DR & FA FORD TRANSPORT LIMITED

🌳Matureactive
04445903 · ltd · incorporated 2002-05-23
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 22.8y old — refinance window within 12 months
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Oct 2025
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
74/100
Strong
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What this business does
Primary activity: Freight transport by road
Sector: Transportation & storage
Investor take
Pursue
Strong opportunity: active trading company with strong profile and bankable structure.

Opportunity 74/100 (strong), bankability 75/100. High owner-dependency — earn-out structure likely required for clean transition. Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: strategic trade sale (78/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

4 live charges · 2 lenders · oldest 22.8y

80/100
ready

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

  • · Oldest live charge is 22.8 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Two lenders — manageable, but coordination required.
  • · Legal-friction score 15/100 — clean.
  • · Profitable and stable/growing — lender coverage supportable.

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
75
Lenders & charges
4 charges (4/4 with lender, 4/4 with type)
90
Directors & officers
5 officers (3 active, 5 linked, 2 with DOB)
78
Ownership & PSC
2 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared
90
Director network
1 connected companies via shared directors
48
Filing history
70 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
74/100Strong
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional 

Solid opportunity signal. Worth a dedicated memo and management meeting.

Business quality
70
Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.
Acquirability
60
Some acquirability indicators.
Risk profile
77
Few red flags.
Signal strength
100
Good data coverage for analysis.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · FRS 102
Profitable
Profit before tax £683,966

Key financials

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

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102
Metric2025-10-312024-10-31
Profit before tax£684.0k£642.1k
Average employees919700

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

🔒Filing-note intelligence

2 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
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 (28 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-05-18
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2025-04-10
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-full
    accounts · AA
  3. 2024-05-10
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-medium
    accounts · AA
  4. 2023-05-16
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-full
    accounts · AA
  5. 2022-07-28
    📄
    mortgage-create-with-deed-with-charge-number-charge-creation-date
    mortgage · MR01
  6. 2022-07-26
    🔒
    Charge registered #4
    Lender: Barclays Bank PLC
  7. 2022-05-12
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-full
    accounts · AA
  8. 2021-06-01
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-full
    accounts · AA
  9. 2021-04-06
    📄
    mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
    mortgage · MR04
  10. 2021-04-06
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #2
  11. 2020-07-01
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-full
    accounts · AA
  12. 2020-06-23
    📄
    mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
    mortgage · MR04
  13. 2020-06-23
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #1
  14. 2019-06-10
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-full
    accounts · AA
  15. 2019-03-04
    📄
    notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
  16. 2018-06-01
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-full
    accounts · AA
  17. 2017-07-12
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-medium
    accounts · AA
  18. 2016-07-25
    🔒
    Charge registered #3
    Lender: Barclays Bank PLC
  19. 2014-06-06
    🔒
    Charge registered #2
    Lender: Barclays Bank PLC
  20. 2003-10-23
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: National Westminster Bank PLC
  21. 2002-08-15
    ➕
    FORD, David, Mr. appointed
    secretary
  22. 2002-08-15
    ➕
    FORD, David, Mr. appointed
    director
  23. 2002-08-15
    ➕
    FORD, Fiona Ann appointed
    director
  24. 2002-08-15
    ➖
    CREDITREFORM (SECRETARIES) LIMITED resigned
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  25. 2002-08-15
    ➖
    CREDITREFORM LIMITED resigned
    corporate-nominee-director
  26. 2002-05-23
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As DR & FA FORD TRANSPORT LIMITED
  27. 2002-05-23
    ➕
    CREDITREFORM (SECRETARIES) LIMITED appointed
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  28. 2002-05-23
    ➕
    CREDITREFORM LIMITED appointed
    corporate-nominee-director

Owner dependency

91/100
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
  • +Two-director setup: Only two active directors — typical of owner-managed SMEs but limits succession.
  • +Founder name in company name: Company name contains director surname "FORD" — strong identity link between founder and business.
  • +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 24 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

Succession & seller-readiness

66/100
Strong succession signal

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

SIGNALS
  • secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
  • 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

1 med ·
Charge satisfaction-then-recreation pattern
medium

Multiple instances where a charge was satisfied and a new charge created within 6 months. Suggests active refinancing cycle.

Shareholders & ownership

2 active beneficial owners
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr. David Robert Ford
Individual · British · DOB 01/1969 · age 57
50–75%
—50-75% shares06/04/2016
Mrs Fiona Ann Ford
Individual · British · DOB 01/1969 · age 57
——sig. influencesignificant influence01/02/2019

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 →

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11885439 · est 2019 · no financials extracted
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————26y——
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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.

See pricing →

Company details

Statusactive
Typeltd
Incorporated2002-05-23
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC49410 — Freight transport by road

Registered office

Unit E6 Wem Industrial Estate, Soulton Road
Wem
Shrewsbury
Shropshire
SY4 5SD

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2027-07-31
Last made up to: 2025-10-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-06-06
Last: 2026-05-23

Officers (3 active · 2 resigned)

FORD, David, Mr.→
secretary · appointed 2002-08-15
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
FORD, David, Mr.→
director · ~57y · appointed 2002-08-15
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
FORD, Fiona Ann→
director · ~57y · appointed 2002-08-15
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
CREDITREFORM (SECRETARIES) LIMITED→
corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 2002-05-23 · resigned 2002-08-15
Resigned
CREDITREFORM LIMITED→
corporate-nominee-director · appointed 2002-05-23 · resigned 2002-08-15
Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

4
Total charges
2
Outstanding
1
Active lenders
Status:Lender:4 of 4 shown
TypeProperties
outstanding
Barclays
Barclays Bank PLC
A registered charge—26/07/2022—
outstanding
Barclays
Barclays Bank PLC
A registered charge2 properties25/07/2016—
satisfied
Barclays
Barclays Bank PLC
A registered charge—06/06/201406/04/2021
satisfied
National Westminster Bank
National Westminster Bank PLC
Debenture1 property23/10/200323/06/2020
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (70 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-06-04
accounts-with-accounts-type-full
accounts · AA
2026-05-18
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-05-23
accounts-with-accounts-type-full
accounts · AA
2025-04-10
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-06-05
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-06-04
accounts-with-accounts-type-medium
accounts · AA
2024-05-10
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-06-01
accounts-with-accounts-type-full
accounts · AA
2023-05-16
mortgage-create-with-deed-with-charge-number-charge-creation-date
mortgage · MR01
2022-07-28
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-05-25
accounts-with-accounts-type-full
accounts · AA
2022-05-12
accounts-with-accounts-type-full
accounts · AA
2021-06-01
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-05-24
mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
mortgage · MR04
2021-04-06