4 MATION EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES LIMITED

💤Zombieactive

01839697 · ltd · incorporated 1984-08-09

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 May 2025

Net worth

—

book net assets

Opportunity

82/100

Exceptional

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What this business does

Primary activity: Other software publishing

Sector: Information & communication

Investor take

Pursue

Active trading company with a 60-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (70/100, director aged 60). 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 17.2y

45/100

under pressure

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

· Oldest live charge is 17.2 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, 1 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

5 officers (1 active, 5 linked, 4 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared

Director network

Network not yet resolved

Filing history

102 filings on record

Gazette notices

No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)

Opportunity Score

82/100Exceptional

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.

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts

Cash

—

Net Worth

—

Current Assets

—

Current Liabilities

—

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown

Metric	2025-05-31	2024-05-31
Average employees	1	100

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

filings

Last 90 days

filing

• 1 accounts

Last 180 days

filing

• 1 accounts

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (23 events)Click to expand

2026-02-27
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-02-28
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-02-28
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-02-27
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-05-31
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-05-31
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2020-02-28
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2019-02-28
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2018-02-28
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2017-02-28
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2016-11-29
📍
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2016-02-26
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2015-07-28
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2015-02-28
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2014-08-12
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2009-02-24
🔒
Charge registered #1
Lender: Barclays Bank PLC
2008-05-31
➖
SOUCH, Neil William resigned
secretary
2005-05-31
➖
SOUCH, Jean Margaret resigned
director
2005-05-31
➖
SOUCH, Neil William resigned
director
2005-02-22
➕
MCKAY, Robert Harvey appointed
director
1996-03-29
➕
SOUCH, Jean Margaret appointed
director
1996-01-24
➖
MATSON, Michael John resigned
director
1984-08-09
🏢
Company incorporated
As 4 MATION EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES LIMITED

Owner dependency

93/100

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 21 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
+Senior director age: Director aged approximately 60 — approaching natural succession window.

Succession & seller-readiness

85/100

Likely off-market candidate

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

SIGNALS

secondaryFounder aged 58+: Senior director is approximately 60. Early succession window.
primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 21 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 42 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%

Name	Shares	Voting rights	Nature of control	Notified
Mr Robert Harvey Mckay Individual · British · DOB 12/1966 · age 60	75–100%	75–100%	board control75-100% shares · 75-100% voting · board control	14/07/2016

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

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

Incorporated1984-08-09

Jurisdictionengland-wales

Primary SIC58290 — Other software publishing

Registered office

12 High Street

Torrington

Devon

EX38 8HN

England

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2027-02-28

Last made up to: 2025-05-31

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2026-07-28

Last: 2025-07-14

Officers (1 active · 4 resigned)

MCKAY, Robert Harvey→

director · ~60y · appointed 2005-02-22

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

SOUCH, Neil William→

secretary · resigned 2008-05-31

Resigned

MATSON, Michael John→

director · ~80y · resigned 1996-01-24

Resigned

SOUCH, Jean Margaret→

director · ~82y · appointed 1996-03-29 · resigned 2005-05-31

Resigned

SOUCH, Neil William→

director · ~83y · resigned 2005-05-31

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	Barclays Barclays Bank PLC	Debenture	1 property	24/02/2009	—

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