A B PILING & UNDERPINNING LTD

💤Zombieactive
07324260 · ltd · incorporated 2010-07-23
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 Jul 2025
Net worth
£86.8k
book net assets
Opportunity
80/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: Construction of other civil engineering projects n.e.c.
Sector: Construction
ALSO REGISTERED FOR
  • 43290Other construction installation
  • 77320Renting and leasing of construction and civil engineering machinery and equipment
Investor take
Pursue
Asset-holding vehicle with a 86-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 80/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 86). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Broaden director team. Sole director creates succession risk and reduces buyer comfort. Appoint a second director or strong #2. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (73/100).

Data confidence

Overall: medium (69/100)

Adequate coverage. AI outputs are reliable for the sections scored high; verify the rest in diligence.

Company profile
address, 3 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
No PSCs filed (unusual — worth investigating)
35
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
36 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 £86,774
Net assets shrinking
Down £4,852 YoY

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
—
Net Worth
£87k
↓ 5.3% YoY
Current Assets
£54k
↓ 18% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
£0£18k£37k£55k£73k£92kJul 2024Jul 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2025-07-312024-07-31
Total assets£87.1k£95.5k
Current assets£53.7k£65.7k
Net assets£86.8k£91.6k

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 (17 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-04-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  2. 2025-03-25
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  3. 2024-04-05
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  4. 2023-04-21
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  5. 2022-04-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  6. 2021-10-15
    📄
    gazette-filings-brought-up-to-date
    gazette · DISS40
  7. 2021-10-12
    📄
    gazette-notice-compulsory
    gazette · GAZ1
  8. 2021-04-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  9. 2020-04-22
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  10. 2019-08-20
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  11. 2019-07-01
    📄
    resolution
    resolution · RESOLUTIONS
  12. 2019-04-12
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  13. 2018-04-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  14. 2017-04-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  15. 2016-05-06
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  16. 2010-07-23
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As A B PILING & UNDERPINNING LTD
  17. 2010-07-23
    ➕
    HOWARD, Andrew appointed
    director

Owner dependency

100/100
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 16 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 86 — succession pressure is live.
  • +No director turnover: Company is 16 years old with no director changes — suggests a very tight-knit founder team never broadened.

Succession & seller-readiness

98/100
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 86 years old. Natural succession window is now.
  • primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
  • 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

clean
No red flags detected from available public data. (This is not a clean bill of health — detailed accounts review still recommended.)

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Peers ranked by estimated value, then turnover, then opportunity score.See all →
🔒Tailored diligence questions

8 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 →
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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.

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Company details

Statusactive
Typeltd
Incorporated2010-07-23
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC42990 — Construction of other civil engineering projects n.e.c.

Registered office

Westfield House
18a Westfield Road
Swadlincote
Derbyshire
DE11 0BG

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2027-04-30
Last made up to: 2025-07-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-08-06
Last: 2025-07-23

Officers (1 active · 0 resigned)

HOWARD, Andrew→
director · ~86y · appointed 2010-07-23
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active

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

Recent filings (36 total)

accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2026-04-29
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-09-29
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-03-25
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-09-17
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-04-05
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-09-03
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-04-21
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-09-04
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-04-29
gazette-filings-brought-up-to-date
gazette · DISS40
2021-10-15
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-10-14
gazette-notice-compulsory
gazette · GAZ1
2021-10-12
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-04-23
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-08-04
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2020-04-22