CRN FINANCIAL SERVICES LIMITED

🌳Matureactive

NI018912 · ltd · incorporated 1985-10-31

Investment thesis

Well-run mature business — low negotiation leverage; premium likely.

Why interesting: Textbook target; clean filings, stable trading.

Why risky: No pressure on seller; any deal likely at full price.

Opportunity decay

approaching window · 12-months

Approaching a transaction window — refinance or sale event plausible in the next 12 months.

· Oldest live charge 15.3y old — refinance window within 12 months

🔒Estimated value

—

Upgrade to see

Turnover

—

year to Dec 2024

Net worth

£178.8k

book net assets

Opportunity

83/100

Exceptional

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What this business does

Primary activity: Life insurance

Sector: Financial & insurance

ALSO REGISTERED FOR

65120Non-life insurance
66190Other activities auxiliary to financial services, except insurance and pension funding
66290Other activities auxiliary to insurance and pension funding

Investor take

Pursue

Active trading company with a 64-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 83/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (70/100, director aged 64). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Discharge stale live charges. 1 live charge(s) created 15+ years ago — likely paid but undischarged. Clean register. Most likely exit: strategic trade sale (73/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

1 live charge · oldest 15.3y

65/100

clean up first

Refinance viable after a tidy-up — address the highlighted items first.

· Oldest live charge is 15.3 years old — likely at or near maturity.
· Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
· Legal-friction score 25/100 — workable, but lender will want more DD.

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, 4 SIC codes, incorporation date

100

Financials

2 years of iXBRL accounts extracted (YoY deltas available) + narrative notes parsed

Lenders & charges

1 charges (1/1 with lender, 1/1 with type)

Directors & officers

8 officers (3 active, 8 linked, 6 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

2 active PSC(s) of 3 total, 3 with control declared

Director network

Network not yet resolved

Filing history

121 filings on record

Gazette notices

No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)

Opportunity Score

83/100Exceptional

PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional

Strong composite across quality, acquirability, and risk. High-priority target — progress to serious diligence.

Business quality

Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.

Acquirability

Strong succession / seller-readiness signals.

Risk profile

Few red flags.

Signal strength

100

Good data coverage for analysis.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · FRS 102

Positive net assets

Net assets £178,804

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts

Cash

—

Net Worth

£179k

↑ 52% YoY

Current Assets

£483k

↑ 18% YoY

Current Liabilities

—

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102

Metric	2024-12-31	2023-12-31
Total assets	£184.3k	£162.4k
Current assets	£483.3k	£411.2k
Cash	—	£5.8k
Debtors	£479.4k	£405.5k
Net assets	£178.8k	£117.9k

Amounts extracted automatically from iXBRL. Fields left blank were not reported or not mapped. Values in GBP unless stated.

🔒Filing-note intelligence

3 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

filings

Last 90 days

filing

• 1 confirmation-statement

Last 180 days

filings

• 2 officers
• 1 confirmation-statement
• 1 persons-with-significant-control

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (32 events)Click to expand

2026-01-29
📄
change-person-secretary-company-with-change-date
officers · CH03
2026-01-29
📄
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2026-01-29
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2025-12-22
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-04-04
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2023-02-09
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2022-03-23
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2021-05-04
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2020-06-23
📄
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2020-06-23
📄
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2020-06-10
➖
NEILL, Carole resigned
director
2020-06-10
➖
NEILL, Robert resigned
director
2020-03-16
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2020-02-05
➕
HARRIS, Alyson Norma appointed
secretary
2020-02-05
➖
NEILL, Carole resigned
secretary
2020-02-05
📄
cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
2020-02-05
📄
notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
2020-02-05
📄
termination-secretary-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM02
2020-02-05
📄
appoint-person-secretary-company-with-name-date
officers · AP03
2019-03-08
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2018-09-25
📄
change-person-secretary-company-with-change-date
officers · CH03
2011-02-21
🔒
Charge registered #1
Lender: Northern Bank Limited
2004-07-01
➕
HARRIS, Alyson Norma appointed
director
2004-07-01
➕
NEILL, Graeme Robert appointed
director
2000-10-31
➖
RAMSEY, Samuel resigned
director
2000-10-31
➖
REID, Kenneth resigned
director
1985-10-31
🏢
Company incorporated
As CRN FINANCIAL SERVICES LIMITED
1985-10-31
➕
NEILL, Carole appointed
secretary
1985-10-31
➕
NEILL, Carole appointed
director
1985-10-31
➕
NEILL, Robert appointed
director
1985-10-31
➕
RAMSEY, Samuel appointed
director
1985-10-31
➕
REID, Kenneth appointed
director

Owner dependency

76/100

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.
+Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 22 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
+Senior director age: Director aged approximately 64 — approaching natural succession window.

Succession & seller-readiness

86/100

Likely off-market candidate

Strong acquirability signals converging. Worth approaching directly — this is how off-market deals start.

