ACE COPYING EQUIPMENT LIMITED

🌳Matureactive

03733500 · ltd · incorporated 1999-03-16

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 Oct 2025

Net worth

£178.4k

book net assets

Opportunity

81/100

Exceptional

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What this business does

Primary activity: SIC 46660

Sector: Wholesale & retail

Investor take

Pursue

Asset-holding vehicle with a 79-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 81/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (63/100, director aged 79). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

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

Lenders & charges

Confirmed no charges registered

Directors & officers

7 officers (5 active, 7 linked, 5 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared

Director network

1 connected companies via shared directors

Filing history

74 filings on record

Gazette notices

No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)

Opportunity Score

81/100Exceptional

PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional

Strong composite across quality, acquirability, and risk. High-priority target — progress to serious diligence.

Business quality

Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.

Acquirability

Strong succession / seller-readiness signals.

Risk profile

Few red flags.

Signal strength

Good data coverage for analysis.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · accounting standard not declared

Positive net assets

Net assets £178,372

Net assets shrinking

Down £23,282 YoY

Cash YoY

-27%

Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts

Cash

£89k

↓ 27% YoY

Net Worth

£178k

↓ 12% YoY

Current Assets

£232k

↓ 15% YoY

Current Liabilities

—

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown

Metric	2025-10-31	2024-10-31
Total assets	£178.4k	£201.7k
Current assets	£232.0k	£272.8k
Cash	£88.5k	£122.0k
Debtors	£98.2k	£101.9k
Net assets	£178.4k	£201.7k

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

filing

• 1 confirmation-statement

Last 90 days

filings

• 1 confirmation-statement
• 1 accounts

Last 180 days

filings

• 1 confirmation-statement
• 1 accounts

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (25 events)Click to expand

2026-03-07
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2025-04-15
📄
change-person-secretary-company-with-change-date
officers · CH03
2025-04-15
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2025-04-15
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2025-04-15
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2025-04-15
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2025-03-06
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2024-02-21
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2023-03-10
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2022-03-28
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2021-03-17
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2020-06-08
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2019-02-19
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2018-03-09
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2018-01-18
📄
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2017-12-31
➖
COLEMAN, Peter David resigned
director
1999-03-17
➕
HILTON, Gail appointed
secretary
1999-03-17
➕
ATHERTON, Hilary Susan appointed
director
1999-03-17
➕
HILTON, Gail appointed
director
1999-03-17
➕
HOLROYD, Stephen Michael appointed
director
1999-03-17
➖
WHITE ROSE FORMATIONS LIMITED resigned
corporate-nominee-secretary
1999-03-16
🏢
Company incorporated
As ACE COPYING EQUIPMENT LIMITED
1999-03-16
➕
ATHERTON, Robert appointed
director
1999-03-16
➕
WHITE ROSE FORMATIONS LIMITED appointed
corporate-nominee-secretary
1999-03-16
➕
COLEMAN, Peter David appointed
director

Owner dependency

73/100

High — earn-out structure required

Material founder dependency. Consider a 2-3 year earn-out and build in a handover plan before completion.

FACTORS

-4 active directors: Broader management team in place — suggests transferable governance.
+Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 27 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
+Founder age: Director aged approximately 79 — succession pressure is live.
+Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

Succession & seller-readiness

90/100

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 79 years old. Natural succession window is now.
primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 27 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 27 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

Ace Holdings (Tamworth) Limited is the ultimate parent — holding 75%+ shares. This company sits inside their group.

🏛️

Ace Holdings (Tamworth) Limited

Corporate parent · holds 75-100% shares

ultimate parent

⬇

ACE COPYING EQUIPMENT LIMITED

This company · 03733500

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%

Name	Shares	Voting rights	Nature of control	Notified
Ace Holdings (Tamworth) Limited Corporate entity	75–100%	75–100%	75-100% shares · 75-100% voting	14/04/2016

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 →

Similar companies

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A EMIRATES GAS LTD→ 16611574 · est 2025 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
ABC HOUSEWARE LIMITED→ 16058721 · est 2024 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	1y	—	—
ABIMAK GLOBAL LIMITED→ 15246829 · est 2023 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	2y	—	—
ACCUTEST SOLUTIONS LIMITED→ 09623313 · est 2015 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	10y	—	—
ACHIEVING GREAT SOLUTIONS LTD→ 16244238 · est 2025 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	1y	—	—
ACME COMMODITIES LIMITED→ 11011199 · est 2017 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	8y	—	—
ACOMED LIMITED→ 07200045 · est 2010 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	16y	—	—
ACORN MAINTENANCE SYSTEMS LIMITED→ 04518274 · est 2002 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	23y	—	—

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

Incorporated1999-03-16

Jurisdictionengland-wales

Primary SIC46660 — SIC 46660

Registered office

Unit 9 Union Close

Tamworth

Staffordshire

B77 1BB

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2027-07-31

Last made up to: 2025-10-31

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2027-04-27

Last: 2026-04-13