THE FINANCE DEPARTMENT (STROUD) LTD

🌳Matureactive
03214866 · ltd · incorporated 1996-06-21
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 Jun 2025
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
80/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: Bookkeeping activities
Sector: Professional, scientific & technical
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 67-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 80/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 67). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

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
75
Lenders & charges
Confirmed no charges registered
85
Directors & officers
5 officers (3 active, 5 linked, 2 with DOB)
78
Ownership & PSC
2 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared
90
Director network
2 connected companies via shared directors
51
Filing history
77 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
80/100Exceptional
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
90
Good data coverage for analysis.

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
—
Net Worth
—
Current Assets
—
Current Liabilities
—
£0£0£0£0£0£0Jun 2024Jun 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2025-06-302024-06-30

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

Recent activity

Last 30 days
1
filing
  • • 1 accounts
Last 90 days
1
filing
  • • 1 accounts
Last 180 days
1
filing
  • • 1 accounts
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (24 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-03-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  2. 2025-04-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  3. 2024-04-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  4. 2023-06-26
    📄
    notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
  5. 2023-01-16
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  6. 2022-07-19
    📄
    gazette-filings-brought-up-to-date
    gazette · DISS40
  7. 2022-06-28
    📄
    gazette-notice-compulsory
    gazette · GAZ1
  8. 2022-04-17
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  9. 2021-05-14
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  10. 2020-01-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  11. 2019-04-12
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  12. 2018-09-21
    📄
    notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
  13. 2018-03-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  14. 2017-09-13
    📄
    gazette-filings-brought-up-to-date
    gazette · DISS40
  15. 2017-09-12
    📄
    gazette-notice-compulsory
    gazette · GAZ1
  16. 2017-03-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  17. 1996-06-27
    ➕
    MCSWEENEY, Michael Joseph appointed
    secretary
  18. 1996-06-27
    ➕
    MCSWEENEY, Michael Joseph appointed
    director
  19. 1996-06-27
    ➕
    MCSWEENEY, Ruth Margaret appointed
    director
  20. 1996-06-25
    ➖
    FORM 10 SECRETARIES FD LTD resigned
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  21. 1996-06-25
    ➖
    FORM 10 DIRECTORS FD LTD resigned
    corporate-nominee-director
  22. 1996-06-21
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As THE FINANCE DEPARTMENT (STROUD) LTD
  23. 1996-06-21
    ➕
    FORM 10 SECRETARIES FD LTD appointed
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  24. 1996-06-21
    ➕
    FORM 10 DIRECTORS FD LTD appointed
    corporate-nominee-director

Owner dependency

91/100
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
  • +Two-director setup: Only two active directors — typical of owner-managed SMEs but limits succession.
  • +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 30 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 67 — succession pressure is live.
  • +Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

Succession & seller-readiness

86/100
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 67. Approaching typical UK retirement age — succession thinking likely.
  • secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
  • primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 30 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 30 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

2 active beneficial owners
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mrs Ruth Margaret Mcsweeney
Individual · British · DOB 01/1959 · age 67
25–50%
—25-50% shares01/07/2022
Mr Michael Joseph Mcsweeney
Individual · British · DOB 07/1959 · age 67
25–50%
—25-50% shares21/06/2016

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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———————
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
Incorporated1996-06-21
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC69202 — Bookkeeping activities

Registered office

Priory House
12 Belle Vue Road
Stroud
Glos
GL5 1JT

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2027-03-31
Last made up to: 2025-06-30
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-08-15
Last: 2025-08-01

Officers (3 active · 2 resigned)

MCSWEENEY, Michael Joseph→
secretary · appointed 1996-06-27
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
MCSWEENEY, Michael Joseph→
director · ~67y · appointed 1996-06-27
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
MCSWEENEY, Ruth Margaret→
director · ~67y · appointed 1996-06-27
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
FORM 10 SECRETARIES FD LTD→
corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 1996-06-21 · resigned 1996-06-25
Resigned
FORM 10 DIRECTORS FD LTD→
corporate-nominee-director · appointed 1996-06-21 · resigned 1996-06-25
Resigned

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

Recent filings (77 total)

accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2026-03-26
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-08-01
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2025-04-28
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-07-24
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-04-28
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-09-13
notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
2023-06-26
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-01-16
gazette-filings-brought-up-to-date
gazette · DISS40
2022-07-19
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-07-17
gazette-notice-compulsory
gazette · GAZ1
2022-06-28
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-04-17
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-05-14
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-05-14
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-04-21