ACADEMY OF CAKE DECORATING LTD
💤Zombieactive
09799661 · ltd · incorporated 2015-09-29
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 Sept 2024
Net worth
£40.3k
book net assets
Opportunity
78/100
Strong
What this business does
Primary activity: Other education n.e.c.
Sector: Education
Investor take
PursueStrong 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 (81/100)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
Confirmed no charges registered
85
Directors & officers
1 officers (1 active, 1 linked, 1 with DOB)
90
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
5 connected companies via shared directors
60
Filing history
24 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 declaredPositive net assets
Net assets £40,276
Key financials
2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accountsCash
—
Net Worth
£40k
↑ 105% YoY
Current Assets
£27k
↓ 5.1% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series
Financials
Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown| Metric | 2024-09-30 | 2023-09-30 |
|---|---|---|
| Total assets | £37.8k | £17.3k |
| Current assets | £27.0k | £28.4k |
| Net assets | £40.3k | £19.7k |
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
0
filings
Last 180 days
3
filings
- • 2 gazette
- • 1 confirmation-statement
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (16 events)Click to expand
- 2025-12-17📄gazette-filings-brought-up-to-dategazette · DISS40
- 2025-12-16📄gazette-notice-compulsorygazette · GAZ1
- 2025-06-30📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2024-06-29📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2023-06-30📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2022-06-02📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2021-06-30📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2020-06-30📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2019-06-26📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2019-04-11📄change-person-director-company-with-change-dateofficers · CH01
- 2018-06-22📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2017-06-26📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2017-06-26📍change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-addressaddress · AD01
- 2015-09-29🏢Company incorporatedAs ACADEMY OF CAKE DECORATING LTD
- 2015-09-29➕CRISTESCU, Desdemona Ribana appointeddirector
- 2015-09-29📄incorporation-companyincorporation · NEWINC
Owner dependency
88/100
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
- +Sole director: Only one active director — all governance concentrated on one person.
- +Senior director age: Director aged approximately 58 — 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 signalMultiple signals suggest succession is on the horizon. Candidate for proactive outreach.
SIGNALS
- secondaryFounder aged 58+: Senior director is approximately 58. 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
cleanNo 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 · dominant holder ≥75%| Name | Shares | Voting rights | Nature of control | Notified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Mrs Desdemona Ribana Cristescu Individual · Romanian · DOB 06/1968 · age 58 | 75–100% | — | 75-100% 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 · AL postcode area| Company | Est. value | Turnover | Net worth | Staff | Age | Opp | Director |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 STOP TRAINING SOLUTIONS LTD→ 15474813 · est 2024 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 2y | — | — |
| A HIGHER VISION CIC→ 12562376 · est 2020 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 6y | — | — |
| A. + D. TYLER LIMITED→ 03881639 · est 1999 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 26y | — | — |
| ACADEMY OF EXECUTIVE COACHING LIMITED→ 04534640 · est 2002 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 23y | — | — |
| ACORN MONTESSORI SCHOOL LIMITED→ 05585026 · est 2005 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 20y | — | — |
| ADVANCE EDTECH LIMITED→ 10853191 · est 2017 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 8y | — | — |
| AGM CENTRE LIMITED→ 13670556 · est 2021 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 4y | — | — |
| AJC 14 SPORT LTD→ 15172195 · est 2023 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 2y | — | — |
| AL-BAYYINAH LTD→ 07908548 · est 2012 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 14y | — | — |
| ALOHA TRI LIMITED→ 10454238 · est 2016 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 9y | — | — |
| ALPHA PRIME MARKETS LIMITED→ 14046332 · est 2022 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 4y | — | — |
| ALTAMIRA TRAINING LTD.→ 08405457 · est 2013 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 13y | — | — |
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
Incorporated2015-09-29
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC85590 — Other education n.e.c.
Registered office
Unit 2 Fiddlebridge Industrial Centre, Lemsford Road
Hatfield
AL10 0DE
England
Filing status
Accounts
Next due: 2026-06-30
Last made up to: 2024-09-30
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-10-08
Last: 2025-09-24
Officers (1 active · 0 resigned)
CRISTESCU, Desdemona Ribana→
Activedirector · ~58y · appointed 2015-09-29
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Click a director name to see their full track record across all companies.
Recent filings (24 total)
gazette-filings-brought-up-to-date
gazette · DISS40
2025-12-17
gazette-notice-compulsory
gazette · GAZ1
2025-12-16
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-12-15
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-06-30
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-10-28
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-06-29
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-10-26
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-06-30
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-09-26
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-06-02
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-09-24
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-06-30
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-10-07
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2020-06-30
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-09-24