ACORN54 SERVICES LTD

💤Zombieactive
10725879 · ltd · incorporated 2017-04-13
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 Apr 2025
Net worth
book net assets
Opportunity
68/100
Strong
🔔
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What this business does
Primary activity: Educational support services
Sector: Education
Investor take
Pass (distressed without resilience)
Distressed active trading company — structural issues outweigh the discount.

Opportunity 68/100 (strong), bankability 65/100. High owner-dependency — earn-out structure likely required for clean transition. Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Resolve: Confirmation statement overdue. Annual confirmation statement not filed on time. Required statutory filing — overdue is a strong discipline signal. 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
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
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
17 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
68/100Strong
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional 

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

Business quality
55
Adequate — check latest filings for context.
Acquirability
70
Strong succession / seller-readiness signals.
Risk profile
67
Some moderate concerns — review flags.
Signal strength
90
Good data coverage for analysis.

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
Net Worth
Current Assets
Current Liabilities
£0£0£0£0£0£0Apr 2024Apr 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102
Metric2025-04-302024-04-30
Average employees00

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

🔒Filing-note intelligence

2 signals 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 (11 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-12-08
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-05-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  3. 2024-01-24
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  4. 2023-01-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  5. 2022-02-07
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  6. 2021-04-08
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  7. 2020-01-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  8. 2019-01-10
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  9. 2017-04-13
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As ACORN54 SERVICES LTD
  10. 2017-04-13
    OSBORN, Bryan appointed
    director
  11. 2017-04-13
    📄
    incorporation-company
    incorporation · NEWINC

Owner dependency

95/100
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 age: Director aged approximately 72 — succession pressure is live.
  • +No director turnover: Company is 9 years old with no director changes — suggests a very tight-knit founder team never broadened.

Succession & seller-readiness

75/100
Likely off-market candidate

Strong acquirability signals converging. Worth approaching directly — this is how off-market deals start.

SIGNALS
  • primaryFounder aged 70+: Senior director is approximately 72 years old. Natural succession window is now.
  • primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.

Red flags

1 high ·
Confirmation statement overdue
high

Annual confirmation statement not filed on time. Required statutory filing — overdue is a strong discipline signal.

Evidence: Next due: 2026-04-26

Shareholders & ownership

1 active beneficial owner
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr Bryan Osborn
Individual · British · DOB 04/1954 · age 72
sig. influencesignificant influence13/04/2017

From Companies House Persons with Significant Control filings. Share ranges are banded per the public PSC regime.

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Peers ranked by estimated value, then turnover, then opportunity score.See all →
🔒Tailored diligence questions

9 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
Incorporated2017-04-13
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC85600 — Educational support services

Registered office

13 Elms Gardens
Dagenham
RM9 5TX
England

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2027-01-31
Last made up to: 2025-04-30
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-04-26OVERDUE
Last: 2025-04-12

Officers (1 active · 0 resigned)

OSBORN, Bryan
director · ~72y · appointed 2017-04-13
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active

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

Recent filings (17 total)

accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-12-08
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-06-23
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-06-03
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-05-30
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-01-24
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-06-12
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-01-28
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-04-26
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-02-07
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-04-29
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-04-08
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-04-17
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-01-27
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-04-18
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-01-10