ESSENTIAL ICE LTD
🌿Early-stageactive
13958504 · ltd · incorporated 2022-03-06
Investment thesis
Growth-phase business — story-led; valuation sensitive to momentum.
Why interesting: Trading is scaling; acquirers paying for trajectory get disproportionate leverage.
Why risky: Price often leads fundamentals; dependency on founder often high.
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Mar 2025
Net worth
£20.7k
book net assets
Opportunity
72/100
Strong
What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 10890
Sector: Manufacturing
Investor take
PursueStrong opportunity: active trading company with strong profile and acceptable with review structure.
Opportunity 72/100 (strong), bankability 70/100. High owner-dependency — earn-out structure likely required for clean transition. Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (58/100).
🏦
Refinance opportunity
2 live charges · 2 lenders · oldest 1.1y
35/100
too messy
Refinance path is blocked by complexity. Rethink structure or expect bespoke, expensive terms.
- · Newest facility, 1.1 years old — likely still in initial term.
- · Two lenders — manageable, but coordination required.
- · Legal-friction score 15/100 — clean.
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
2 charges (2/2 with lender, 2/2 with type)
90
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
72/100Strong
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional
Solid opportunity signal. Worth a dedicated memo and management meeting.
Business quality
60
Adequate — check latest filings for context.
Acquirability
55
Some acquirability indicators.
Risk profile
85
Few red flags.
Signal strength
100
Good data coverage for analysis.
Signals from accounts
Derived from iXBRL accounts · accounting standard not declaredPositive net assets
Net assets £20,660
Cash YoY
-5%
Year on year
Key financials
2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accountsCash
£7k
↓ 4.5% YoY
Net Worth
£21k
↑ 10.0% YoY
Current Assets
£8k
↓ 4.3% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series
Financials
Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown| Metric | 2025-03-31 | 2024-03-31 |
|---|---|---|
| Total assets | £34.3k | £33.2k |
| Current assets | £7.6k | £8.0k |
| Cash | £7.3k | £7.6k |
| Debtors | £351 | £354 |
| Net assets | £20.7k | £18.8k |
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
1
filing
- • 1 confirmation-statement
Last 180 days
2
filings
- • 1 confirmation-statement
- • 1 accounts
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (12 events)Click to expand
- 2025-12-23📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2025-08-19📍change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-addressaddress · AD01
- 2025-04-17📄mortgage-create-with-deed-with-charge-number-charge-creation-datemortgage · MR01
- 2025-04-17📄mortgage-create-with-deed-with-charge-number-charge-creation-datemortgage · MR01
- 2025-04-09🔒Charge registered #2Lender: Meif Ii Smaller Loans Wm LP Acting by Its General Partner Bcrs Meif Ii Gp Limited
- 2025-04-09🔒Charge registered #1Lender: Bcrs Business Loans Limited
- 2024-12-18📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2023-12-06📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2022-03-06🏢Company incorporatedAs ESSENTIAL ICE LTD
- 2022-03-06➕BOWDEN, Douglas Richard appointeddirector
- 2022-03-06➕BOWDEN, Sophie Emma appointeddirector
- 2022-03-06📄incorporation-companyincorporation · NEWINC
Owner dependency
66/100
High — earn-out structure requiredMaterial 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.
- +Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.
Succession & seller-readiness
36/100
Weak signalLimited succession signal. Not a near-term off-market candidate.
SIGNALS
- secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
Red flags
cleanNo red flags detected from available public data. (This is not a clean bill of health — detailed accounts review still recommended.)
Shareholders & ownership
2 active beneficial owners| Name | Shares | Voting rights | Nature of control | Notified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Mr Douglas Richard Bowden Individual · British · DOB 01/1984 · age 42 | 25–50% | 25–50% | board control25-50% shares · 25-50% voting · board control | 06/03/2022 |
Mrs Sophie Emma Bowden Individual · British · DOB 08/1993 · age 33 | 25–50% | 25–50% | board control25-50% shares · 25-50% voting · board control | 06/03/2022 |
From Companies House Persons with Significant Control filings. Share ranges are banded per the public PSC regime.
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| FF1 LTD→ 11383312 · est 2018 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 7y | — | — |
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Peers ranked by estimated value, then turnover, then opportunity score.See all →
🔒Tailored diligence questions
8 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
Incorporated2022-03-06
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC10890 — SIC 10890
Registered office
Unit 28 Ketley Business Park
Ketley
Telford
TF1 5JD
England
Filing status
Accounts
Next due: 2026-12-31
Last made up to: 2025-03-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-03-19
Last: 2026-03-05
Officers (2 active · 0 resigned)
BOWDEN, Douglas Richard→
Activedirector · ~42y · appointed 2022-03-06
View their other companies + combined net worth →
BOWDEN, Sophie Emma→
Activedirector · ~33y · appointed 2022-03-06
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Click a director name to see their full track record across all companies.
Mortgages & charges
2
Total charges
2
Outstanding
2
Active lenders
Status:Lender:2 of 2 shown
| Type | Properties | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| outstanding | Meif Ii Smaller Loans Wm LP Acting by Its General Partner Bcrs Meif Ii Gp Meif Ii Smaller Loans Wm LP Acting by Its General Partner Bcrs Meif Ii Gp Limited | A registered charge | — | 09/04/2025 | — | |
| outstanding | Bcrs Business Loans Bcrs Business Loans Limited | A registered charge | — | 09/04/2025 | — |
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.
Recent filings (11 total)
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-03-24
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-12-23
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2025-08-19
mortgage-create-with-deed-with-charge-number-charge-creation-date
mortgage · MR01
2025-04-17
mortgage-create-with-deed-with-charge-number-charge-creation-date
mortgage · MR01
2025-04-17
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-03-18
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-12-18
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-03-12
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-12-06
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-03-08
incorporation-company
incorporation · NEWINC
2022-03-06