AUTO-VENT SHEET METAL CO LTD

💤Zombieactive
00560169 · ltd · incorporated 1956-01-18
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
75/100
Strong
🔔
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What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 99999
Sector: Extraterritorial bodies
Investor take
Pursue
Strong opportunity: active trading company with strong profile and bankable structure.

Opportunity 75/100 (strong), bankability 75/100. High owner-dependency — earn-out structure likely required for clean transition. Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Broaden director team. Sole director creates succession risk and reduces buyer comfort. Appoint a second director or strong #2. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (58/100).

Data confidence

Overall: high (80/100)

Strong data coverage across all sections. AI outputs should be trusted with minimal caveats.

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
8 officers (2 active, 8 linked, 5 with DOB)
83
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
6 connected companies via shared directors
63
Filing history
97 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
75/100Strong
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional 

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

Business quality
70
Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.
Acquirability
60
Some acquirability indicators.
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£0Mar 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
Average employees200200

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. 2025-11-17
    📄
    termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM01
  2. 2025-11-14
    ➖
    GRAY, Victor resigned
    director
  3. 2025-11-13
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  4. 2025-04-02
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  5. 2025-04-02
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  6. 2024-12-11
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  7. 2023-12-02
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  8. 2022-12-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  9. 2021-12-08
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  10. 2020-12-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  11. 2019-12-06
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  12. 2018-12-01
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  13. 2017-12-10
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  14. 2017-01-01
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  15. 2017-01-01
    📄
    change-person-secretary-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH03
  16. 2017-01-01
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  17. 2008-12-31
    ➕
    GRAY, Lee Martin appointed
    secretary
  18. 2008-12-31
    ➖
    JONES, William Derek resigned
    secretary
  19. 2002-01-19
    ➕
    GRAY, Lee Martin appointed
    director
  20. 1999-07-01
    ➕
    JONES, William Derek appointed
    secretary
  21. 1999-07-01
    ➖
    WILCOX, Edward George resigned
    secretary
  22. 1997-01-06
    ➖
    CASEWELL, Bernard Edgar resigned
    director
  23. 1997-01-06
    ➖
    JONES, William Derek resigned
    director
  24. 1993-02-08
    ➖
    SELLARS, David Barry resigned
    director
  25. 1956-01-18
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As AUTO-VENT SHEET METAL CO LTD

Owner dependency

85/100
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 24 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.

Succession & seller-readiness

75/100
Likely off-market candidate

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

SIGNALS
  • primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
  • primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 24 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 70 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
Mr Lee Martin Gray
Individual · British · DOB 02/1977 · age 49
75–100%
—75-100% shares06/04/2016

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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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
Incorporated1956-01-18
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC99999 — SIC 99999

Registered office

First Floor Sandbach Road
Cobridge
Stoke On Trent
Staffs
ST6 2DG

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-12-31
Last made up to: 2025-03-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-12-01
Last: 2025-11-17

Officers (2 active · 6 resigned)

GRAY, Lee Martin→
secretary · appointed 2008-12-31
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
GRAY, Lee Martin→
director · ~49y · appointed 2002-01-19
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
JONES, William Derek→
secretary · appointed 1999-07-01 · resigned 2008-12-31
Resigned
WILCOX, Edward George→
secretary · resigned 1999-07-01
Resigned
CASEWELL, Bernard Edgar→
director · ~93y · resigned 1997-01-06
Resigned
GRAY, Victor→
director · ~86y · resigned 2025-11-14
Resigned
JONES, William Derek→
director · ~92y · resigned 1997-01-06
Resigned
SELLARS, David Barry→
director · ~87y · resigned 1993-02-08
Resigned

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

Recent filings (97 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-11-17
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2025-11-17
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-11-13
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2025-04-02
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2025-04-02
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-12-31
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-12-11
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-01-02
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-12-02
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-12-31
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-12-26
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-12-31
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-12-08
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2020-12-31
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-12-31