ADTECH BUSINESS SYSTEMS LIMITED

💤Zombieactive
01318623 · ltd · incorporated 1977-06-23
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
—
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Turnover
—
year to Mar 2025
Net worth
£1.47M
book net assets
Opportunity
79/100
Strong
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What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 46660
Sector: Wholesale & retail
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 74-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 79/100 (strong), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (68/100, director aged 74). 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 39.3y

45/100
under pressure

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

  • · Oldest live charge is 39.3 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
  • · Distress signals active — lender appetite narrows.

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
1 charges (1/1 with lender, 1/1 with type)
90
Directors & officers
4 officers (2 active, 4 linked, 2 with DOB)
80
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
94 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
70
Strong succession / seller-readiness signals.
Risk profile
85
Few red flags.
Signal strength
100
Good data coverage for analysis.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · FRS 102
Positive net assets
Net assets £1,470,351
Net assets shrinking
Down £3,134 YoY
Cash YoY
-0%
Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
£1.5m
~ YoY
Net Worth
£1.5m
~ YoY
Current Assets
£1.5m
~ YoY
Current Liabilities
—
£0£295k£590k£884k£1.2m£1.5mMar 2024Mar 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102
Metric2025-03-312024-03-31
Total assets£1.47M£1.47M
Current assets£1.47M£1.47M
Cash£1.47M£1.47M
Debtors£202£223
Net assets£1.47M£1.47M

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
1
filing
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
Last 180 days
2
filings
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
  • • 1 accounts
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (20 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-12-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  2. 2025-01-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  3. 2023-12-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  4. 2022-12-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  5. 2021-12-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  6. 2020-12-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  7. 2019-12-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  8. 2018-12-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  9. 2018-06-20
    📄
    change-person-secretary-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH03
  10. 2018-06-20
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  11. 2018-02-22
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  12. 2017-02-21
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  13. 2016-04-11
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  14. 2016-01-10
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  15. 2016-01-08
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  16. 2014-07-28
    ➖
    RATCLIFFE, Alan resigned
    director
  17. 1994-08-15
    ➕
    RATCLIFFE, Christine appointed
    secretary
  18. 1994-08-15
    ➖
    TRAVERS, Michael Joseph resigned
    secretary
  19. 1987-02-19
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: Barclays Bank PLC
  20. 1977-06-23
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As ADTECH BUSINESS SYSTEMS LIMITED

Owner dependency

90/100
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.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 74 — succession pressure is live.

Succession & seller-readiness

85/100
Likely off-market candidate

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

SIGNALS
  • primaryFounder aged 70+: Senior director is approximately 74 years old. Natural succession window is now.
  • primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 49 years old and no new directors in the last 3 years — succession not yet being planned internally.

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
Mrs Christine Linda Ratcliffe
Individual · British · DOB 05/1952 · age 74
75–100%
—75-100% shares28/07/2016

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

8 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.

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Company details

Statusactive
Typeltd
Incorporated1977-06-23
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC46660 — SIC 46660

Registered office

North Warehouse North Warehouse
Gloucester Docks
Gloucester
Gloucestershire
GL1 2EP
England

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-12-31
Last made up to: 2025-03-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-03-08
Last: 2026-02-22

Officers (2 active · 2 resigned)

RATCLIFFE, Christine→
secretary · appointed 1994-08-15
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
RATCLIFFE, Christine Linda→
director · ~74y
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
TRAVERS, Michael Joseph→
secretary · resigned 1994-08-15
Resigned
RATCLIFFE, Alan→
director · ~94y · resigned 2014-07-28
Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

1
Total charges
1
Outstanding
1
Active lenders
Status:Lender:1 of 1 shown
TypeProperties
outstanding
Barclays
Barclays Bank PLC
Legal charge1 property19/02/1987—
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (94 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-03-08
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2025-12-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-02-25
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2025-01-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-03-28
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2023-12-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-02-28
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2022-12-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-02-22
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2021-12-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-03-04
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2020-12-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-03-03
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2019-12-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-03-08