ABBEY GALLERIES (WHITBY) LIMITED
🌳Matureactive
00828487 · ltd · incorporated 1964-11-24
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
hardening · 12-months
Already tight — no obvious softening catalysts on the horizon.
- · Thesis: well-run, low negotiation leverage
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Mar 2025
Net worth
£13.4k
book net assets
Opportunity
79/100
Strong
What this business does
Primary activity: Other retail sale in non-specialised stores
Sector: Wholesale & retail
Investor take
PursueAsset-holding vehicle with a 84-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.
Opportunity 79/100 (strong), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (63/100, director aged 84). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).
Data confidence
Overall: medium (77/100)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
Confirmed no charges registered
85
Directors & officers
4 officers (4 active, 4 linked, 3 with DOB)
85
Ownership & PSC
3 active PSC(s) of 3 total, 3 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
99 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
79/100Strong
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional
Solid opportunity signal. Worth a dedicated memo and management meeting.
Business quality
70
Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.
Acquirability
75
Strong succession / seller-readiness signals.
Risk profile
85
Few red flags.
Signal strength
90
Good data coverage for analysis.
Signals from accounts
Derived from iXBRL accounts · FRS 105 (micro)Positive net assets
Net assets £13,448
Net assets shrinking
Down £1,296 YoY
Key financials
2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accountsCash
—
Net Worth
£13k
↓ 8.8% YoY
Current Assets
£48k
~ YoY
Current Liabilities
—
Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series
Financials
Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 105 (micro)| Metric | 2025-03-31 | 2024-03-31 |
|---|---|---|
| Total assets | £16.9k | £21.2k |
| Current assets | £48.4k | £48.6k |
| Net assets | £13.4k | £14.7k |
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
2
filings
- • 2 confirmation-statement
Last 180 days
6
filings
- • 3 officers
- • 2 confirmation-statement
- • 1 persons-with-significant-control
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (17 events)Click to expand
- 2026-03-07📄replacement-filing-of-confirmation-statement-with-made-up-dateconfirmation-statement · RP01CS01
- 2025-11-14📄change-to-a-person-with-significant-controlpersons-with-significant-control · PSC04
- 2025-11-14📄change-person-director-company-with-change-dateofficers · CH01
- 2025-11-14📄change-person-director-company-with-change-dateofficers · CH01
- 2025-11-14📄change-person-secretary-company-with-change-dateofficers · CH03
- 2025-09-22📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2024-07-29📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2023-10-25📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2022-09-12📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2021-05-19📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2020-07-15📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2019-07-08📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2018-06-19📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2017-05-31📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2016-08-22📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2012-04-01➕FOX-FREEMAN, Robert James appointeddirector
- 1964-11-24🏢Company incorporatedAs ABBEY GALLERIES (WHITBY) LIMITED
Owner dependency
73/100
High — earn-out structure requiredMaterial founder dependency. Consider a 2-3 year earn-out and build in a handover plan before completion.
FACTORS
- +Founder age: Director aged approximately 84 — succession pressure is live.
- +Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.
Succession & seller-readiness
83/100
Likely off-market candidateStrong acquirability signals converging. Worth approaching directly — this is how off-market deals start.
SIGNALS
- primaryFounder aged 70+: Senior director is approximately 84 years old. Natural succession window is now.
- secondary12+ year tenure: Director in role 14 years.
- secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 61 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
cleanNo red flags detected from available public data. (This is not a clean bill of health — detailed accounts review still recommended.)
Shareholders & ownership
3 active beneficial owners| Name | Shares | Voting rights | Nature of control | Notified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Mr John Freeman Individual · British · DOB 07/1942 · age 84 | — | 25–50% | 25-50% voting | 06/04/2016 |
Mr Robert James Fox-Freeman Individual · British · DOB 03/1977 · age 49 | 25–50% | 25–50% | 25-50% shares · 25-50% voting | 06/04/2016 |
Mrs Shirley Anne Freeman Individual · British · DOB 02/1943 · age 83 | 25–50% | 25–50% | 25-50% shares · 25-50% voting | 06/04/2016 |
From Companies House Persons with Significant Control filings. Share ranges are banded per the public PSC regime.
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| 7MEDALMOUNTING LTD→ 12613377 · est 2020 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 5y | — | — |
| 8 THOUSAND LIMITED→ 17080963 · est 2026 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 8RCC LIMITED→ 14903157 · est 2023 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 2y | — | — |
| A.C.J. INDUSTRIAL LIMITED→ 01194772 · est 1974 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 51y | — | — |
| A.F.5 DESIGN & PRINT LTD→ 11205810 · est 2018 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 8y | — | — |
| A.J. STREFFORD (SCARBOROUGH) LIMITED→ 02893898 · est 1994 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 32y | — | — |
| AAA INTEGRATIONS PVT LTD→ 14671707 · est 2023 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 3y | — | — |
| ABELO LTD→ 09173632 · est 2014 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 11y | — | — |
| ABLE-TO-ENABLE LIMITED→ 03665932 · est 1998 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 27y | — | — |
Peers ranked by estimated value, then turnover, then opportunity score.See all →
🔒Tailored diligence questions
7 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
Incorporated1964-11-24
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC47190 — Other retail sale in non-specialised stores
Registered office
10 Market Place
Whitby
North Yorkshire
YO22 4DD
Filing status
Accounts
Next due: 2026-12-31
Last made up to: 2025-03-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-03-01
Last: 2026-02-15
Officers (4 active · 0 resigned)
Active
FOX-FREEMAN, Robert James→
Activedirector · ~49y · appointed 2012-04-01
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
Active
Click a director name to see their full track record across all companies.
Recent filings (99 total)
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-03-09
replacement-filing-of-confirmation-statement-with-made-up-date
confirmation-statement · RP01CS01
2026-03-07
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2025-11-14
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2025-11-14
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2025-11-14
change-person-secretary-company-with-change-date
officers · CH03
2025-11-14
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-09-22
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-02-18
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-07-29
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-02-15
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-10-25
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-02-15
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-09-12
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-02-15
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-05-19