A&P SYSTEMS LIMITED

🏛️Establishedactive
12843427 · ltd · incorporated 2020-08-28
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
book net assets
Opportunity
67/100
Strong
🔔
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What this business does
Primary activity: Information technology consultancy activities
Sector: Information & communication
ALSO REGISTERED FOR
  • 70229Management consultancy activities other than financial management
  • 71122Engineering related scientific and technical consulting activities
Investor take
Pass (distressed without resilience)
Distressed active trading company — structural issues outweigh the discount.

Opportunity 67/100 (strong), bankability 55/100. High owner-dependency — earn-out structure likely required for clean transition. Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: File overdue accounts. Clears statutory overdue flag — immediate bankability uplift for refinance conversations. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (53/100).

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, 3 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 (2 active, 2 linked, 2 with DOB)
90
Ownership & PSC
2 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
11 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
67/100Strong
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional 

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

Business quality
50
Adequate — check latest filings for context.
Acquirability
75
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£0Aug 2023Aug 2024

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102
Metric2024-08-312023-08-31

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
0
filings
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (9 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-03-09
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-05-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  3. 2023-04-24
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  4. 2022-05-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  5. 2021-01-25
    WATSON, Peter appointed
    director
  6. 2021-01-25
    📄
    appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
    officers · AP01
  7. 2020-08-28
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As A&P SYSTEMS LIMITED
  8. 2020-08-28
    HOULBROOK, Adrian Scott appointed
    director
  9. 2020-08-28
    📄
    incorporation-company
    incorporation · NEWINC

Owner dependency

78/100
High — earn-out structure required

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

FACTORS
  • +Two-director setup: Only two active directors — typical of owner-managed SMEs but limits succession.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 78 — succession pressure is live.
  • +No director turnover: Company is 6 years old with no director changes — suggests a very tight-knit founder team never broadened.

Succession & seller-readiness

66/100
Strong succession signal

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

SIGNALS
  • primaryFounder aged 70+: Senior director is approximately 78 years old. Natural succession window is now.
  • secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.

Red flags

1 high ·
Accounts overdue
high

Statutory accounts have not been filed by their due date. Can indicate admin breakdown, cash preservation, or deliberate delay.

Evidence: Next due: 2026-05-31

Shareholders & ownership

2 active beneficial owners
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr Adrian Scott Houlbrook
Individual · British · DOB 09/1948 · age 78
2550%
25–50%board control25-50% shares · 25-50% voting · board control28/08/2020
Mr Peter Watson
Individual · British · DOB 02/1967 · age 59
2550%
25–50%board control25-50% shares · 25-50% voting · board control28/08/2020

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

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
Incorporated2020-08-28
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC62020 — Information technology consultancy activities

Registered office

9 Glovers Lane
Raunds
Wellingborough
NN9 6TU
England

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-05-31OVERDUE
Last made up to: 2024-08-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-09-10
Last: 2025-08-27

Officers (2 active · 0 resigned)

HOULBROOK, Adrian Scott
director · ~78y · appointed 2020-08-28
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
WATSON, Peter
director · ~59y · appointed 2021-01-25
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active

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

Recent filings (11 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-09-01
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-03-09
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-09-03
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-05-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-09-07
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-04-24
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-09-29
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-05-30
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-09-13
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2021-01-25
incorporation-company
incorporation · NEWINC
2020-08-28