ATHERTON HOLDINGS LIMITED

💤Zombieactive
09526945 · ltd · incorporated 2015-04-07
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 May 2025
Net worth
£988.4k
book net assets
Opportunity
78/100
Strong
🔔
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What this business does
Primary activity: Activities of production holding companies
Sector: Financial & insurance
Investor take
Pursue
Strong opportunity: asset-holding vehicle with strong profile and bankable structure.

Opportunity 78/100 (strong), bankability 75/100. High owner-dependency — earn-out structure likely required for clean transition. 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).

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
Confirmed no charges registered
85
Directors & officers
2 officers (2 active, 2 linked, 1 with DOB)
80
Ownership & PSC
2 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared
90
Director network
2 connected companies via shared directors
51
Filing history
27 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
🔒Estimated company valuation

Sector-multiple EBITDA, turnover, and NAV-proxy valuation range with confidence tier — derived from extracted iXBRL financials.

Available from the Pro tier upwards.

See pricing →
Opportunity Score
78/100Strong
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
90
Good data coverage for analysis.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · accounting standard not declared
Positive net assets
Net assets £988,429
Net assets shrinking
Down £360,465 YoY

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
Net Worth
£988k
↓ 27% YoY
Current Assets
Current Liabilities
£0£275k£551k£826k£1.1m£1.4mMay 2024May 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2025-05-312024-05-31
Total assets£988.4k£1.35M
Current assets£1.38M
Debtors£1.02M
Net assets£988.4k£1.35M

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
1
filing
  • 1 confirmation-statement
Last 180 days
2
filings
  • 1 confirmation-statement
  • 1 accounts
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (18 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-02-05
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2025-01-24
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  3. 2024-01-15
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  4. 2023-12-01
    📄
    appoint-person-secretary-company-with-name-date
    officers · AP03
  5. 2023-05-01
    ATHERTON, Karen Josephine appointed
    secretary
  6. 2023-02-09
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  7. 2022-08-31
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  8. 2022-02-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  9. 2022-01-27
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  10. 2021-02-10
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  11. 2019-11-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  12. 2018-09-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  13. 2018-02-15
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  14. 2017-11-17
    📄
    change-account-reference-date-company-previous-extended
    accounts · AA01
  15. 2016-10-07
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  16. 2016-09-01
    📄
    capital-allotment-shares
    capital · SH01
  17. 2015-04-07
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As ATHERTON HOLDINGS LIMITED
  18. 2015-04-07
    ATHERTON, Dean appointed
    director

Owner dependency

100/100
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 name in company name: Company name contains director surname "ATHERTON" — strong identity link between founder and business.
  • +Senior director age: Director aged approximately 60 — approaching natural succession window.
  • +No director turnover: Company is 11 years old with no director changes — suggests a very tight-knit founder team never broadened.

Succession & seller-readiness

60/100
Strong succession signal

Multiple signals suggest succession is on the horizon. Candidate for proactive outreach.

SIGNALS
  • secondaryFounder aged 58+: Senior director is approximately 60. Early succession window.
  • 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.)

Shareholders & ownership

2 active beneficial owners
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr Dean Atherton
Individual · British · DOB 04/1966 · age 60
5075%
50–75%board control50-75% shares · 50-75% voting · board control30/06/2016
Mrs Karen Josephine Atherton
Individual · British · DOB 03/1961 · age 65
2550%
25–50%25-50% shares · 25-50% voting30/06/2016

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

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
Incorporated2015-04-07
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC64202 — Activities of production holding companies

Registered office

Station Road, Common Lane
Ranskill
Retford
Nottinghamshire
DN22 8LW
England

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2027-02-28
Last made up to: 2025-05-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-04-21
Last: 2026-04-07

Officers (2 active · 0 resigned)

ATHERTON, Karen Josephine
secretary · appointed 2023-05-01
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
ATHERTON, Dean
director · ~60y · appointed 2015-04-07
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active

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

Recent filings (27 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-06-10
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2026-02-05
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-04-29
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-01-24
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-04-08
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-01-15
appoint-person-secretary-company-with-name-date
officers · AP03
2023-12-01
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-04-17
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-02-09
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2022-08-31
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-04-19
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-02-28
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2022-01-27
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-04-07
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-02-10