ASHTON SMITH LLP

💤Zombieactive
OC343176 · llp · incorporated 2009-02-09
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
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Mar 2025
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
71/100
Strong
🔔
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Investor take
Pursue
Strong opportunity: active trading company with strong profile and bankable structure.

Opportunity 71/100 (strong), bankability 75/100. Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Cash flow review and working-capital discipline. Cash down -45% YoY — forensic review of receivables, stock turns, and creditor days. Most likely exit: strategic trade sale (63/100).

Data confidence

Overall: medium (75/100)

Adequate coverage. AI outputs are reliable for the sections scored high; verify the rest in diligence.

Company profile
address, no SIC, incorporation date
80
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 (3 active, 3 linked, 2 with DOB)
83
Ownership & PSC
3 active PSC(s) of 3 total, 3 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
45 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
71/100Strong
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional 

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

Business quality
70
Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.
Acquirability
50
Some acquirability indicators.
Risk profile
85
Few red flags.
Signal strength
80
Good data coverage for analysis.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · accounting standard not declared
Cash draining
Cash down 45% YoY
Cash YoY
-45%
Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
£54k
↓ 45% YoY
Net Worth
—
Current Assets
£410k
↑ 4.0% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
£0£82k£164k£246k£328k£410kMar 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£787.7k£821.0k
Current assets£410.3k£394.4k
Cash£53.7k£97.8k
Debtors£356.6k£296.6k

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

🔒Filing-note intelligence

1 signal 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 (29 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-11-10
    📄
    confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
    confirmation-statement · LLCS01
  2. 2025-09-17
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  3. 2025-01-02
    📄
    confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
    confirmation-statement · LLCS01
  4. 2024-08-14
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  5. 2024-08-13
    📄
    change-account-reference-date-limited-liability-partnership-previous-extended
    accounts · LLAA01
  6. 2024-02-27
    📄
    confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
    confirmation-statement · LLCS01
  7. 2023-08-16
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  8. 2023-04-13
    📄
    confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
    confirmation-statement · LLCS01
  9. 2022-11-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  10. 2022-05-12
    📄
    confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
    confirmation-statement · LLCS01
  11. 2021-09-07
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  12. 2021-06-15
    📄
    confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
    confirmation-statement · LLCS01
  13. 2020-09-01
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  14. 2020-07-13
    📄
    confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
    confirmation-statement · LLCS01
  15. 2019-08-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  16. 2019-08-18
    📄
    confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
    confirmation-statement · LLCS01
  17. 2018-10-09
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  18. 2018-09-11
    📄
    confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
    confirmation-statement · LLCS01
  19. 2017-09-07
    📄
    confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
    confirmation-statement · LLCS01
  20. 2017-09-07
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control-limited-liability-partnership
    persons-with-significant-control · LLPSC05
  21. 2017-09-07
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control-limited-liability-partnership
    persons-with-significant-control · LLPSC04
  22. 2017-09-07
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control-limited-liability-partnership
    persons-with-significant-control · LLPSC04
  23. 2017-09-04
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  24. 2017-01-24
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  25. 2016-11-30
    📄
    change-account-reference-date-limited-liability-partnership-previous-shortened
    accounts · LLAA01
  26. 2009-02-11
    ➕
    MAX BOX LIMITED appointed
    corporate-llp-member
  27. 2009-02-09
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As ASHTON SMITH LLP
  28. 2009-02-09
    ➕
    ASHTON, Mark David appointed
    llp-designated-member
  29. 2009-02-09
    ➕
    SMITH, Duncan Trevor Frederick appointed
    llp-designated-member

Owner dependency

50/100
Moderate — manageable with handover

Some founder dependency, but not acute. A structured handover period should cover most risk.

Succession & seller-readiness

40/100
Moderate signal

Some succession indicators present. Worth watching; approach if sector/strategy fits.

SIGNALS
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 17 years old and no new directors in the last 3 years — succession not yet being planned internally.

Red flags

clean
No red flags detected from available public data. (This is not a clean bill of health — detailed accounts review still recommended.)

Group structure

Max Box Limited holds 25-50% — a significant corporate investor but not a controlling parent.

🏛️
Max Box Limited
Corporate parent
⬇
ASHTON SMITH LLP
This company · OC343176

Parent relationships inferred from Persons with Significant Control filings. Full subsidiary tree requires reverse-lookup (coming).

Shareholders & ownership

3 active beneficial owners
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Max Box Limited
Corporate entity
—25–50%25-50% voting06/04/2016
Mr Mark David Ashton
Individual · British · DOB 05/1962 · age 64
—25–50%25-50% voting06/04/2016
Mr Duncan Trevor Frederick Smith
Individual · British · DOB 02/1954 · age 72
—25–50%25-50% voting06/04/2016

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

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
Typellp
Incorporated2009-02-09
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC—

Registered office

Belvedere House
2 Victoria Avenue
Harrogate
N Yorks
HG1 1EL

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-12-31
Last made up to: 2025-03-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-11-24
Last: 2025-11-10

Officers (3 active · 0 resigned)

ASHTON, Mark David→
llp-designated-member · ~64y · appointed 2009-02-09
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
SMITH, Duncan Trevor Frederick→
llp-designated-member · ~72y · appointed 2009-02-09
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
MAX BOX LIMITED→
corporate-llp-member · appointed 2009-02-11
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active

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

Recent filings (45 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · LLCS01
2025-11-10
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-09-17
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · LLCS01
2025-01-02
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-08-14
change-account-reference-date-limited-liability-partnership-previous-extended
accounts · LLAA01
2024-08-13
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · LLCS01
2024-02-27
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-08-16
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · LLCS01
2023-04-13
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-11-23
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · LLCS01
2022-05-12
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-09-07
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · LLCS01
2021-06-15
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-09-01
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · LLCS01
2020-07-13
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-08-29