CHELTENHAM PUBLICATIONS LTD

💤Zombieactive
SC325177 · ltd · incorporated 2007-06-08
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 Jun 2024
Net worth
£6.3k
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: Book publishing
Sector: Information & communication
ALSO REGISTERED FOR
  • 58190Other publishing activities
  • 85510Sports and recreation education
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 69-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 69). 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: share sale to pe / searcher (73/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

1 live charge · oldest 18.3y

45/100
under pressure

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

  • · Oldest live charge is 18.3 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
  • · Distress signals active — lender appetite narrows.

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
1 charges (1/1 with lender, 1/1 with type)
90
Directors & officers
5 officers (2 active, 5 linked, 1 with DOB)
74
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
54 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
82/100Exceptional
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional 

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

Business quality
70
Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.
Acquirability
80
Strong succession / seller-readiness signals.
Risk profile
85
Few red 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 £6,312
Net assets shrinking
Down £6,628 YoY

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
—
Net Worth
£6k
↓ 51% YoY
Current Assets
£32k
↑ 25% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
£0£6k£13k£19k£25k£32kJun 2023Jun 2024

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2024-06-302023-06-30
Total assets£6.3k£12.9k
Current assets£31.8k£25.5k
Net assets£6.3k£12.9k

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 (25 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-03-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-03-19
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  3. 2024-02-19
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  4. 2023-03-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  5. 2022-08-03
    ✏️
    certificate-change-of-name-company
    change-of-name · CERTNM
  6. 2022-03-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  7. 2022-03-29
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  8. 2021-03-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  9. 2020-06-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  10. 2019-06-24
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  11. 2019-06-24
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  12. 2019-03-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  13. 2019-01-09
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  14. 2018-03-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  15. 2017-07-19
    📄
    notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
  16. 2011-03-23
    ➕
    EVANS, George Anthony appointed
    secretary
  17. 2011-03-23
    ➖
    EDWARDS, Martin Stephens resigned
    secretary
  18. 2008-01-11
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: Capital Home Loans Limited
  19. 2007-06-08
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As CHELTENHAM PUBLICATIONS LTD
  20. 2007-06-08
    ➕
    EVANS, Anthony William appointed
    director
  21. 2007-06-08
    ➕
    EDWARDS, Martin Stephens appointed
    secretary
  22. 2007-06-08
    ➕
    BRIAN REID LTD. appointed
    corporate-secretary
  23. 2007-06-08
    ➖
    BRIAN REID LTD. resigned
    corporate-secretary
  24. 2007-06-08
    ➕
    STEPHEN MABBOTT LTD. appointed
    corporate-director
  25. 2007-06-08
    ➖
    STEPHEN MABBOTT LTD. resigned
    corporate-director

Owner dependency

100/100
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 19 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 69 — succession pressure is live.

Succession & seller-readiness

88/100
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 69. Approaching typical UK retirement age — succession thinking likely.
  • primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
  • secondary12+ year tenure: Director in role 19 years.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 19 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

1 active beneficial owner · dominant holder ≥75%
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Anthony William Evans
Individual · British · DOB 10/1957 · age 69
75–100%
75–100%75-100% shares · 75-100% voting06/04/2016

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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———————
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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
Incorporated2007-06-08
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC58110 — Book publishing

Registered office

18 Stafford Street
Tain
IV19 1AZ
Scotland

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-06-30
Last made up to: 2024-06-30
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-08-15
Last: 2025-08-01

Officers (2 active · 3 resigned)

EVANS, George Anthony→
secretary · appointed 2011-03-23
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
EVANS, Anthony William→
director · ~69y · appointed 2007-06-08
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
EDWARDS, Martin Stephens→
secretary · appointed 2007-06-08 · resigned 2011-03-23
Resigned
BRIAN REID LTD.→
corporate-secretary · appointed 2007-06-08 · resigned 2007-06-08
Resigned
STEPHEN MABBOTT LTD.→
corporate-director · appointed 2007-06-08 · resigned 2007-06-08
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
Capital Home Loans
Capital Home Loans Limited
Deed of charge1 property11/01/2008—
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (54 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-08-20
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-03-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-08-05
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-03-19
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2024-02-19
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-08-01
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-03-28
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-08-03
certificate-change-of-name-company
change-of-name · CERTNM
2022-08-03
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-06-08
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-03-30
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2022-03-29
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-06-08
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-03-29
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2020-06-29