4FRONT CAR SALES LIMITED

📉Decliningactive
04366797 · ltd · incorporated 2002-02-05
Investment thesis
Established operating company — standard diligence applies, no dominant angle.
Why interesting: Live, filing, normal profile.
Why risky: No standout signals in either direction.
Opportunity decay
drifting distress · 6-months
Drifting toward distress — expect more negotiability in 3–6 months, but also more friction.
  • · Lifecycle stage drifting downward
  • · Currently "declining"
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
£11.27M
year to Apr 2025
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
🔔
Follow this company (free)
Email alerts on filings, charges, director changes, gazette notices. No account needed.

Unsubscribe any time from any email. GDPR-respectful.

🔒Generate AI memo →🔒Outreach pack →🔒Corporate story →📑 Reports →Sign in to watch
What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 45112
Sector: Wholesale & retail
Investor take
Pursue
Conservative operator with a 63-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 85/100. Strong seller-intent signal (70/100, director aged 63). 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 (85/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

1 live charge · oldest 23.1y

85/100
ready

Refinance conversation should be productive — structure clean and timing right.

  • · Oldest live charge is 23.1 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
  • · Legal-friction score 15/100 — clean.

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 (1 active, 5 linked, 1 with DOB)
74
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
69 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
🔒Estimated company valuation

Sector-multiple EBITDA, turnover, and NAV-proxy valuation range with confidence tier — derived from extracted iXBRL financials.

Available from the Pro tier upwards.

See pricing →
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 · FRS 102
Profitable
Profit before tax £100,770
Revenue decline
Turnover down 33% YoY
Turnover YoY
-33%
Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
—
Net Worth
—
Current Assets
—
Current Liabilities
—
£0£0£0£0£0£0Apr 2024Apr 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102
Metric2025-04-302024-04-30
Turnover£11.27M£16.92M
Gross profit£865.4k£1.36M
Operating profit£100.8k£564.1k
Profit before tax£100.8k£564.1k
Average employees200200

Amounts extracted automatically from iXBRL. Fields left blank were not reported or not mapped. Values in GBP unless stated.

🔒Filing-note intelligence

4 signals 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
2
filings
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
  • • 1 accounts
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (27 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-01-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-medium
    accounts · AA
  2. 2025-01-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-full
    accounts · AA
  3. 2024-03-25
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  4. 2024-03-20
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  5. 2024-01-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-full
    accounts · AA
  6. 2023-01-12
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-full
    accounts · AA
  7. 2022-01-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  8. 2021-04-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  9. 2020-01-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-small
    accounts · AA
  10. 2019-04-02
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  11. 2019-01-10
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-small
    accounts · AA
  12. 2018-01-18
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-small
    accounts · AA
  13. 2016-06-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-small
    accounts · AA
  14. 2016-03-17
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  15. 2016-01-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-small
    accounts · AA
  16. 2011-02-19
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #1
  17. 2010-09-16
    ➖
    BROWN, Mark resigned
    secretary
  18. 2007-01-10
    ➖
    ANSELL, Joseph William resigned
    secretary
  19. 2007-01-10
    ➕
    BROWN, Mark appointed
    secretary
  20. 2003-06-16
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: Hsbc Bank PLC
  21. 2002-07-08
    ➕
    BROWN, Gary Douglas appointed
    director
  22. 2002-07-08
    ➕
    ANSELL, Joseph William appointed
    secretary
  23. 2002-07-08
    ➖
    TEMPLE SECRETARIES LIMITED resigned
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  24. 2002-07-08
    ➖
    COMPANY DIRECTORS LIMITED resigned
    corporate-nominee-director
  25. 2002-02-05
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As 4FRONT CAR SALES LIMITED
  26. 2002-02-05
    ➕
    TEMPLE SECRETARIES LIMITED appointed
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  27. 2002-02-05
    ➕
    COMPANY DIRECTORS LIMITED appointed
    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 24 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Senior director age: Director aged approximately 63 — approaching natural succession window.

Succession & seller-readiness

95/100
Likely off-market candidate

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

SIGNALS
  • primaryFounder aged 63+: Senior director is approximately 63. Approaching typical UK retirement age — succession thinking likely.
  • primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
  • primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 24 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 24 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.)

Shareholders & ownership

1 active beneficial owner · dominant holder ≥75%
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr Gary Douglas Brown
Individual · British · DOB 07/1963 · age 63
75–100%
—75-100% shares06/04/2016

From Companies House Persons with Significant Control filings. Share ranges are banded per the public PSC regime.

Similar companies

Active · Automotive · RH postcode area
CompanyEst. valueTurnoverNet worthStaffAgeOppDirector
ACE SPEC ALLOYS LTD→
15494411 · est 2024 · no financials extracted
————2y——
ADVANCE AUTO TRADER LTD→
16470810 · est 2025 · no financials extracted
———————
ALI’S MECHANICAL REPAIR CENTRE LIMITED→
16942496 · est 2026 · no financials extracted
———————
AM PM TYRES LTD→
15641070 · est 2024 · no financials extracted
————2y——
APEX QUAD PARTS LTD→
16868232 · est 2025 · no financials extracted
———————
ARMOR VISION (UK) LIMITED→
14358215 · est 2022 · no financials extracted
————3y——
ARMSTRONG BODYSHOP LIMITED→
05083757 · est 2004 · no financials extracted
————22y——
ARUN AUTOMOTIVE LIMITED→
12608414 · est 2020 · no financials extracted
————5y——
ARUN CLASSICS LTD→
08389102 · est 2013 · no financials extracted
————13y——
ARUN HOLDINGS LIMITED→
03041317 · est 1995 · no financials extracted
————31y——
ASAL MOTOR GROUP LTD→
10609275 · est 2017 · no financials extracted
————9y——
ASHDOWN MOTOR SERVICES LIMITED→
06218975 · est 2007 · no financials extracted
————18y——
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
Incorporated2002-02-05
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC45112 — SIC 45112

Registered office

4front Car Sales Limited Nursery Lane
Warninglid
Haywards Heath
RH17 5JS
England

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2027-01-31
Last made up to: 2025-04-30
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-02-13
Last: 2026-01-30

Officers (1 active · 4 resigned)

BROWN, Gary Douglas→
director · ~63y · appointed 2002-07-08
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
ANSELL, Joseph William→
secretary · appointed 2002-07-08 · resigned 2007-01-10
Resigned
BROWN, Mark→
secretary · appointed 2007-01-10 · resigned 2010-09-16
Resigned
TEMPLE SECRETARIES LIMITED→
corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 2002-02-05 · resigned 2002-07-08
Resigned
COMPANY DIRECTORS LIMITED→
corporate-nominee-director · appointed 2002-02-05 · resigned 2002-07-08
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
HSBC
Hsbc Bank PLC
Debenture1 property16/06/200319/02/2011

Recent filings (69 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-03-05
accounts-with-accounts-type-medium
accounts · AA
2026-01-30
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-02-18
accounts-with-accounts-type-full
accounts · AA
2025-01-31
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2024-03-25
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2024-03-20
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-02-05
accounts-with-accounts-type-full
accounts · AA
2024-01-30
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-02-10
accounts-with-accounts-type-full
accounts · AA
2023-01-12
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-02-25
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-01-27
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-04-30
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-03-11
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-02-11