BEN WHITCOMBE LIMITED
🌳Matureactive
07309519 · ltd · incorporated 2010-07-09
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 Mar 2025
Net worth
£68.6k
book net assets
Opportunity
75/100
Strong
What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 45112
Sector: Wholesale & retail
Investor take
PursueStrong opportunity: asset-holding vehicle with strong profile and bankable structure.
Opportunity 75/100 (strong), bankability 75/100. High owner-dependency — earn-out structure likely required for clean transition. Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (58/100).
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
2 officers (2 active, 2 linked, 2 with DOB)
90
Ownership & PSC
2 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
40 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
75/100Strong
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional
Solid opportunity signal. Worth a dedicated memo and management meeting.
Business quality
70
Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.
Acquirability
60
Some acquirability indicators.
Risk profile
85
Few red flags.
Signal strength
90
Good data coverage for analysis.
Signals from accounts
Derived from iXBRL accounts · FRS 102Positive net assets
Net assets £68,642
Cash YoY
+42%
Year on year
Key financials
2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accountsCash
£178k
↑ 42% YoY
Net Worth
£69k
↑ 89% YoY
Current Assets
£325k
↑ 21% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series
Financials
Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102| Metric | 2025-03-31 | 2024-03-31 |
|---|---|---|
| Total assets | £80.6k | £58.4k |
| Current assets | £324.6k | £268.0k |
| Cash | £177.5k | £125.2k |
| Debtors | £2.1k | £5.3k |
| Net assets | £68.6k | £36.4k |
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
0
filings
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (18 events)Click to expand
- 2025-11-27📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2025-11-15📄change-person-director-company-with-change-dateofficers · CH01
- 2025-11-15📄change-to-a-person-with-significant-controlpersons-with-significant-control · PSC04
- 2025-02-12📍change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-addressaddress · AD01
- 2024-11-26📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2023-12-13📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2022-09-07📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2021-08-24📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2021-03-22📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2021-02-15📍change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-addressaddress · AD01
- 2019-12-31📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2019-03-20📍change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-addressaddress · AD01
- 2019-02-14📍change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-addressaddress · AD01
- 2018-12-31📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2017-08-25📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2015-10-01➕WHITCOMBE, Katie appointeddirector
- 2010-07-09🏢Company incorporatedAs BEN WHITCOMBE LIMITED
- 2010-07-09➕WHITCOMBE, Benjamin appointeddirector
Owner dependency
96/100
Critical — business is the founderThe 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.
- +Founder name in company name: Company name contains director surname "WHITCOMBE" — strong identity link between founder and business.
- +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 16 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
- +Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.
- +No director turnover: Company is 16 years old with no director changes — suggests a very tight-knit founder team never broadened.
Succession & seller-readiness
59/100
Strong succession signalMultiple signals suggest succession is on the horizon. Candidate for proactive outreach.
SIGNALS
- secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
- secondary12+ year tenure: Director in role 16 years.
- secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 16 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
cleanNo 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| Name | Shares | Voting rights | Nature of control | Notified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Mrs Katie Whitcombe Individual · British · DOB 06/1981 · age 45 | 25–50% | 25–50% | 25-50% shares · 25-50% voting | 06/04/2016 |
Mr Benjamin Whitcombe Individual · British · DOB 01/1978 · age 48 | 25–50% | 25–50% | 25-50% shares · 25-50% voting | 06/04/2016 |
From Companies House Persons with Significant Control filings. Share ranges are banded per the public PSC regime.
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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
Incorporated2010-07-09
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC45112 — SIC 45112
Registered office
14 & 15 Southernhay West
Exeter
EX1 1PL
England
Filing status
Accounts
Next due: 2026-12-31
Last made up to: 2025-03-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-11-29
Last: 2025-11-15
Officers (2 active · 0 resigned)
WHITCOMBE, Benjamin→
Activedirector · ~48y · appointed 2010-07-09
View their other companies + combined net worth →
WHITCOMBE, Katie→
Activedirector · ~45y · appointed 2015-10-01
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Click a director name to see their full track record across all companies.
Recent filings (40 total)
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-11-27
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-11-15
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2025-11-15
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2025-11-15
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-07-22
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2025-02-12
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-11-26
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-07-30
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-12-13
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-07-24
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-09-07
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-07-22
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-08-24
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-08-13
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-03-22