ACADEMY SPORTS (UK) LTD
🌳Matureactive
07590967 · ltd · incorporated 2011-04-05
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
approaching window · 12-months
Approaching a transaction window — refinance or sale event plausible in the next 12 months.
- · Oldest live charge 15.1y old — refinance window within 12 months
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Apr 2025
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 47640
Sector: Wholesale & retail
Investor take
PursueActive trading company with a 67-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.
Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 85/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 67). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (73/100).
🏦
Refinance opportunity
1 live charge · oldest 15.1y
85/100
ready
Refinance conversation should be productive — structure clean and timing right.
- · Oldest live charge is 15.1 years old — likely at or near maturity.
- · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
- · Legal-friction score 15/100 — clean.
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
1 charges (1/1 with lender, 1/1 with type)
90
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
37 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
82/100Exceptional
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
100
Good data coverage for analysis.
Key financials
2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accountsCash
—
Net Worth
—
Current Assets
—
Current Liabilities
—
Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series
Financials
Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown| Metric | 2025-04-30 | 2024-04-30 |
|---|---|---|
| Average employees | 200 | 300 |
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
0
filings
Last 90 days
1
filing
- • 1 confirmation-statement
Last 180 days
2
filings
- • 1 confirmation-statement
- • 1 accounts
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (20 events)Click to expand
- 2026-01-29📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2025-01-22📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2024-01-26📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2023-01-26📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2022-09-27📍change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-addressaddress · AD01
- 2022-03-01📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2021-01-21📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2020-04-25📄mortgage-satisfy-charge-fullmortgage · MR04
- 2020-04-25🔓Charge satisfied #1
- 2020-01-24📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2019-01-30📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2018-01-20📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2017-01-21📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2016-04-19📄annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholdersannual-return · AR01
- 2016-04-19📍change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-addressaddress · AD01
- 2016-01-29📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-smallaccounts · AA
- 2011-06-27🔒Charge registered #1Lender: National Westminster Bank PLC
- 2011-04-05🏢Company incorporatedAs ACADEMY SPORTS (UK) LTD
- 2011-04-05➕WHITEHEAD, Deborah Catherine appointeddirector
- 2011-04-05➕WHITEHEAD, Peter James 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.
- +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 15 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
- +Founder age: Director aged approximately 67 — succession pressure is live.
- +Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.
- +No director turnover: Company is 15 years old with no director changes — suggests a very tight-knit founder team never broadened.
Succession & seller-readiness
79/100
Likely off-market candidateStrong acquirability signals converging. Worth approaching directly — this is how off-market deals start.
SIGNALS
- primaryFounder aged 63+: Senior director is approximately 67. Approaching typical UK retirement age — succession thinking likely.
- 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
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 Deborah Catherine Whitehead Individual · British · DOB 03/1961 · age 65 | 25–50% | — | 25-50% shares | 05/04/2017 |
Mr Peter James Whitehead Individual · British · DOB 12/1959 · age 67 | 25–50% | — | 25-50% shares | 05/04/2017 |
From Companies House Persons with Significant Control filings. Share ranges are banded per the public PSC regime.
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A CRAFTY YORKSHIREMAN LIMITED→ 15349251 · est 2023 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 2y | — | — |
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| A.J.S PRO LTD→ 14678094 · est 2023 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 3y | — | — |
| AADHAN SQUARE LTD→ 15151147 · est 2023 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 2y | — | — |
| AAG TRADING LTD→ 16646994 · est 2025 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| ABIRAMY RETAIL LIMITED→ 13075597 · est 2020 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 5y | — | — |
| ACCU GLOBAL LIMITED→ 15100420 · est 2023 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 2y | — | — |
| ADAM MARLOW LIMITED→ 16453296 · est 2025 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| ADESCUNTHORPE INTERCONTINENTAL STORE LTD→ 16581010 · est 2025 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| ADHTEE CLUB LTD→ 16454600 · est 2025 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| ADVANCED DOORS & WINDOWS SYSTEMS LIMITED→ 13948701 · est 2022 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 4y | — | — |
| ADVENA ANTIQUES LIMITED→ 07120725 · est 2010 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 16y | — | — |
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
Incorporated2011-04-05
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC47640 — SIC 47640
Registered office
Rosedene Stockwith Road
Walkeringham
Doncaster
DN10 4JF
England
Filing status
Accounts
Next due: 2027-01-31
Last made up to: 2025-04-30
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-04-19
Last: 2026-04-05
Officers (2 active · 0 resigned)
WHITEHEAD, Deborah Catherine→
Activedirector · ~65y · appointed 2011-04-05
View their other companies + combined net worth →
WHITEHEAD, Peter James→
Activedirector · ~67y · appointed 2011-04-05
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Click a director name to see their full track record across all companies.
Mortgages & charges
1
Total charges
0
Outstanding
0
Active lenders
Status:Lender:1 of 1 shown
| Type | Properties | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| satisfied | National Westminster Bank National Westminster Bank PLC | Debenture | 1 property | 27/06/2011 | 25/04/2020 |
Recent filings (37 total)
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-05-06
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2026-01-29
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-05-12
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-01-22
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-05-09
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-01-26
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-05-27
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-01-26
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2022-09-27
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-05-07
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-03-01
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-06-07
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-01-21
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-04-25
mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
mortgage · MR04
2020-04-25