APEX AUCTIONS LIMITED

🌳Matureactive

04376357 · ltd · incorporated 2002-02-18

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

approaching window · 12-months

Approaching a transaction window — refinance or sale event plausible in the next 12 months.

· Oldest live charge 19.3y old — refinance window within 12 months

🔒Estimated value

—

Upgrade to see

Turnover

—

year to Mar 2025

Net worth

—

book net assets

Opportunity

83/100

Exceptional

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What this business does

Primary activity: Wholesale of other machinery and equipment

Sector: Wholesale & retail

Investor take

Pursue

Active trading company with a 63-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 83/100 (exceptional), bankability 85/100. Strong seller-intent signal (60/100, director aged 63). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

2 live charges · oldest 19.3y

85/100

ready

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

· Oldest live charge is 19.3 years old — likely at or near maturity.
· Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
· Legal-friction score 15/100 — clean.

Data confidence

Overall: high (82/100)

Strong data coverage across all sections. AI outputs should be trusted with minimal caveats.

Company profile

address, 1 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

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

Ownership & PSC

1 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared

Director network

12 connected companies via shared directors

Filing history

68 filings on record

Gazette notices

No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)

Opportunity Score

83/100Exceptional

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.

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts

Cash

—

Net Worth

—

Current Assets

—

Current Liabilities

—

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102

Metric	2025-03-31	2024-03-31
Average employees	1600	1400

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

🔒Filing-note intelligence

3 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

filings

Last 90 days

filings

Last 180 days

filings

• 2 mortgage
• 2 persons-with-significant-control
• 1 confirmation-statement

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (32 events)Click to expand

2026-02-17
📄
mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
mortgage · MR04
2026-02-17
📄
mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
mortgage · MR04
2026-02-17
🔓
Charge satisfied #2
2026-02-17
🔓
Charge satisfied #1
2025-12-17
📄
notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC02
2025-12-16
📄
cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
2025-12-05
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-11-03
📄
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2025-11-01
➕
DUGARD, Jacqueline appointed
director
2024-12-17
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-12-18
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-11-14
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2023-11-14
📄
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2023-04-28
📄
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2023-04-20
➕
WALKER, Eloise Jade appointed
director
2022-12-30
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-12-21
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-08-25
📄
mortgage-create-with-deed-with-charge-number-charge-creation-date
mortgage · MR01
2021-08-12
🔒
Charge registered #2
Lender: National Westminster Bank PLC
2021-06-14
📄
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2021-06-01
➖
GADSDEN, David Patrick Luke resigned
director
2021-04-06
📄
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2021-03-29
➕
BROOKER, Kevin appointed
director
2020-12-24
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-12-13
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2007-02-01
🔒
Charge registered #1
Lender: National Westminster Bank PLC
2002-08-19
➕
GADSDEN, David Patrick Luke appointed
director
2002-02-18
🏢
Company incorporated
As APEX AUCTIONS LIMITED
2002-02-18
➕
SS SECRETARIAT LIMITED appointed
corporate-secretary
2002-02-18
➕
DUGARD, Stephen John Cecil appointed
director
2002-02-18
➕
SWIFT INCORPORATIONS LIMITED appointed
corporate-nominee-secretary
2002-02-18
➖
SWIFT INCORPORATIONS LIMITED resigned
corporate-nominee-secretary

Owner dependency

66/100

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 24 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
+Senior director age: Director aged approximately 63 — approaching natural succession window.
+Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

Succession & seller-readiness

70/100

Strong succession signal

Multiple signals suggest succession is on the horizon. Candidate for proactive outreach.

SIGNALS

primaryFounder aged 63+: Senior director is approximately 63. Approaching typical UK retirement age — succession thinking likely.
primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 24 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.)

Group structure

Brighthelm Holdings Ltd is the ultimate parent — holding 75%+ shares. This company sits inside their group.

🏛️

Brighthelm Holdings Ltd

Corporate parent · holds 75-100% shares

ultimate parent

⬇

APEX AUCTIONS LIMITED

This company · 04376357

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
Brighthelm Holdings Ltd Corporate entity	75–100%	75–100%	75-100% shares · 75-100% voting	06/04/2016

1 historic (ceased) PSC

Mr Stephen John Cecil Dugardceased 06/04/2016· 25-50% shares · 25-50% voting

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

Active · Wholesale & distribution · BN postcode area

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ANGEL IMPORTING LTD→ 11258456 · est 2018 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	8y	—	—
ANOKIMOBI LIMITED→ 04944563 · est 2003 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	22y	—	—
ANTHOLOGIE FLORISTRY LIMITED→ 11631180 · est 2018 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	7y	—	—
APERTURE WATCH LIMITED→ 16325884 · est 2025 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	1y	—	—
APPLEGATE AGRICULTURAL SERVICES LTD→ 14699703 · est 2023 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	3y	—	—
ARCADIA CIGARS GROUP LIMITED→ 15194153 · est 2023 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	2y	—	—
ART SUPERFAN LTD→ 13992308 · est 2022 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	4y	—	—
ARTHUR LORD ORGANS LTD→ 01076113 · est 1972 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	53y	—	—
ARTICULO LTD→ 12993671 · est 2020 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	5y	—	—
ARTIFEX GOLD INTERNATIONAL LIMITED→ 10121696 · est 2016 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	10y	—	—
ARTILLERY COSMETICS LTD→ 15709211 · est 2024 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	1y	—	—

Peers ranked by estimated value, then turnover, then opportunity score.See all →

🔒Tailored diligence questions

6 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

Incorporated2002-02-18

Jurisdictionengland-wales

Primary SIC46690 — Wholesale of other machinery and equipment

Registered office

168 Church Road

Hove

BN3 2DL

England

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2026-12-31

Last made up to: 2025-03-31

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2026-11-24

Last: 2025-11-10