ARTISAN FINANCIAL LIMITED

💤Zombieactive
09785115 · ltd · incorporated 2015-09-18
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 Jul 2025
Net worth
£11.8k
book net assets
Opportunity
78/100
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.

🔒Generate AI memo →🔒Outreach pack →🔒Corporate story →📑 Reports →Sign in to watch
What this business does
Primary activity: Life insurance
Sector: Financial & insurance
ALSO REGISTERED FOR
  • 65300Pension funding
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: high (80/100)

Strong data coverage across all sections. AI outputs should be trusted with minimal caveats.

Company profile
address, 2 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 (1 active, 2 linked, 2 with DOB)
90
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared
90
Director network
3 connected companies via shared directors
54
Filing history
26 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
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 £11,820

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
—
Net Worth
£12k
↑ 22% YoY
Current Assets
£34k
↑ 7.2% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
£0£7k£14k£21k£27k£34kJul 2024Jul 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2025-07-312024-07-31
Total assets£13.6k£11.3k
Current assets£34.2k£31.9k
Net assets£11.8k£9.7k

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

Recent activity

Last 30 days
0
filings
Last 90 days
1
filing
  • • 1 address
Last 180 days
1
filing
  • • 1 address
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (19 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-04-14
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  2. 2025-10-07
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  3. 2024-10-07
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  4. 2023-09-02
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  5. 2022-09-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  6. 2022-02-02
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  7. 2021-01-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  8. 2019-11-07
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  9. 2019-08-07
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  10. 2019-07-31
    ➖
    HARTLEY, John resigned
    director
  11. 2019-07-31
    📄
    termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM01
  12. 2019-07-31
    📄
    cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
  13. 2018-09-25
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  14. 2017-08-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  15. 2016-10-14
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  16. 2016-10-14
    📄
    change-account-reference-date-company-previous-shortened
    accounts · AA01
  17. 2015-09-18
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As ARTISAN FINANCIAL LIMITED
  18. 2015-09-18
    ➕
    SMITH, Dale Andrew appointed
    director
  19. 2015-09-18
    ➕
    HARTLEY, John appointed
    director

Owner dependency

83/100
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.
  • +Senior director age: Director aged approximately 61 — approaching natural succession window.

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 61. 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

1 active beneficial owner
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr Dale Andrew Smith
Individual · British · DOB 09/1965 · age 61
25–50%
—25-50% shares06/04/2016
1 historic (ceased) PSC
  • Mr John Hartleyceased 31/07/2019· 25-50% shares

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 · S postcode area
CompanyEst. valueTurnoverNet worthStaffAgeOppDirector
A SHADE GREENER FINANCE F3 LIMITED→
15678758 · est 2024 · no financials extracted
————1y——
A SHADE GREENER FINANCE LIMITED→
10668465 · est 2017 · no financials extracted
————9y——
A T COMMERCIAL FINANCE 2 LIMITED→
14921017 · est 2023 · no financials extracted
————2y——
ACORN RESERVE LTD→
13242218 · est 2021 · no financials extracted
————5y——
ANDREW STUART & COMPANY LIMITED→
04557297 · est 2002 · no financials extracted
————23y——
ANDY HALL MORTGAGES LTD→
09479295 · est 2015 · no financials extracted
————11y——
ANLD CRYPTO HOLDINGS LTD→
16592442 · est 2025 · no financials extracted
———————
ARC CAPITAL MARKETS (UK) LIMITED→
13666413 · est 2021 · no financials extracted
————4y——
ARTISAN MORTGAGES LIMITED→
15195049 · est 2023 · no financials extracted
————2y——
ASG FINANCE LIMITED→
15510939 · est 2024 · no financials extracted
————2y——
ASHDELL FINANCE LIMITED→
16713566 · est 2025 · no financials extracted
———————
ASHMORE FINANCIAL SERVICES LTD→
05876991 · est 2006 · no financials extracted
————19y——
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
Incorporated2015-09-18
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC65110 — Life insurance

Registered office

1 Central Drive
Wingerworth
Chesterfield
S42 6QJ
England

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2027-04-30
Last made up to: 2025-07-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-09-28
Last: 2025-09-14

Officers (1 active · 1 resigned)

SMITH, Dale Andrew→
director · ~61y · appointed 2015-09-18
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
HARTLEY, John→
director · ~47y · appointed 2015-09-18 · resigned 2019-07-31
Resigned

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

Recent filings (26 total)

change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2026-04-14
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-10-07
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-09-30
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-10-07
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-09-21
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-09-16
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-09-02
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-09-27
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-09-20
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-02-02
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-09-30
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-01-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-09-16
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-11-07
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-09-23