ABSOLUTE DESIGN LIMITED

💤Zombieactive
12547642 · ltd · incorporated 2020-04-06
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
—
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Turnover
—
year to Mar 2025
Net worth
£20.6k
book net assets
Opportunity
76/100
Strong
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What this business does
Primary activity: Retail sale of furniture, lighting, and similar (not musical instruments or scores) in specialised stores
Sector: Wholesale & retail
Investor take
Pursue
Strong opportunity: asset-holding vehicle with strong profile and bankable structure.

Opportunity 76/100 (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: medium (76/100)

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
3 officers (2 active, 3 linked, 2 with DOB)
83
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
16 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
76/100Strong
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional 

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

Business quality
65
Adequate — check latest filings for context.
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 £20,577

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
—
Net Worth
£21k
↑ 19% YoY
Current Assets
£21k
↓ 67% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
£0£12k£25k£37k£50k£62kMar 2024Mar 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2025-03-312024-03-31
Total assets£20.6k£17.4k
Current assets£20.6k£62.3k
Cash—£62.2k
Debtors—£77
Net assets£20.6k£17.4k

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
2
filings
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
  • • 1 officers
Last 180 days
3
filings
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
  • • 1 officers
  • • 1 accounts
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (15 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-04-04
    📄
    termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM01
  2. 2026-03-26
    ➖
    RITCHIE, Jade resigned
    director
  3. 2025-12-13
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  4. 2024-11-11
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  5. 2024-04-04
    📄
    appoint-person-secretary-company-with-name-date
    officers · AP03
  6. 2024-04-03
    ➕
    WATKINS, Edward appointed
    secretary
  7. 2023-12-14
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  8. 2023-01-03
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  9. 2021-12-21
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  10. 2021-12-21
    📄
    change-account-reference-date-company-current-shortened
    accounts · AA01
  11. 2020-09-17
    📄
    appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
    officers · AP01
  12. 2020-08-10
    ➕
    RITCHIE, Jade appointed
    director
  13. 2020-04-06
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As ABSOLUTE DESIGN LIMITED
  14. 2020-04-06
    ➕
    WATKINS, Sandra appointed
    director
  15. 2020-04-06
    📄
    incorporation-company
    incorporation · NEWINC

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 60 — approaching natural succession window.

Succession & seller-readiness

55/100
Strong succession signal

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

SIGNALS
  • secondaryFounder aged 58+: Senior director is approximately 60. Early succession window.
  • 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
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mrs Sandra Watkins
Individual · English · DOB 03/1966 · age 60
——sig. influencesignificant influence06/04/2020

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

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.

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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
Incorporated2020-04-06
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC47599 — Retail sale of furniture, lighting, and similar (not musical instruments or scores) in specialised stores

Registered office

29 High Street
Stroud
GL5 1AJ
England

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-12-31
Last made up to: 2025-03-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-04-17
Last: 2026-04-03

Officers (2 active · 1 resigned)

WATKINS, Edward→
secretary · appointed 2024-04-03
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
WATKINS, Sandra→
director · ~60y · appointed 2020-04-06
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
RITCHIE, Jade→
director · ~35y · appointed 2020-08-10 · resigned 2026-03-26
Resigned

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

Recent filings (16 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-04-07
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2026-04-04
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-12-13
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-04-17
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2024-11-11
appoint-person-secretary-company-with-name-date
officers · AP03
2024-04-04
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-04-03
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2023-12-14
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-05-11
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-01-03
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-05-07
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-12-21
change-account-reference-date-company-current-shortened
accounts · AA01
2021-12-21
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-04-08
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2020-09-17