ASH CLIFFORD LTD
🌳Matureactive
08785816 · ltd · incorporated 2013-11-21
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 8.2y old — refinance window within 12 months
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Mar 2025
Net worth
£187.3k
book net assets
Opportunity
80/100
Exceptional
What this business does
Primary activity: Solicitors
Sector: Professional, scientific & technical
Investor take
PursueActive trading company with a 69-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.
Opportunity 80/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (68/100, director aged 69). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (73/100).
🏦
Refinance opportunity
1 live charge · oldest 8.2y
85/100
ready
Refinance conversation should be productive — structure clean and timing right.
- · Oldest live charge is 8.2 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
29 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
75
Strong succession / seller-readiness signals.
Risk profile
85
Few red flags.
Signal strength
100
Good data coverage for analysis.
Signals from accounts
Derived from iXBRL accounts · accounting standard not declaredPositive net assets
Net assets £187,299
Cash YoY
+16233%
Year on year
Key financials
2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accountsCash
£88k
↑ 16233% YoY
Net Worth
£187k
↑ 56% YoY
Current Assets
£423k
↑ 26% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series
Financials
Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown| Metric | 2025-03-31 | 2024-03-31 |
|---|---|---|
| Total assets | £191.6k | £120.5k |
| Current assets | £423.4k | £334.8k |
| Cash | £87.9k | £538 |
| Debtors | £335.5k | £334.3k |
| Net assets | £187.3k | £120.3k |
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
0
filings
Last 180 days
0
filings
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (19 events)Click to expand
- 2025-12-22📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2025-01-08📄change-person-director-company-with-change-dateofficers · CH01
- 2025-01-08📄change-to-a-person-with-significant-controlpersons-with-significant-control · PSC04
- 2025-01-08📄change-person-director-company-with-change-dateofficers · CH01
- 2024-12-20📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2023-12-21📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2022-12-16📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2021-12-21📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2021-03-29📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2019-12-27📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2018-12-21📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2018-05-21📄mortgage-create-with-deed-with-charge-number-charge-creation-datemortgage · MR01
- 2018-05-16🔒Charge registered #1Lender: National Westminster Bank PLC
- 2017-12-21📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2016-12-22📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-smallaccounts · AA
- 2015-12-07📄annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholdersannual-return · AR01
- 2013-11-21🏢Company incorporatedAs ASH CLIFFORD LTD
- 2013-11-21➕PARKER, Ian Robert appointeddirector
- 2013-11-21➕YEO, Nigel James, Mr. appointeddirector
Owner dependency
78/100
High — earn-out structure requiredMaterial founder dependency. Consider a 2-3 year earn-out and build in a handover plan before completion.
FACTORS
- +Two-director setup: Only two active directors — typical of owner-managed SMEs but limits succession.
- +Founder age: Director aged approximately 69 — succession pressure is live.
- +No director turnover: Company is 13 years old with no director changes — suggests a very tight-knit founder team never broadened.
Succession & seller-readiness
69/100
Strong succession signalMultiple signals suggest succession is on the horizon. Candidate for proactive outreach.
SIGNALS
- primaryFounder aged 63+: Senior director is approximately 69. 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 13 years.
- 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Mr Ian Robert Parker Individual · British · DOB 05/1960 · age 66 | 25–50% | 25–50% | 25-50% shares · 25-50% voting | 06/04/2016 |
Mr. Nigel James Yeo Individual · British · DOB 10/1957 · age 69 | 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.
Similar companies
Active · Professional services · TA postcode area| Company | Est. value | Turnover | Net worth | Staff | Age | Opp | Director |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A.V.P. LIMITED→ 02383629 · est 1989 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 36y | — | — |
| ASCALON DEFENCE CONSULTANCY LIMITED→ 09878381 · est 2015 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 10y | — | — |
| ASCEND TENDERING LIMITED→ 09362522 · est 2014 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 11y | — | — |
| ASG SERVICES (SOUTH WEST) LIMITED→ 11161662 · est 2018 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 8y | — | — |
| ASPEN MARKETING LIMITED→ 02889780 · est 1994 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 32y | — | — |
| ASPEN WAITE GROUP LIMITED→ 13903444 · est 2022 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 4y | — | — |
| ASPEN WAITE KINGWELL LTD→ 12642468 · est 2020 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 5y | — | — |
| ASPEN WAITE LIMITED→ 03775995 · est 1999 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 26y | — | — |
| ASTARA CONSULTING LTD→ 10073481 · est 2016 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 10y | — | — |
| ASTON OVERSEAS LIMITED→ 16528199 · est 2025 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| ASTUTE MACHINERY CONSULTANTS LTD→ 11031858 · est 2017 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 8y | — | — |
| ATHLON CONSULTING LTD→ 14913615 · est 2023 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 2y | — | — |
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
Incorporated2013-11-21
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC69102 — Solicitors
Registered office
14 Northgate
Bridgwater
Somerset
TA6 3EU
Filing status
Accounts
Next due: 2026-12-31
Last made up to: 2025-03-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-12-05
Last: 2025-11-21
Officers (2 active · 0 resigned)
PARKER, Ian Robert→
Activedirector · ~66y · appointed 2013-11-21
View their other companies + combined net worth →
YEO, Nigel James, Mr.→
Activedirector · ~69y · appointed 2013-11-21
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
1
Outstanding
1
Active lenders
Status:Lender:1 of 1 shown
| Type | Properties | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| outstanding | National Westminster Bank National Westminster Bank PLC | A registered charge | — | 16/05/2018 | — |
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.
Recent filings (29 total)
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-12-22
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-12-08
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2025-01-08
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2025-01-08
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2025-01-08
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-12-20
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-11-25
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-12-21
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-11-23
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-12-16
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-12-14
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-12-21
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-12-03
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-03-29
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-11-24