BACK STAGE ENGINEERING LTD

💤Zombieactive
02471475 · ltd · incorporated 1990-02-19
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
£-10.5k
book net assets
Opportunity
79/100
Strong
🔔
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What this business does
Primary activity: Other retail sale of new goods in specialised stores (other than commercial art galleries and opticians)
Sector: Wholesale & retail
Investor take
Pass (distressed without resilience)
Distressed active trading company — structural issues outweigh the discount.

Opportunity 79/100 (strong), bankability 85/100. High owner-dependency — earn-out structure likely required for clean transition. Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Cash flow review and working-capital discipline. Cash down -80% YoY — forensic review of receivables, stock turns, and creditor days. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (73/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

1 live charge · oldest 26.0y

45/100
under pressure

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

  • · Oldest live charge is 26.0 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
  • · Distress signals active — lender appetite narrows.

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
1 charges (1/1 with lender, 1/1 with type)
90
Directors & officers
4 officers (1 active, 4 linked, 2 with DOB)
80
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
7 connected companies via shared directors
66
Filing history
95 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 · accounting standard not declared
Negative net assets
Liabilities exceed assets by £10,530
Cash draining
Cash down 80% YoY
Cash YoY
-80%
Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
£116
↓ 80% YoY
Net Worth
-£11k
↓ 12% YoY
Current Assets
£3k
↓ 26% YoY
Current Liabilities
-£11k-£8k-£5k-£2k£848£4kMar 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
Total assets£-9.8k£-8.7k
Current assets£2.7k£3.7k
Cash£116£592
Debtors£2.6k£3.1k
Net assets£-10.5k£-9.4k

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
1
filing
  • 1 confirmation-statement
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (24 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-11-06
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-12-20
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  3. 2024-03-04
    📄
    change-account-reference-date-company-current-shortened
    accounts · AA01
  4. 2024-01-10
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  5. 2023-03-01
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  6. 2023-01-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  7. 2022-04-07
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  8. 2021-10-19
    📄
    termination-secretary-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM02
  9. 2021-10-12
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  10. 2021-10-08
    COLLER, Brian Quentin resigned
    secretary
  11. 2020-11-17
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  12. 2019-10-22
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  13. 2019-03-05
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  14. 2019-02-20
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  15. 2018-10-12
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  16. 2018-02-21
    📄
    change-person-secretary-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH03
  17. 2018-02-21
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  18. 2013-09-24
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #1
  19. 2005-02-11
    COLLER, Brian Quentin appointed
    secretary
  20. 2005-02-11
    HICKMAN, Sarah Elizabeth resigned
    secretary
  21. 2004-02-20
    BREDDY, Sean Alexander resigned
    director
  22. 2000-12-22
    BREDDY, Sean Alexander appointed
    director
  23. 2000-07-07
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: Lloyds Tsb Bank PLC
  24. 1990-02-19
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As BACK STAGE ENGINEERING LTD

Owner dependency

83/100
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.
  • +Senior director age: Director aged approximately 62 — approaching natural succession window.

Succession & seller-readiness

65/100
Strong succession signal

Multiple signals suggest succession is on the horizon. Candidate for proactive outreach.

SIGNALS
  • secondaryFounder aged 58+: Senior director is approximately 62. Early succession window.
  • primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 36 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.)

Group structure

Parallel House (Group) Limited is the ultimate parent — holding 75%+ shares. This company sits inside their group.

🏛️
Parallel House (Group) Limited
Corporate parent · holds 75-100% shares · board control
ultimate parent
BACK STAGE ENGINEERING LTD
This company · 02471475

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
Parallel House (Group) Limited
Corporate entity
75100%
75–100%board control75-100% shares · 75-100% voting · board control06/04/2016

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
Incorporated1990-02-19
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC47789 — Other retail sale of new goods in specialised stores (other than commercial art galleries and opticians)

Registered office

Unit 6 Redman Business Centre
Redman Road
Calne
Wiltshire
SN11 9RA
England

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-12-31
Last made up to: 2025-03-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-03-05
Last: 2026-02-19

Officers (1 active · 3 resigned)

COLLER, John Alan
director · ~62y
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
COLLER, Brian Quentin
secretary · appointed 2005-02-11 · resigned 2021-10-08
Resigned
HICKMAN, Sarah Elizabeth
secretary · resigned 2005-02-11
Resigned
BREDDY, Sean Alexander
director · ~49y · appointed 2000-12-22 · resigned 2004-02-20
Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

1
Total charges
0
Outstanding
0
Active lenders
Status:Lender:1 of 1 shown
TypeProperties
satisfied
Lloyds Banking Group
Lloyds Tsb Bank PLC
Debenture1 property07/07/200024/09/2013

Recent filings (95 total)

confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-02-19
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-11-06
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-02-19
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-12-20
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-03-04
change-account-reference-date-company-current-shortened
accounts · AA01
2024-03-04
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-01-10
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-03-01
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2023-03-01
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-01-31
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2022-04-07
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-02-25
termination-secretary-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM02
2021-10-19
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-10-12
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-02-24