ARCHITECTURE BUREAU LIMITED

💤Zombieactive
11821840 · ltd · incorporated 2019-02-12
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 Mar 2025
Net worth
£-363
book net assets
Opportunity
72/100
Strong
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What this business does
Primary activity: Architectural activities
Sector: Professional, scientific & technical
Investor take
Pass (distressed without resilience)
Distressed active trading company — structural issues outweigh the discount.

Opportunity 72/100 (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: distressed disposal / insolvency (65/100).

Data confidence

Overall: medium (79/100)

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 (1 active, 2 linked, 2 with DOB)
90
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared
90
Director network
1 connected companies via shared directors
48
Filing history
24 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
72/100Strong
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional 

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

Business quality
65
Adequate — check latest filings for context.
Acquirability
55
Some acquirability indicators.
Risk profile
85
Few red flags.
Signal strength
90
Good data coverage for analysis.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · FRS 105 (micro)
Negative net assets
Liabilities exceed assets by £363
Net assets shrinking
Down £1,707 YoY

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
Net Worth
-£363
↓ 127% YoY
Current Assets
£7k
↓ 33% YoY
Current Liabilities
-£363£2k£4k£6k£9k£11kMar 2024Mar 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 105 (micro)
Metric2025-03-312024-03-31
Total assets£7.2k£12.8k
Current assets£7.3k£11.0k
Net assets£-363£1.3k

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
0
filings
Last 180 days
1
filing
  • 1 confirmation-statement
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (21 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-12-18
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-12-11
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  3. 2024-02-21
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  4. 2023-10-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  5. 2022-10-07
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  6. 2021-12-15
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  7. 2021-05-15
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  8. 2020-10-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  9. 2020-10-13
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  10. 2020-10-13
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  11. 2020-10-13
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  12. 2020-10-13
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  13. 2020-04-06
    📄
    cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
  14. 2020-03-03
    📄
    change-account-reference-date-company-current-extended
    accounts · AA01
  15. 2020-02-03
    📄
    capital-allotment-shares
    capital · SH01
  16. 2019-10-22
    📄
    termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM01
  17. 2019-09-18
    STEVENSON, Richard resigned
    director
  18. 2019-02-12
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As ARCHITECTURE BUREAU LIMITED
  19. 2019-02-12
    COUZENS, Philip William appointed
    director
  20. 2019-02-12
    STEVENSON, Richard appointed
    director
  21. 2019-02-12
    📄
    incorporation-company
    incorporation · NEWINC

Owner dependency

75/100
High — earn-out structure required

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

FACTORS
  • +Sole director: Only one active director — all governance concentrated on one person.

Succession & seller-readiness

45/100
Moderate signal

Some succession indicators present. Worth watching; approach if sector/strategy fits.

SIGNALS
  • primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.

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 · dominant holder ≥75%
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr Philip William Couzens
Individual · British · DOB 09/1984 · age 42
75100%
75–100%board control75-100% shares · 75-100% voting · board control12/02/2019
1 historic (ceased) PSC
  • Mr Richard Stevensonceased 01/03/2020· 25-50% shares · 25-50% voting

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
Incorporated2019-02-12
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC71111 — Architectural activities

Registered office

Fir Tree Farm
Brynmawr
Llanymynech
Powys
SY22 6PQ
Wales

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-12-31
Last made up to: 2025-03-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-02-24
Last: 2026-02-10

Officers (1 active · 1 resigned)

COUZENS, Philip William
director · ~42y · appointed 2019-02-12
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
STEVENSON, Richard
director · ~42y · appointed 2019-02-12 · resigned 2019-09-18
Resigned

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

Recent filings (24 total)

confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-02-13
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-12-18
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-02-10
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-12-11
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-02-22
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2024-02-21
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-10-26
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-02-17
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-10-07
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-03-01
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-12-15
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2021-05-15
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-03-17
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-10-28
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2020-10-13