EASTERN COUNTIES LUBRICANTS LIMITED

🌳Matureactive
02274581 · ltd · incorporated 1988-07-05
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 Mar 2025
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
80/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 99999
Sector: Extraterritorial bodies
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 82-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 80/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 82). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (73/100).

Data confidence

Overall: high (82/100)

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
10 officers (2 active, 10 linked, 7 with DOB)
84
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
13 connected companies via shared directors
84
Filing history
100 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£0Mar 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

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 (30 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-09-19
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-07-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  3. 2023-08-07
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  4. 2022-09-05
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  5. 2022-03-03
    📄
    termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM01
  6. 2022-02-28
    ➖
    CRABB, David resigned
    director
  7. 2021-11-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  8. 2021-02-22
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  9. 2019-12-12
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  10. 2019-04-08
    📄
    termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM01
  11. 2019-03-03
    ➖
    SMITH, Alan Terence resigned
    director
  12. 2018-11-12
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  13. 2018-09-14
    ➖
    BURTON, Kathryn Louise resigned
    secretary
  14. 2018-09-14
    📄
    termination-secretary-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM02
  15. 2017-11-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  16. 2016-12-13
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  17. 2015-12-14
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  18. 2015-09-21
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  19. 2007-01-25
    ➕
    BOTTOM, Nigel Robert appointed
    director
  20. 2002-10-03
    ➕
    BURTON, Kathryn Louise appointed
    secretary
  21. 2002-10-03
    ➖
    SMITH, Alan Terence resigned
    secretary
  22. 1998-05-26
    ➖
    BISHOP, Christine resigned
    secretary
  23. 1998-05-26
    ➕
    SMITH, Alan Terence appointed
    secretary
  24. 1993-06-23
    ➕
    BOTTOM, Geoffrey appointed
    director
  25. 1993-06-23
    ➕
    BISHOP, Christine appointed
    secretary
  26. 1993-06-23
    ➖
    CANHAM, Cecil resigned
    director
  27. 1993-06-23
    ➖
    CRABB, David resigned
    director
  28. 1993-06-23
    ➕
    SMITH, Alan Terence appointed
    director
  29. 1993-06-23
    ➖
    STUBBS, William Rowland resigned
    director
  30. 1988-07-05
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As EASTERN COUNTIES LUBRICANTS LIMITED

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 33 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 82 — 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 candidate

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

SIGNALS
  • primaryFounder aged 70+: Senior director is approximately 82 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 33 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 38 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.)

Group structure

Witham Oil & Paint (Soham) Limited is the ultimate parent — holding 75%+ shares. This company sits inside their group.

🏛️
Witham Oil & Paint (Soham) Limited
Corporate parent · holds 75-100% shares · board control
ultimate parent
⬇
EASTERN COUNTIES LUBRICANTS LIMITED
This company · 02274581

Parent relationships inferred from Persons with Significant Control filings. Full subsidiary tree requires reverse-lookup (coming).

Shareholders & ownership

1 active beneficial owner · dominant holder ≥75%
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Witham Oil & Paint (Soham) Limited
Corporate entity
75–100%
75–100%board controlsig. influence75-100% shares · 75-100% voting · board control · significant influence06/04/2016

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.

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Company details

Statusactive
Typeltd
Incorporated1988-07-05
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC99999 — SIC 99999

Registered office

Outer Circle Road
Lincoln
LN2 4HL

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-12-31
Last made up to: 2025-03-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-09-14
Last: 2025-08-31

Officers (2 active · 8 resigned)

BOTTOM, Geoffrey→
director · ~82y · appointed 1993-06-23
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
BOTTOM, Nigel Robert→
director · ~51y · appointed 2007-01-25
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
BISHOP, Christine→
secretary · appointed 1993-06-23 · resigned 1998-05-26
Resigned
BURTON, Kathryn Louise→
secretary · appointed 2002-10-03 · resigned 2018-09-14
Resigned
SMITH, Alan Terence→
secretary · appointed 1998-05-26 · resigned 2002-10-03
Resigned
CANHAM, Cecil→
director · ~100y · resigned 1993-06-23
Resigned
CRABB, David→
director · ~72y · resigned 2022-02-28
Resigned
CRABB, David→
director · ~72y · resigned 1993-06-23
Resigned
SMITH, Alan Terence→
director · ~81y · appointed 1993-06-23 · resigned 2019-03-03
Resigned
STUBBS, William Rowland→
director · ~94y · resigned 1993-06-23
Resigned

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

Recent filings (100 total)

accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2025-09-19
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-09-08
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-09-10
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2024-07-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-09-13
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2023-08-07
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-09-12
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2022-09-05
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2022-03-03
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2021-11-29
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-09-02
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-02-22
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-09-08
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2019-12-12
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-09-05