SIGNALS

primaryFounder aged 63+: Senior director is approximately 64. Approaching typical UK retirement age — succession thinking likely.
secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 22 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 41 years old and no new directors in the last 3 years — succession not yet being planned internally.
supportingClean filings + long tenure: Disciplined long-tenure operator — classic lifestyle-business pattern that often sells quietly.

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

2 active beneficial owners

Name	Shares	Voting rights	Nature of control	Notified
Mrs Alyson Norma Harris Individual · British · DOB 12/1962 · age 64	25–50%	25–50%	25-50% shares · 25-50% voting	05/02/2020
Mr Graeme Robert Neill Individual · British · DOB 08/1965 · age 61	25–50%	—	25-50% shares	06/04/2016

1 historic (ceased) PSC

Mr Robert Neillceased 05/02/2020· 25-50% shares

From Companies House Persons with Significant Control filings. Share ranges are banded per the public PSC regime.

Similar companies

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SEOPA LTD→ NI046322 · est 2003	£34.63M £25.18M–£44.07M	£32.38M	—	7500	23y	90	51y
WILLIS & COMPANY (INSURANCE BROKERS) LIMITED→ NI032004 · est 1997	£21.84M £15.89M–£27.80M	—	—	9800	29y	87	81y
LODGE FINANCIAL ADVICE LIMITED→ NI045612 · est 2003	£716.5k £521.1k–£911.9k	—	—	8	23y	83	61y
ACKER DEVELOPMENTS LIMITED→ NI028267 · est 1994 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	32y	83	60y
CREATION CONSUMER FINANCE LIMITED→ NI032565 · est 1997 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	28y	83	67y
DRUMBEARN LIMITED→ NI054292 · est 2005 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	21y	83	60y
GDP PARTNERSHIP LIMITED→ NI605327 · est 2010	—	—	£8.9k	—	15y	83	62y
INSURE I LIMITED→ NI072940 · est 2009	—	—	£1.62M	—	16y	83	66y
M & D FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT LIMITED→ NI049794 · est 2004	—	—	—	600	22y	83	60y
MCGRADY FINANCIAL SERVICES LIMITED→ NI032133 · est 1997	—	—	£215.7k	—	29y	83	60y
MORTGAGE IQ LIMITED→ NI056126 · est 2005	—	—	£18.4k	—	20y	83	58y
SAVAGE & PATTON (FINANCIAL SERVICES) LIMITED→ NI011459 · est 1976	—	—	£397.5k	—	49y	83	64y

Peers ranked by estimated value, then turnover, then opportunity score.See all →

🔒Tailored diligence questions

6 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

Incorporated1985-10-31

Jurisdictionnorthern-ireland

Primary SIC65110 — Life insurance

Registered office

1 Forestgrove Business Park

Newtownbreda Road

Belfast

BT8 6AW

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2026-09-30

Last made up to: 2024-12-31

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2027-02-14

Last: 2026-01-31

Officers (3 active · 5 resigned)

HARRIS, Alyson Norma→

secretary · appointed 2020-02-05

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

HARRIS, Alyson Norma→

director · ~64y · appointed 2004-07-01

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

NEILL, Graeme Robert→

director · ~61y · appointed 2004-07-01

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

NEILL, Carole→

secretary · appointed 1985-10-31 · resigned 2020-02-05

Resigned

NEILL, Carole→

director · ~87y · appointed 1985-10-31 · resigned 2020-06-10

Resigned

NEILL, Robert→

director · ~88y · appointed 1985-10-31 · resigned 2020-06-10

Resigned

RAMSEY, Samuel→

director · ~89y · appointed 1985-10-31 · resigned 2000-10-31

Resigned

REID, Kenneth→

director · ~77y · appointed 1985-10-31 · resigned 2000-10-31

Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

Total charges

Outstanding

Active lenders

Status:Lender:1 of 1 shown

			Type	Properties
	outstanding	Northern Bank Northern Bank Limited	Floating charge	1 property	21/02/2011	—

Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (121 total)

confirmation-statement-with-updates

confirmation-statement · CS01

2026-04-10

change-person-secretary-company-with-change-date

officers · CH03

2026-01-29

change-to-a-person-with-significant-control

persons-with-significant-control · PSC04

2026-01-29

change-person-director-company-with-change-date

officers · CH01

2026-01-29

accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full

accounts · AA

2025-12-22

confirmation-statement-with-updates

confirmation-statement · CS01

2025-02-18

accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged

accounts · AA

2024-04-04

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates

confirmation-statement · CS01

2024-01-31

accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged

accounts · AA

2023-02-09

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates

confirmation-statement · CS01

2023-02-01

accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged

accounts · AA

2022-03-23

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates

confirmation-statement · CS01

2022-02-04

accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged

accounts · AA

2021-05-04

confirmation-statement-with-updates

confirmation-statement · CS01

2021-02-02

termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date

officers · TM01

2020-06-23