A J HOWES DESIGN LTD

🏛️Establishedactive

12166498 · ltd · incorporated 2019-08-20

Investment thesis

Established operating company — standard diligence applies, no dominant angle.

Why interesting: Live, filing, normal profile.

Why risky: No standout signals in either direction.

🔒Estimated value

—

Upgrade to see

Turnover

—

year to Aug 2024

Net worth

£18.5k

book net assets

Opportunity

76/100

Strong

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What this business does

Primary activity: Architectural activities

Sector: Professional, scientific & technical

Investor take

Pursue

Asset-holding vehicle with a 69-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 76/100 (strong), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (60/100, director aged 69). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (73/100).

Data confidence

Overall: medium (69/100)

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

Lenders & charges

Confirmed no charges registered

Directors & officers

3 officers (2 active, 3 linked, 3 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

No PSCs filed (unusual — worth investigating)

Director network

Network not yet resolved

Filing history

18 filings on record

Gazette notices

No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)

Opportunity Score

76/100Strong

PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional

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

Business quality

Adequate — check latest filings for context.

Acquirability

Strong succession / seller-readiness signals.

Risk profile

Few red flags.

Signal strength

Good data coverage for analysis.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · FRS 102

Positive net assets

Net assets £18,517

Cash YoY

+110%

Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts

Cash

£36k

↑ 110% YoY

Net Worth

£19k

↑ 49% YoY

Current Assets

£36k

↑ 110% YoY

Current Liabilities

—

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102

Metric	2024-08-31	2023-08-31
Total assets	£18.5k	£12.4k
Current assets	£36.2k	£17.3k
Cash	£36.2k	£17.3k
Net assets	£18.5k	£12.4k

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 confirmation-statement

Last 180 days

filing

• 1 confirmation-statement

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (16 events)Click to expand

2025-05-30
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-05-28
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-05-16
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-04-22
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-04-30
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-02-18
📄
resolution
resolution · RESOLUTIONS
2020-02-17
➕
HOWES, Anthony appointed
director
2020-02-17
➕
HOWES, Janine appointed
director
2020-02-17
📄
capital-allotment-shares
capital · SH01
2020-02-17
📄
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2020-02-17
📄
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2019-08-21
📄
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2019-08-20
🏢
Company incorporated
As A J HOWES DESIGN LTD
2019-08-20
➕
DUKE, Michael appointed
director
2019-08-20
➖
DUKE, Michael resigned
director
2019-08-20
📄
incorporation-company
incorporation · NEWINC

Owner dependency

96/100

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

+Two-director setup: Only two active directors — typical of owner-managed SMEs but limits succession.
+Founder name in company name: Company name contains director surname "HOWES" — strong identity link between founder and business.
+Founder age: Director aged approximately 69 — succession pressure is live.
+Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

Succession & seller-readiness

56/100

Strong succession signal

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

SIGNALS

primaryFounder aged 63+: Senior director is approximately 69. Approaching typical UK retirement age — succession thinking likely.
secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.

Red flags

clean

No red flags detected from available public data. (This is not a clean bill of health — detailed accounts review still recommended.)

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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.

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Company details

Statusactive

Typeltd

Incorporated2019-08-20

Jurisdictionengland-wales

Primary SIC71111 — Architectural activities

Registered office

25 Lemon Street

Truro

Cornwall

TR1 2LS

United Kingdom

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2026-05-31

Last made up to: 2024-08-31

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2027-03-14

Last: 2026-02-28

Officers (2 active · 1 resigned)

HOWES, Anthony→

director · ~69y · appointed 2020-02-17

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

HOWES, Janine→

director · ~69y · appointed 2020-02-17

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

DUKE, Michael→

director · ~67y · appointed 2019-08-20 · resigned 2019-08-20

Resigned

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