SOMERSET FURNISHINGS (NI) LTD

💤Zombieactive
NI601501 · ltd · incorporated 2009-12-03
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 Dec 2024
Net worth
£270.1k
book net assets
Opportunity
63/100
Worth a look
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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
Special-situation opportunity
Distressed retail with salvageable qualities — special-situations priority.

Opportunity 63/100 (worth a look), bankability 55/100. High owner-dependency — earn-out structure likely required for clean transition. Biggest value-creation lever: Resolve: 1 insolvency-related filing on record. Filings relating to insolvency, liquidation, or administration exist in the company's history. Review before proceeding. Most likely exit: strategic trade sale (45/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

1 live charge · oldest 7.6y

45/100
under pressure

Refinance would be pressure-driven, not opportunity-driven. Expect tighter margins and covenant scrutiny.

  • · Oldest live charge is 7.6 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
  • · Distress signals active — lender appetite narrows.

Data confidence

Overall: high (80/100)

Strong data coverage across all sections. AI outputs should be trusted with minimal caveats.

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
1 charges (1/1 with lender, 1/1 with type)
90
Directors & officers
3 officers (1 active, 3 linked, 2 with DOB)
83
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
3 connected companies via shared directors
54
Filing history
38 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
63/100Worth a look
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional 

Mixed signal. Worth opening the full target workup before deciding to pursue.

Business quality
50
Adequate — check latest filings for context.
Acquirability
60
Some acquirability indicators.
Risk profile
59
Some moderate concerns — review flags.
Signal strength
100
Good data coverage for analysis.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · accounting standard not declared
Positive net assets
Net assets £270,142

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
—
Net Worth
£270k
↑ 12% YoY
Current Assets
£295k
↑ 4.3% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
£0£59k£118k£177k£236k£295kDec 2023Dec 2024

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2024-12-312023-12-31
Total assets£355.7k£337.2k
Current assets£294.6k£282.4k
Net assets£270.1k£241.0k

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
0
filings
Last 180 days
0
filings
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (22 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-09-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-09-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  3. 2023-09-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  4. 2022-09-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  5. 2021-09-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  6. 2020-12-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  7. 2019-09-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  8. 2018-10-22
    📄
    mortgage-create-with-deed-with-charge-number-charge-creation-date
    mortgage · MR01
  9. 2018-10-18
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: The Governor and Company of the Bank of Ireland
  10. 2018-09-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  11. 2017-09-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  12. 2016-09-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  13. 2016-01-27
    ⚠️
    liquidation-completion-of-voluntary-arrangement-northern-ireland
    insolvency · 1.4(NI)
  14. 2015-09-30
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  15. 2015-09-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  16. 2014-09-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  17. 2009-12-03
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As SOMERSET FURNISHINGS (NI) LTD
  18. 2009-12-03
    ➕
    HERALD, Malachy Joseph appointed
    director
  19. 2009-12-03
    ➕
    REDPATH, Denise appointed
    director
  20. 2009-12-03
    ➖
    REDPATH, Denise resigned
    director
  21. 2009-12-03
    ➕
    CS DIRECTOR SERVICES LIMITED appointed
    corporate-director
  22. 2009-12-03
    ➖
    CS DIRECTOR SERVICES LIMITED resigned
    corporate-director

Owner dependency

85/100
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.
  • +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 16 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.

Succession & seller-readiness

68/100
Strong succession signal

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

SIGNALS
  • primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
  • secondary12+ year tenure: Director in role 16 years.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 16 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

1 high · 1 med ·
1 insolvency-related filing on record
high

Filings relating to insolvency, liquidation, or administration exist in the company's history. Review before proceeding.

Evidence: 2016-01-27: liquidation-completion-of-voluntary-arrangement-northern-ireland

Has insolvency history
medium

Companies House flags prior insolvency events. Review the insolvency filings for context.

Shareholders & ownership

1 active beneficial owner · dominant holder ≥75%
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr Malachy Herald
Individual · Northern Irish · DOB 06/1975 · age 51
75–100%
—75-100% shares06/04/2016

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

🔒Co-director network graph

Radial SVG graph showing every company connected via shared directors, colour-coded by status.

Available from the Pro tier upwards.

See pricing →

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LAMONT STONE LIMITED→
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——7329y8774y
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£5.21M
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——1810029y8472y
CREATIVE GARDENS (NI) LIMITED→
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£4.31M
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£13.07M—2090023y8477y
MURDOCK HARDWOOD INDUSTRIES LIMITED→
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——11427y8464y
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BASIL KNIPE ELECTRICS LIMITED→
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——430017y8761y
CHARIOTEER LIMITED→
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£1.83M
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£16.58M—940025y8561y
JESROE (SERVICES) LIMITED→
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£1.19M
£889.9k–£1.48M
——300028y8769y
WINE INNS LIMITED→
NI008313 · est 1971
£1.15M
£863.8k–£1.44M
——1220054y8580y
BELFAST TILES AND BATHROOM CENTRE LTD→
NI055324 · est 2005
£80.5k
£60.4k–£100.7k
£373.4k—30020y8562y
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
Incorporated2009-12-03
Jurisdictionnorthern-ireland
Primary SIC47599 — Retail sale of furniture, lighting, and similar (not musical instruments or scores) in specialised stores

Registered office

8 Farm Lodge Close
Greenisland
Carrickfergus
Co Antrim
BT38 8XW

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-09-30
Last made up to: 2024-12-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-11-30
Last: 2025-11-16

Officers (1 active · 2 resigned)

HERALD, Malachy Joseph→
director · ~51y · appointed 2009-12-03
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
REDPATH, Denise→
director · ~70y · appointed 2009-12-03 · resigned 2009-12-03
Resigned
CS DIRECTOR SERVICES LIMITED→
corporate-director · appointed 2009-12-03 · resigned 2009-12-03
Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

1
Total charges
1
Outstanding
1
Active lenders
Status:Lender:1 of 1 shown
TypeProperties
outstanding
The Governor and Company of the Bank of Ireland
A registered charge1 property18/10/2018—
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (38 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-11-16
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-09-30
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-01-01
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-09-29
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-12-05
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-09-29
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-12-07
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-09-29
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-12-13
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-09-30
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2020-12-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-12-11
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-12-05
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2019-09-30
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2018-12-10