ADE RECRUITMENT LIMITED

💤Zombieactive

03756430 · ltd · incorporated 1999-04-21

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 Apr 2025

Net worth

£37.8k

book net assets

Opportunity

82/100

Exceptional

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What this business does

Primary activity: Other activities of employment placement agencies

Sector: Administrative & support services

ALSO REGISTERED FOR

78200Temporary employment agency activities

Investor take

Pursue

Asset-holding vehicle with a 70-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 85/100. Strong seller-intent signal (93/100, director aged 70). 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).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

2 live charges · 2 lenders · oldest 26.9y

30/100

under pressure

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

· Oldest live charge is 26.9 years old — likely at or near maturity.
· Two lenders — manageable, but coordination required.
· Distress signals active — lender appetite narrows.

Data confidence

Overall: medium (69/100)

Adequate coverage. AI outputs are reliable for the sections scored high; verify the rest in diligence.

Company profile

address, 2 SIC codes, incorporation date

100

Financials

2 years of iXBRL accounts extracted (YoY deltas available) + narrative notes parsed

Lenders & charges

2 charges (2/2 with lender, 2/2 with type)

Directors & officers

4 officers (2 active, 4 linked, 1 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

No PSC data returned

Director network

Network not yet resolved

Filing history

66 filings on record

Gazette notices

No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)

Opportunity Score

82/100Exceptional

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

100

Good data coverage for analysis.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · FRS 105 (micro)

Positive net assets

Net assets £37,755

Net assets shrinking

Down £7,450 YoY

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts

Cash

—

Net Worth

£38k

↓ 16% YoY

Current Assets

£66k

~ YoY

Current Liabilities

—

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 105 (micro)

Metric	2025-04-30	2024-04-30
Total assets	£37.8k	£45.2k
Current assets	£66.3k	£67.0k
Net assets	£37.8k	£45.2k

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

filings

Last 90 days

filing

• 1 confirmation-statement

Last 180 days

filings

• 1 confirmation-statement
• 1 accounts

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (26 events)Click to expand

2025-12-15
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-01-13
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-01-19
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-01-19
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-01-18
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-03-04
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2020-01-21
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2019-01-24
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2017-12-18
📍
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2017-11-21
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2017-01-26
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2016-12-02
📄
mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
mortgage · MR04
2016-12-02
🔓
Charge satisfied #2
2016-04-11
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2016-01-29
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2015-04-13
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2004-12-13
🔓
Charge satisfied #1
2004-10-01
🔒
Charge registered #2
Lender: The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland
1999-07-05
🔒
Charge registered #1
Lender: Credit Lyonnais Commercial Finance Limited
1999-04-21
🏢
Company incorporated
As ADE RECRUITMENT LIMITED
1999-04-21
➕
SCHOLES, Diane Patricia appointed
secretary
1999-04-21
➕
SCHOLES, Christopher appointed
director
1999-04-21
➕
ENERGIZE SECRETARY LIMITED appointed
corporate-nominee-secretary
1999-04-21
➖
ENERGIZE SECRETARY LIMITED resigned
corporate-nominee-secretary
1999-04-21
➕
ENERGIZE DIRECTOR LIMITED appointed
corporate-nominee-director
1999-04-21
➖
ENERGIZE DIRECTOR LIMITED resigned
corporate-nominee-director

Owner dependency

100/100

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 27 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
+Founder age: Director aged approximately 70 — succession pressure is live.

Succession & seller-readiness

100/100

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 70 years old. Natural succession window is now.
primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
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.)

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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.

See pricing →

Company details

Statusactive

Typeltd

Incorporated1999-04-21

Jurisdictionengland-wales

Primary SIC78109 — Other activities of employment placement agencies

Registered office

5 Brooklands Place

Brooklands Road

Sale

Cheshire

M33 3SD

United Kingdom

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2027-01-31

Last made up to: 2025-04-30

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2027-04-25

Last: 2026-04-11

Officers (2 active · 2 resigned)

SCHOLES, Diane Patricia→

secretary · appointed 1999-04-21

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

SCHOLES, Christopher→

director · ~70y · appointed 1999-04-21

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

ENERGIZE SECRETARY LIMITED→

corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 1999-04-21 · resigned 1999-04-21

Resigned

ENERGIZE DIRECTOR LIMITED→

corporate-nominee-director · appointed 1999-04-21 · resigned 1999-04-21

Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

Total charges

Outstanding

Active lenders

Status:Lender:2 of 2 shown

			Type	Properties
	satisfied	Lloyds Banking Group The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland	Debenture	1 property	01/10/2004	02/12/2016
	satisfied	Credit Lyonnais Commercial Finance Credit Lyonnais Commercial Finance Limited	Debenture	1 property	05/07/1999	13/12/2004