ATCO ELECTRICAL DISTRIBUTORS LIMITED
🌳Matureactive
03769596 · ltd · incorporated 1999-05-13
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
approaching window · 12-months
Approaching a transaction window — refinance or sale event plausible in the next 12 months.
- · Oldest live charge 26.4y old — refinance window within 12 months
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to May 2025
Net worth
£69.5k
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
What this business does
Primary activity: Non-specialised wholesale trade
Sector: Wholesale & retail
Investor take
PursueActive trading company with a 73-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.
Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 73). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Discharge stale live charges. 1 live charge(s) created 15+ years ago — likely paid but undischarged. Clean register. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (73/100).
🏦
Refinance opportunity
1 live charge · oldest 26.4y
65/100
clean up first
Refinance viable after a tidy-up — address the highlighted items first.
- · Oldest live charge is 26.4 years old — likely at or near maturity.
- · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
- · Legal-friction score 25/100 — workable, but lender will want more DD.
Data confidence
Overall: medium (76/100)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
1 charges (1/1 with lender, 1/1 with type)
90
Directors & officers
5 officers (2 active, 5 linked, 2 with DOB)
78
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
71 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
82/100Exceptional
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
100
Good data coverage for analysis.
Signals from accounts
Derived from iXBRL accounts · accounting standard not declaredPositive net assets
Net assets £69,462
Net assets shrinking
Down £2,290 YoY
Key financials
2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accountsCash
—
Net Worth
£69k
↓ 3.2% YoY
Current Assets
£177k
↑ 6.4% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series
Financials
Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown| Metric | 2025-05-31 | 2024-05-31 |
|---|---|---|
| Total assets | £71.5k | £73.8k |
| Current assets | £177.3k | £166.6k |
| Net assets | £69.5k | £71.8k |
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
2
filings
- • 1 confirmation-statement
- • 1 accounts
Last 180 days
2
filings
- • 1 confirmation-statement
- • 1 accounts
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (25 events)Click to expand
- 2026-05-21📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2025-06-06📄change-person-director-company-with-change-dateofficers · CH01
- 2025-05-20📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2024-02-29📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2023-05-25📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2022-05-30📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2021-05-27📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2020-02-27📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2019-07-11📄resolutionresolution · RESOLUTIONS
- 2019-07-11📄statement-of-companys-objectschange-of-constitution · CC04
- 2019-07-10📄capital-allotment-sharescapital · SH01
- 2019-05-07📄termination-secretary-company-with-name-termination-dateofficers · TM02
- 2019-05-01➖ATKINSON, Heather Patricia resignedsecretary
- 2019-04-01➕ATKINSON, Philip David appointeddirector
- 2019-04-01📄appoint-person-director-company-with-name-dateofficers · AP01
- 2019-03-01📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2018-02-27📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2000-03-21🔒Charge registered #1Lender: Gotelee Limited
- 1999-08-13➖SECRETARIAL APPOINTMENTS LIMITED resignedcorporate-nominee-secretary
- 1999-05-19➕ATKINSON, David appointeddirector
- 1999-05-19➕ATKINSON, Heather Patricia appointedsecretary
- 1999-05-19➖CORPORATE APPOINTMENTS LIMITED resignedcorporate-nominee-director
- 1999-05-13🏢Company incorporatedAs ATCO ELECTRICAL DISTRIBUTORS LIMITED
- 1999-05-13➕SECRETARIAL APPOINTMENTS LIMITED appointedcorporate-nominee-secretary
- 1999-05-13➕CORPORATE APPOINTMENTS LIMITED appointedcorporate-nominee-director
Owner dependency
91/100
Critical — business is the founderThe 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 27 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
- +Founder age: Director aged approximately 73 — 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 candidateStrong acquirability signals converging. Worth approaching directly — this is how off-market deals start.
SIGNALS
- primaryFounder aged 70+: Senior director is approximately 73 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 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
cleanNo 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 · dominant holder ≥75%| Name | Shares | Voting rights | Nature of control | Notified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Mr David Atkinson Individual · British · DOB 05/1953 · age 73 | 75–100% | — | 75-100% shares | 06/04/2016 |
From Companies House Persons with Significant Control filings. Share ranges are banded per the public PSC regime.
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| ARIX PHARMA LTD→ 16665581 · est 2025 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| ARMANI CAPITAL LIMITED→ 12783219 · est 2020 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 5y | — | — |
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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
Incorporated1999-05-13
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC46900 — Non-specialised wholesale trade
Registered office
Unit 1 Longbridge Industrial Park
Floating Bridge Road
Southampton
Hants
SO14 3FL
Filing status
Accounts
Next due: 2027-02-28
Last made up to: 2025-05-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-05-27
Last: 2026-05-13
Officers (2 active · 3 resigned)
ATKINSON, David→
Activedirector · ~73y · appointed 1999-05-19
View their other companies + combined net worth →
ATKINSON, Philip David→
Activedirector · ~46y · appointed 2019-04-01
View their other companies + combined net worth →
ATKINSON, Heather Patricia→
Resignedsecretary · appointed 1999-05-19 · resigned 2019-05-01
SECRETARIAL APPOINTMENTS LIMITED→
Resignedcorporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 1999-05-13 · resigned 1999-08-13
CORPORATE APPOINTMENTS LIMITED→
Resignedcorporate-nominee-director · appointed 1999-05-13 · resigned 1999-05-19
Click a director name to see their full track record across all companies.
Mortgages & charges
1
Total charges
1
Outstanding
1
Active lenders
Status:Lender:1 of 1 shown
| Type | Properties | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| outstanding | Gotelee Gotelee Limited | Rent deposit deed | 1 property | 21/03/2000 | — |
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.
Recent filings (71 total)
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-06-01
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2026-05-21
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2025-06-06
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-05-20
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-05-13
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-06-14
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-02-29
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-06-16
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-05-25
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-05-30
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-05-18
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-05-27
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-05-14
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-05-19
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-02-27