ASHFIELD SHEET METAL LIMITED
🌳Matureactive
09144544 · ltd · incorporated 2014-07-23
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 Jul 2025
Net worth
£95.5k
book net assets
Opportunity
79/100
Strong
What this business does
Primary activity: Other engineering activities
Sector: Professional, scientific & technical
Investor take
PursueActive trading company with a 73-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.
Opportunity 79/100 (strong), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (68/100, director aged 73). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Cash flow review and working-capital discipline. Cash down -47% YoY — forensic review of receivables, stock turns, and creditor days. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (73/100).
🏦
Refinance opportunity
2 live charges · oldest 7.8y
45/100
under pressure
Refinance would be pressure-driven, not opportunity-driven. Expect tighter margins and covenant scrutiny.
- · Oldest live charge is 7.8 years old — likely at or near maturity.
- · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
- · Cashflow trend is negative — lender view likely cautious.
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
2 charges (2/2 with lender, 2/2 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
34 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
79/100Strong
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
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 £95,496
Net assets shrinking
Down £759 YoY
Cash draining
Cash down 47% YoY
Cash YoY
-47%
Year on year
Key financials
2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accountsCash
£41k
↓ 47% YoY
Net Worth
£95k
~ YoY
Current Assets
£66k
↓ 31% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series
Financials
Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown| Metric | 2025-07-31 | 2024-07-31 |
|---|---|---|
| Total assets | £98.5k | £99.3k |
| Current assets | £66.0k | £96.2k |
| Cash | £40.6k | £76.5k |
| Debtors | £23.6k | £16.2k |
| Net assets | £95.5k | £96.3k |
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
1
filing
- • 1 accounts
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (21 events)Click to expand
- 2025-12-22📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2025-01-17📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2023-12-09📄resolutionresolution · RESOLUTIONS
- 2023-12-07📄capital-name-of-class-of-sharescapital · SH08
- 2023-11-29📄notification-of-a-person-with-significant-controlpersons-with-significant-control · PSC01
- 2023-11-29📄change-to-a-person-with-significant-controlpersons-with-significant-control · PSC04
- 2023-11-06📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2023-04-03📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2022-02-23📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2020-11-30📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2020-11-09📄change-to-a-person-with-significant-controlpersons-with-significant-control · PSC04
- 2020-04-09📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2019-04-24📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2018-09-18📄mortgage-create-with-deed-with-charge-number-charge-creation-datemortgage · MR01
- 2018-09-14🔒Charge registered #2Lender: National Westminster Bank PLC
- 2018-09-04📄mortgage-create-with-deed-with-charge-number-charge-creation-datemortgage · MR01
- 2018-09-03🔒Charge registered #1Lender: National Westminster Bank PLC
- 2018-03-23📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2014-07-23🏢Company incorporatedAs ASHFIELD SHEET METAL LIMITED
- 2014-07-23➕HALL, Stephen appointeddirector
- 2014-07-23➕HALL, Susan appointeddirector
Owner dependency
86/100
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.
- +Founder age: Director aged approximately 73 — 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
71/100
Strong succession signalMultiple signals suggest succession is on the horizon. Candidate for proactive outreach.
SIGNALS
- primaryFounder aged 70+: Senior director is approximately 73 years old. Natural succession window is now.
- secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
- 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Stephen Hall Individual · British · DOB 12/1978 · age 48 | 25–50% | 25–50% | 25-50% shares · 25-50% voting | 28/11/2023 |
Susan Hall Individual · British · DOB 03/1953 · age 73 | 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.
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| ASKTARAH LIMITED→ 13631253 · est 2021 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 4y | — | — |
| ASLVISTA LTD→ 12708001 · est 2020 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 5y | — | — |
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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
Incorporated2014-07-23
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC71129 — Other engineering activities
Registered office
24 Homefield Avenue
Morley
Leeds
LS27 0DX
England
Filing status
Accounts
Next due: 2027-04-30
Last made up to: 2025-07-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-11-27
Last: 2025-11-13
Officers (2 active · 0 resigned)
HALL, Stephen→
Activedirector · ~48y · appointed 2014-07-23
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
Click a director name to see their full track record across all companies.
Mortgages & charges
2
Total charges
2
Outstanding
1
Active lenders
Status:Lender:2 of 2 shown
| Type | Properties | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| outstanding | National Westminster Bank National Westminster Bank PLC | A registered charge | 1 property | 14/09/2018 | — | |
| outstanding | National Westminster Bank National Westminster Bank PLC | A registered charge | — | 03/09/2018 | — |
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.
Recent filings (34 total)
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2025-12-22
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-11-13
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2025-01-17
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-12-03
resolution
resolution · RESOLUTIONS
2023-12-09
capital-name-of-class-of-shares
capital · SH08
2023-12-07
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-12-01
notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
2023-11-29
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2023-11-29
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2023-11-06
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-07-24
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2023-04-03
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-07-25
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2022-02-23
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-07-26