DENMANS OF WHITCHURCH LIMITED
🌳Matureactive
00863133 · ltd · incorporated 1965-11-03
Investment thesis
Established operating company — standard diligence applies, no dominant angle.
Why interesting: Live, filing, normal profile.
Why risky: No standout signals in either direction.
Opportunity decay
approaching window · 12-months
Approaching a transaction window — refinance or sale event plausible in the next 12 months.
- · Oldest live charge 27.7y old — refinance window within 12 months
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Mar 2025
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
79/100
Strong
What this business does
Primary activity: Freight transport by road
Sector: Transportation & storage
Investor take
PursueActive trading company with a 88-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.
Opportunity 79/100 (strong), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 88). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Discharge stale live charges. 2 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
2 live charges · 2 lenders · oldest 27.7y
50/100
clean up first
Refinance viable after a tidy-up — address the highlighted items first.
- · Oldest live charge is 27.7 years old — likely at or near maturity.
- · Two lenders — manageable, but coordination required.
- · Legal-friction score 25/100 — workable, but lender will want more DD.
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
2 charges (2/2 with lender, 2/2 with type)
90
Directors & officers
4 officers (2 active, 4 linked, 3 with DOB)
85
Ownership & PSC
2 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
96 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
80
Strong succession / seller-readiness signals.
Risk profile
77
Few red flags.
Signal strength
100
Good data coverage for analysis.
Key financials
2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accountsCash
—
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 | 2025-03-31 | 2024-03-31 |
|---|---|---|
| Average employees | 14 | 1400 |
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
0
filings
Last 180 days
3
filings
- • 2 officers
- • 1 confirmation-statement
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (21 events)Click to expand
- 2026-03-23➖DENMAN, Carol Ann resignedsecretary
- 2026-03-23➖DENMAN, Carol Ann resigneddirector
- 2026-03-23📄termination-director-company-with-name-termination-dateofficers · TM01
- 2026-03-23📄termination-secretary-company-with-name-termination-dateofficers · TM02
- 2025-11-13📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2024-12-17📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2023-12-07📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2022-11-11📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2021-12-23📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2020-11-18📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2019-11-11📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2019-03-27📄change-to-a-person-with-significant-controlpersons-with-significant-control · PSC04
- 2019-03-27📄notification-of-a-person-with-significant-controlpersons-with-significant-control · PSC01
- 2018-09-11📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2018-03-26📍change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-addressaddress · AD01
- 2018-01-11📍change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-addressaddress · AD01
- 2017-09-11📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2004-05-14🔒Charge registered #2Lender: National Westminster Bank PLC
- 1998-12-04🔒Charge registered #1Lender: Barclays Bank PLC
- 1998-06-15➕DENMAN, Julian Marc appointeddirector
- 1965-11-03🏢Company incorporatedAs DENMANS OF WHITCHURCH LIMITED
Owner dependency
100/100
Critical — business is the founderThe 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.
- +Founder name in company name: Company name contains director surname "DENMAN" — strong identity link between founder and business.
- +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 28 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
- +Founder age: Director aged approximately 88 — succession pressure is live.
- +Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.
Succession & seller-readiness
96/100
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 88 years old. Natural succession window is now.
- secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
- primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 28 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
- 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
1 med ·2 director resignations in last 12 months
mediumMultiple recent departures can indicate governance disagreement, succession event, or preparation for sale/stress.
Evidence: DENMAN, Carol Ann resigned 2026-03-23; DENMAN, Carol Ann resigned 2026-03-23
Shareholders & ownership
2 active beneficial owners · dominant holder ≥75%| Name | Shares | Voting rights | Nature of control | Notified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Julian Marc Denman Individual · British · DOB 03/1968 · age 58 | 75–100% | 75–100% | sig. influence75-100% shares · 75-100% voting · significant influence · firm interest | 25/03/2019 |
Romney Gibson Denman Individual · British · DOB 04/1938 · age 88 | — | — | sig. influencesignificant influence · firm interest | 06/04/2016 |
From Companies House Persons with Significant Control filings. Share ranges are banded per the public PSC regime.
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| DAVIES DRIVER HIRE LIMITED→ 04517353 · est 2002 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 23y | — | — |
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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
Incorporated1965-11-03
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC49410 — Freight transport by road
Registered office
18 Chester Road
Whitchurch
SY13 1ND
England
Filing status
Accounts
Next due: 2026-12-31
Last made up to: 2025-03-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-04-09
Last: 2026-03-26
Officers (2 active · 2 resigned)
DENMAN, Julian Marc→
Activedirector · ~58y · appointed 1998-06-15
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
DENMAN, Carol Ann→
Resignedsecretary · resigned 2026-03-23
DENMAN, Carol Ann→
Resigneddirector · ~85y · resigned 2026-03-23
Click a director name to see their full track record across all companies.
Mortgages & charges
2
Total charges
2
Outstanding
2
Active lenders
Status:Lender:2 of 2 shown
| Type | Properties | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| outstanding | National Westminster Bank National Westminster Bank PLC | Legal charge of commercial premises | 1 property | 14/05/2004 | — | |
| outstanding | Barclays Barclays Bank PLC | Legal charge | 1 property | 04/12/1998 | — |
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.
Recent filings (96 total)
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-03-31
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2026-03-23
termination-secretary-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM02
2026-03-23
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-11-13
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-04-03
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-12-17
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-04-02
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-12-07
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-03-27
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-11-11
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-03-29
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-12-23
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-03-31
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2020-11-18
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-04-09