———————
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
Incorporated2009-08-26
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC47789 — Other retail sale of new goods in specialised stores (other than commercial art galleries and opticians)

Registered office

7 Collins Close
Rayleigh
Essex
SS6 9UJ
England

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2027-05-31
Last made up to: 2025-08-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-09-09
Last: 2025-08-26

Officers (1 active · 0 resigned)

WISE, Michael Albert→
director · ~63y · appointed 2009-08-26
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active

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

Recent filings (45 total)

accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2026-04-15
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-08-30
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-01-18
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-08-29
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-03-30
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-08-26
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-04-21
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-08-26
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2022-08-26
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-05-19
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2022-02-04
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-10-04
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2021-10-04
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2021-10-04
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-03-24