BESPOKE FINANCIAL (NEWCASTLE) LIMITED

💤Zombieactive
09065271 · ltd · incorporated 2014-06-02
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 Mar 2025
Net worth
£78.0k
book net assets
Opportunity
74/100
Strong
🔔
Follow this company (free)
Email alerts on filings, charges, director changes, gazette notices. No account needed.

Unsubscribe any time from any email. GDPR-respectful.

What this business does
Primary activity: Activities of insurance agents and brokers
Sector: Financial & insurance
Investor take
Pursue
Strong opportunity: active trading company with strong profile and bankable structure.

Opportunity 74/100 (strong), bankability 80/100. High owner-dependency — earn-out structure likely required for clean transition. Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Cash flow review and working-capital discipline. Cash down -71% YoY — forensic review of receivables, stock turns, and creditor days. Most likely exit: strategic trade sale (65/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

1 live charge · oldest 6.0y

45/100
under pressure

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

  • · Oldest live charge is 6.0 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
  • · Distress signals active — lender appetite narrows.

Data confidence

Overall: high (83/100)

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 2 total, 2 with control declared
90
Director network
10 connected companies via shared directors
75
Filing history
53 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
74/100Strong
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional 

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

Business quality
70
Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.
Acquirability
50
Some acquirability indicators.
Risk profile
85
Few red flags.
Signal strength
100
Good data coverage for analysis.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · accounting standard not declared
Positive net assets
Net assets £77,955
Cash draining
Cash down 71% YoY
Cash YoY
-71%
Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
£4k
↓ 71% YoY
Net Worth
£78k
↑ 62% YoY
Current Assets
£592k
↑ 3.4% YoY
Current Liabilities
£0£118k£237k£355k£474k£592kMar 2024Mar 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2025-03-302024-03-30
Total assets£82.4k£80.4k
Current assets£592.1k£572.8k
Cash£4.1k£14.2k
Debtors£587.9k£558.6k
Net assets£78.0k£48.1k

Amounts extracted automatically from iXBRL. Fields left blank were not reported or not mapped. Values in GBP unless stated.

🔒Filing-note intelligence

2 signals 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 (23 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-12-19
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-12-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  3. 2024-03-21
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  4. 2023-12-21
    📄
    change-account-reference-date-company-previous-shortened
    accounts · AA01
  5. 2023-01-09
    📄
    resolution
    resolution · RESOLUTIONS
  6. 2023-01-09
    📄
    capital-name-of-class-of-shares
    capital · SH08
  7. 2023-01-09
    📄
    resolution
    resolution · RESOLUTIONS
  8. 2023-01-09
    📄
    capital-variation-of-rights-attached-to-shares
    capital · SH10
  9. 2023-01-09
    📄
    memorandum-articles
    incorporation · MA
  10. 2023-01-03
    📄
    capital-cancellation-shares
    capital · SH06
  11. 2023-01-03
    📄
    capital-return-purchase-own-shares
    capital · SH03
  12. 2022-12-22
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  13. 2022-11-14
    📄
    cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
  14. 2022-11-14
    📄
    notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC02
  15. 2022-08-24
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  16. 2022-08-24
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  17. 2022-08-18
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  18. 2022-04-05
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  19. 2021-12-22
    📄
    accounts-amended-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AAMD
  20. 2021-09-24
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  21. 2020-06-05
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: Barclays Security Trustee Limited
  22. 2014-06-02
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As BESPOKE FINANCIAL (NEWCASTLE) LIMITED
  23. 2014-06-02
    BLACKBURN, Terence Edward appointed
    director

Owner dependency

80/100
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.
  • +No director turnover: Company is 12 years old with no director changes — suggests a very tight-knit founder team never broadened.

Succession & seller-readiness

50/100
Moderate signal

Some succession indicators present. Worth watching; approach if sector/strategy fits.

SIGNALS
  • primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
  • 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.)

Group structure

Blackburn Holdings Ltd is the ultimate parent — holding 75%+ shares. This company sits inside their group.

🏛️
Blackburn Holdings Ltd
Corporate parent · holds 75-100% shares · board control
ultimate parent
BESPOKE FINANCIAL (NEWCASTLE) LIMITED
This company · 09065271

Parent relationships inferred from Persons with Significant Control filings. Full subsidiary tree requires reverse-lookup (coming).

Shareholders & ownership

1 active beneficial owner · dominant holder ≥75%
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Blackburn Holdings Ltd
Corporate entity
75100%
75–100%board control75-100% shares · 75-100% voting · board control14/11/2022
1 historic (ceased) PSC
  • Mr Terence Edward Blackburnceased 14/11/2022· 75-100% shares · 75-100% voting · board control

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 →

Similar companies

Active · Financial services · ST postcode area
CompanyEst. valueTurnoverNet worthStaffAgeOppDirector
ACCELERATE FINANCIAL SOLUTIONS LTD
15706564 · est 2024 · no financials extracted
1y
AJRB LTD
12236968 · est 2019 · no financials extracted
6y
AL CLAIMS VALIDATION SERVICES LTD
14143932 · est 2022 · no financials extracted
3y
ALVESTOKE FINANCE LIMITED
08443392 · est 2013 · no financials extracted
13y
BALL CAPITAL INVESTMENT LIMITED
07587493 · est 2011 · no financials extracted
15y
BARKERS FINANCE LTD
10296209 · est 2016 · no financials extracted
9y
BARNETT & MERRIMAN LIMITED
12559940 · est 2020 · no financials extracted
6y
BARRIE HOUGH SERVICES (STOKE ON TRENT) LIMITED
04360345 · est 2002 · no financials extracted
24y
BARRINGTON JARVIS LIMITED
02720612 · est 1992 · no financials extracted
33y
BELLA MERCIA MORTGAGE SERVICES LIMITED
12304908 · est 2019 · no financials extracted
6y
BELLAZENHEALTH LTD
16938160 · est 2025 · no financials extracted
BH FINANCE LTD
11747139 · est 2019 · no financials extracted
7y
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
Incorporated2014-06-02
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC66220 — Activities of insurance agents and brokers

Registered office

DPC
Stone House Stone Road Business Park Stone Road
Stoke-On-Trent
ST4 6SR

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-12-30
Last made up to: 2025-03-30
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-06-16
Last: 2025-06-02

Officers (1 active · 0 resigned)

BLACKBURN, Terence Edward
director · ~37y · appointed 2014-06-02
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
1
Outstanding
1
Active lenders
Status:Lender:1 of 1 shown
TypeProperties
outstanding
Barclays
Barclays Security Trustee Limited
A registered charge05/06/2020
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (53 total)

accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-12-19
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-06-02
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-12-23
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-06-18
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-03-21
change-account-reference-date-company-previous-shortened
accounts · AA01
2023-12-21
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-06-26
resolution
resolution · RESOLUTIONS
2023-01-09
capital-name-of-class-of-shares
capital · SH08
2023-01-09
resolution
resolution · RESOLUTIONS
2023-01-09
capital-variation-of-rights-attached-to-shares
capital · SH10
2023-01-09
memorandum-articles
incorporation · MA
2023-01-09
capital-cancellation-shares
capital · SH06
2023-01-03
capital-return-purchase-own-shares
capital · SH03
2023-01-03
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-12-22