ACCESS CONTROL DIRECT LIMITED

🌳Matureactive

07471704 · ltd · incorporated 2010-12-16

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 Dec 2024

Net worth

£6.3k

book net assets

Opportunity

80/100

Exceptional

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What this business does

Primary activity: SIC 27900

Sector: Manufacturing

Investor take

Pursue

Asset-holding vehicle with a 72-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 80/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 72). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (73/100).

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

4 officers (2 active, 4 linked, 4 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

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

Director network

1 connected companies via shared directors

Filing history

40 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 · FRS 105 (micro)

Positive net assets

Net assets £6,283

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts

Cash

—

Net Worth

£6k

↑ 981% YoY

Current Assets

£12k

↑ 53% YoY

Current Liabilities

—

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 105 (micro)

Metric	2024-12-31	2023-12-31
Total assets	£7.8k	£2.4k
Current assets	£12.1k	£7.9k
Net assets	£6.3k	£581

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

filing

• 1 confirmation-statement

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (22 events)Click to expand

2025-09-02
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-09-12
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-12-14
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-09-15
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-09-23
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-11-11
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-10-10
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2018-09-27
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2017-09-28
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2016-09-28
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2016-01-05
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2015-10-06
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2015-05-14
📍
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2015-01-29
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2014-09-10
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2012-06-15
➖
FREND, Hugh Alexander resigned
director
2012-06-14
➕
GIBBS, Christine appointed
director
2010-12-16
🏢
Company incorporated
As ACCESS CONTROL DIRECT LIMITED
2010-12-16
➕
GIBBS, John Alfred appointed
director
2010-12-16
➕
FREND, Hugh Alexander appointed
director
2010-12-16
➕
JOHN, Ceri Richard appointed
director
2010-12-16
➖
JOHN, Ceri Richard resigned
director

Owner dependency

91/100

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

+Two-director setup: Only two active directors — typical of owner-managed SMEs but limits succession.
+Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 15 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

89/100

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.
secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
secondary12+ year tenure: Director in role 15 years.
secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 15 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%

Name	Shares	Voting rights	Nature of control	Notified
Mr John Alfred Gibbs Individual · British · DOB 11/1954 · age 72	75–100%	75–100%	board control75-100% shares · 75-100% voting · board control	06/04/2016

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.

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Company details

Statusactive

Typeltd

Incorporated2010-12-16

Jurisdictionengland-wales

Primary SIC27900 — SIC 27900

Registered office

The Dale Silver Lane

Marchington

Uttoxeter

Staffordshire

ST14 8LL

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2026-09-30

Last made up to: 2024-12-31

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2026-12-30

Last: 2025-12-16

Officers (2 active · 2 resigned)

GIBBS, Christine→

director · ~66y · appointed 2012-06-14

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

GIBBS, John Alfred→

director · ~72y · appointed 2010-12-16

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

FREND, Hugh Alexander→

director · ~70y · appointed 2010-12-16 · resigned 2012-06-15

Resigned

JOHN, Ceri Richard→

director · ~71y · appointed 2010-12-16 · resigned 2010-12-16

Resigned

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