AUTO CARE EXPRESS LIMITED

💤Zombieactive
02810891 · ltd · incorporated 1993-04-20
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 Jan 2025
Net worth
£-18.3k
book net assets
Opportunity
80/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: Retail trade of motor vehicle parts and accessories
Sector: Wholesale & retail
Investor take
Pass (distressed without resilience)
Distressed active trading company — structural issues outweigh the discount.

Opportunity 80/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (70/100, director aged 60). 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 (73/100).

Data confidence

Overall: medium (79/100)

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
Confirmed no charges registered
85
Directors & officers
6 officers (2 active, 6 linked, 2 with DOB)
77
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
78 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.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · FRS 105 (micro)
Negative net assets
Liabilities exceed assets by £18,344

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
—
Net Worth
-£18k
Current Assets
£4k
Current Liabilities
—
-£18k-£14k-£10k-£5k-£696£4kJan 2024Jan 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 105 (micro)
Metric2025-01-312024-01-31
Total assets£-18.3k—
Current assets£3.7k—
Net assets£-18.3k—
Average employees—200

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
1
filing
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
Last 180 days
3
filings
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
  • • 1 officers
  • • 1 address
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (24 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-01-19
    📄
    appoint-person-secretary-company-with-name-date
    officers · AP03
  2. 2026-01-19
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  3. 2026-01-16
    ➕
    DE LORD, Annabelle appointed
    secretary
  4. 2025-10-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  5. 2024-10-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  6. 2024-02-03
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  7. 2023-10-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  8. 2022-10-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  9. 2021-10-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  10. 2020-10-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  11. 2020-05-03
    📄
    termination-secretary-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM02
  12. 2020-05-03
    📄
    termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM01
  13. 2019-10-18
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  14. 2019-05-01
    ➖
    DE LORD, Bernard Pereira resigned
    secretary
  15. 2019-05-01
    ➖
    DE LORD, Bernard Pereira resigned
    director
  16. 2018-09-04
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  17. 2017-10-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  18. 2016-09-13
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  19. 1993-04-20
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As AUTO CARE EXPRESS LIMITED
  20. 1993-04-20
    ➕
    DE LORD, Clifford Peter appointed
    director
  21. 1993-04-20
    ➕
    ELK COMPANY SECRETARIES LIMITED appointed
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  22. 1993-04-20
    ➖
    ELK COMPANY SECRETARIES LIMITED resigned
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  23. 1993-04-20
    ➕
    ELK (NOMINEES) LIMITED appointed
    corporate-nominee-director
  24. 1993-04-20
    ➖
    ELK (NOMINEES) LIMITED resigned
    corporate-nominee-director

Owner dependency

93/100
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 33 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Senior director age: Director aged approximately 60 — approaching natural succession window.

Succession & seller-readiness

75/100
Likely off-market candidate

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

SIGNALS
  • secondaryFounder aged 58+: Senior director is approximately 60. Early succession window.
  • primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
  • primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 33 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
  • 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
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr Clifford Peter De Lord
Individual · British · DOB 12/1966 · age 60
——sig. influencesignificant influence20/04/2016

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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————9y——
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12954191 · est 2020 · no financials extracted
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————3y——
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16385450 · est 2025 · no financials extracted
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16852766 · est 2025 · no financials extracted
———————
AQ AUTOS LTD→
11135554 · est 2018 · no financials extracted
————8y——
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15777675 · est 2024 · no financials extracted
————1y——
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ATLAS INT LTD→
16006601 · est 2024 · no financials extracted
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AUDIONTRACKING LIMITED→
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AUTO AIR CONDITIONING LTD.→
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AUTO ONE XPRESS LTD→
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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
Incorporated1993-04-20
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC45320 — Retail trade of motor vehicle parts and accessories

Registered office

53 Sheen Lane
London
SW14 8AB
England

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-10-31
Last made up to: 2025-01-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-05-04
Last: 2026-04-20

Officers (2 active · 4 resigned)

DE LORD, Annabelle→
secretary · appointed 2026-01-16
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
DE LORD, Clifford Peter→
director · ~60y · appointed 1993-04-20
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
DE LORD, Bernard Pereira→
secretary · resigned 2019-05-01
Resigned
ELK COMPANY SECRETARIES LIMITED→
corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 1993-04-20 · resigned 1993-04-20
Resigned
DE LORD, Bernard Pereira→
director · ~91y · resigned 2019-05-01
Resigned
ELK (NOMINEES) LIMITED→
corporate-nominee-director · appointed 1993-04-20 · resigned 1993-04-20
Resigned

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

Recent filings (78 total)

confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-04-20
appoint-person-secretary-company-with-name-date
officers · AP03
2026-01-19
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2026-01-19
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-10-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-05-01
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-10-30
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-04-26
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2024-02-03
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-10-26
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-04-30
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-10-28
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-05-02
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-10-29
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-05-02
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2020-10-30