ALW CONSULTANCY SERVICES LTD

💤Zombieactive
09028951 · ltd · incorporated 2014-05-08
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 Apr 2025
Net worth
book net assets
Opportunity
77/100
Strong
🔔
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What this business does
Primary activity: Business and domestic software development
Sector: Information & communication
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 70-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 77/100 (strong), bankability 85/100. Strong seller-intent signal (68/100, director aged 70). 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).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

1 live charge · oldest 11.5y

45/100
under pressure

Refinance would be pressure-driven, not opportunity-driven. Expect tighter margins and covenant scrutiny.

  • · Oldest live charge is 11.5 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
  • · Distress signals active — lender appetite narrows.

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
1 charges (1/1 with lender, 1/1 with type)
90
Directors & officers
1 officers (1 active, 1 linked, 1 with DOB)
90
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
1 connected companies via shared directors
48
Filing history
36 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
77
Few red flags.
Signal strength
100
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£0Apr 2024Apr 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102
Metric2025-04-302024-04-30
Average employees200200

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
1
filing
  • 1 confirmation-statement
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 (19 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-01-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2025-01-20
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  3. 2025-01-15
    ✏️
    certificate-change-of-name-company
    change-of-name · CERTNM
  4. 2024-11-01
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  5. 2024-04-17
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  6. 2024-01-25
    📄
    change-account-reference-date-company-previous-shortened
    accounts · AA01
  7. 2023-01-10
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  8. 2022-11-08
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  9. 2022-01-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  10. 2021-04-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  11. 2020-04-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  12. 2020-01-28
    📄
    change-account-reference-date-company-previous-shortened
    accounts · AA01
  13. 2020-01-25
    📄
    mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
    mortgage · MR04
  14. 2020-01-25
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #1
  15. 2018-12-03
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  16. 2018-01-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  17. 2014-12-22
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: Perspective Limited
  18. 2014-05-08
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As ALW CONSULTANCY SERVICES LTD
  19. 2014-05-08
    WATCHMAN, Avril Lindsay appointed
    director

Owner dependency

95/100
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.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 70 — succession pressure is live.
  • +No director turnover: Company is 12 years old with no director changes — suggests a very tight-knit founder team never broadened.

Succession & seller-readiness

88/100
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 70 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 12 years.
  • supportingClean filings + long tenure: Disciplined long-tenure operator — classic lifestyle-business pattern that often sells quietly.

Red flags

1 med ·
Name changed recently
medium

Name changes can be benign (rebrand) but can also precede distress, phoenix activity, or buyer concealment.

Evidence: 2025-01-15: certificate-change-of-name-company

Shareholders & ownership

1 active beneficial owner · dominant holder ≥75%
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Ms Avril Lindsay Watchman
Individual · British · DOB 05/1956 · age 70
75100%
75-100% shares06/04/2016

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

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 →
🔒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
Incorporated2014-05-08
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC62012 — Business and domestic software development

Registered office

8 Redmires Close
Ouston
Chester Le Street
County Durham
DH2 1SB
England

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2027-01-28
Last made up to: 2025-04-30
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-05-22
Last: 2026-05-08

Officers (1 active · 0 resigned)

WATCHMAN, Avril Lindsay
director · ~70y · appointed 2014-05-08
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active

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
TypeProperties
satisfied
Perspective
Perspective Limited
A registered charge22/12/201425/01/2020

Recent filings (36 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-05-19
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2026-01-23
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-05-23
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-01-20
certificate-change-of-name-company
change-of-name · CERTNM
2025-01-15
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2024-11-01
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-05-15
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-04-17
change-account-reference-date-company-previous-shortened
accounts · AA01
2024-01-25
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-05-22
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-01-10
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2022-11-08
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-05-11
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-01-23
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-05-21