BENSON JAMES LIMITED

🌳Matureactive
09003983 · ltd · incorporated 2014-04-22
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 Mar 2025
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
77/100
Strong
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What this business does
Primary activity: Financial leasing
Sector: Financial & insurance
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 74-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 77/100 (strong), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (68/100, director aged 74). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (73/100).

Data confidence

Overall: high (80/100)

Strong data coverage across all sections. AI outputs should be trusted with minimal caveats.

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
1 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared
90
Director network
3 connected companies via shared directors
54
Filing history
31 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
77/100Strong
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional 

Solid opportunity signal. Worth a dedicated memo and management meeting.

Business quality
70
Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.
Acquirability
70
Strong succession / seller-readiness signals.
Risk profile
82
Few red flags.
Signal strength
90
Good data coverage for analysis.

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
—
Net Worth
—
Current Assets
—
Current Liabilities
—
£0£0£0£0£0£0Mar 2024Mar 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2025-03-312024-03-31
Average employees0200

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
1
filing
  • • 1 accounts
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (19 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-12-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-11-28
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  3. 2024-11-28
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  4. 2024-04-02
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  5. 2024-03-28
    📄
    change-account-reference-date-company-current-shortened
    accounts · AA01
  6. 2023-10-19
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  7. 2023-06-08
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  8. 2023-06-08
    📄
    cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
  9. 2023-06-08
    📄
    capital-allotment-shares
    capital · SH01
  10. 2023-01-03
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  11. 2022-01-04
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  12. 2021-01-22
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  13. 2019-06-19
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  14. 2018-12-13
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  15. 2018-12-12
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  16. 2018-01-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  17. 2014-04-22
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As BENSON JAMES LIMITED
  18. 2014-04-22
    ➕
    COSGROW, Colin Malcolm appointed
    director
  19. 2014-04-22
    ➕
    COSGROW, Shelagh Mary appointed
    director

Owner dependency

86/100
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.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 74 — succession pressure is live.
  • +Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.
  • +No director turnover: Company is 12 years old with no director changes — suggests a very tight-knit founder team never broadened.

Succession & seller-readiness

79/100
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 74 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 12 years.
  • supportingClean filings + long tenure: Disciplined long-tenure operator — classic lifestyle-business pattern that often sells quietly.

Red flags

1 low
Multiple registered office changes
low

Multiple address changes in a short period can indicate operational instability or admin disorder.

Shareholders & ownership

1 active beneficial owner · dominant holder ≥75%
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr Colin Malcolm Cosgrow
Individual · British · DOB 07/1952 · age 74
75–100%
75–100%75-100% shares · 75-100% voting01/04/2017
1 historic (ceased) PSC
  • Mrs Shelagh Mary Cosgrowceased 08/06/2023· significant influence

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.

See pricing →

Company details

Statusactive
Typeltd
Incorporated2014-04-22
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC64910 — Financial leasing

Registered office

- Brentwood Road
Bulphan
Upminster
Essex
RM14 3ST
England

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-12-31
Last made up to: 2025-03-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-06-22
Last: 2025-06-08

Officers (2 active · 0 resigned)

COSGROW, Colin Malcolm→
director · ~74y · appointed 2014-04-22
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
COSGROW, Shelagh Mary→
director · ~73y · appointed 2014-04-22
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active

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

Recent filings (31 total)

accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-12-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-06-20
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2024-11-28
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2024-11-28
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-07-12
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2024-04-02
change-account-reference-date-company-current-shortened
accounts · AA01
2024-03-28
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2023-10-19
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-06-08
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2023-06-08
cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
2023-06-08
capital-allotment-shares
capital · SH01
2023-06-08
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-05-05
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2023-01-03
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-04-22