CLIFFORD COLLEGE LTD

🌳Matureactive

09775269 · ltd · incorporated 2015-09-14

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 Sept 2025

Net worth

—

book net assets

Opportunity

79/100

Strong

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What this business does

Primary activity: Technical and vocational secondary education

Sector: Education

Investor take

Pursue

Active trading company with a 76-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 79/100 (strong), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (63/100, director aged 76). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

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

Lenders & charges

Confirmed no charges registered

Directors & officers

3 officers (3 active, 3 linked, 3 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

2 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared

Director network

4 connected companies via shared directors

Filing history

23 filings on record

Gazette notices

No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)

Opportunity Score

79/100Strong

PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional

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

Business quality

Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.

Acquirability

Strong succession / seller-readiness signals.

Risk profile

Few red flags.

Signal strength

Good data coverage for analysis.

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts

Cash

—

Net Worth

—

Current Assets

—

Current Liabilities

—

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102

Metric	2025-09-30	2024-09-30
Average employees	11	1100

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

filings

Last 90 days

filing

• 1 accounts

Last 180 days

filing

• 1 accounts

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (17 events)Click to expand

2026-05-28
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-05-20
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-11-13
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-04-05
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-05-06
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-06-22
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-06-26
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-06-20
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2018-04-23
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2018-03-23
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2018-01-20
📄
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2017-09-21
➕
BARLOW, Ann Elizabeth appointed
director
2016-11-21
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2015-09-14
🏢
Company incorporated
As CLIFFORD COLLEGE LTD
2015-09-14
➕
BARLOW, David Michael appointed
director
2015-09-14
➕
BARLOW, John Edward appointed
director
2015-09-14
📄
incorporation-company
incorporation · NEWINC

Owner dependency

73/100

High — earn-out structure required

Material founder dependency. Consider a 2-3 year earn-out and build in a handover plan before completion.

FACTORS

+Founder age: Director aged approximately 76 — succession pressure is live.
+Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

Succession & seller-readiness

65/100

Strong succession signal

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

SIGNALS

primaryFounder aged 70+: Senior director is approximately 76 years old. Natural succession window is now.
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

Name	Shares	Voting rights	Nature of control	Notified
Mr David Michael Barlow Individual · British · DOB 08/1950 · age 76	25–50%	—	25-50% shares	06/04/2016
Mr John Edward Barlow Individual · British · DOB 05/1958 · age 68	25–50%	—	25-50% shares	06/04/2016

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 →

Similar companies

Active · Education & training · SY postcode area

Company	Est. value	Turnover	Net worth	Staff	Age	Opp	Director
ABAGAR 2020 LTD→ 12895323 · est 2020 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	5y	—	—
BETHANY TRAINING SERVICES LIMITED→ 05571542 · est 2005 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	20y	—	—
BISHOP MASCALL CENTRE FOUNDATION→ 04121424 · est 2000 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	25y	—	—
BLOSSOM ACADEMY LIMITED→ 15545960 · est 2024 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	2y	—	—
CAMP FANTASTIC LTD→ 13135356 · est 2021 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	5y	—	—
CAROL SATTERTHWAITE LITERACY LTD→ 09981293 · est 2016 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	10y	—	—
CELTICA CYF→ 03171918 · est 1996 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	30y	—	—
CHAKRASCENSION LTD→ 15574661 · est 2024 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	2y	—	—
CIRCULAR ECONOMY MID WALES LIMITED→ 11874821 · est 2019 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	7y	—	—
COMMUNITY SPACE PROJECT C.I.C.→ 13010154 · est 2020 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	5y	—	—
COMPTON'S YARD CHARITABLE TRUST(THE)→ 01705357 · est 1983 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	43y	—	—
CONCORD COLLEGE INTERNATIONAL LIMITED→ 10783635 · est 2017 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	8y	—	—

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

Incorporated2015-09-14

Jurisdictionengland-wales

Primary SIC85320 — Technical and vocational secondary education

Registered office

Clifford House Hampton Heath Industrial Estate

Hampton

Malpas

Cheshire

SY14 8LU

United Kingdom

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2027-06-30

Last made up to: 2025-09-30

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2026-08-24

Last: 2025-08-10

Officers (3 active · 0 resigned)

BARLOW, Ann Elizabeth→

director · ~73y · appointed 2017-09-21

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

BARLOW, David Michael→

director · ~76y · appointed 2015-09-14

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

BARLOW, John Edward→

director · ~68y · appointed 2015-09-14

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

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