DCL WATERCARE LIMITED

🌳Matureactive
04598079 · ltd · incorporated 2002-11-22
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
hardening · 12-months
Already tight — no obvious softening catalysts on the horizon.
  • · Thesis: well-run, low negotiation leverage
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Jan 2025
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
80/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 36000
Sector: Water supply & waste
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 61-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 80/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (70/100, director aged 61). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

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
Confirmed no charges registered
85
Directors & officers
5 officers (3 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
59 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
80/100Exceptional
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
90
Good data coverage for analysis.

Key financials

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

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2025-01-312024-01-31
Average employees3300

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
0
filings
Last 90 days
0
filings
Last 180 days
0
filings
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (23 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-10-01
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-10-24
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  3. 2023-09-13
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  4. 2022-10-25
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  5. 2021-10-18
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  6. 2020-07-17
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  7. 2019-10-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  8. 2018-09-10
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  9. 2017-10-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  10. 2016-10-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  11. 2015-11-24
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  12. 2015-10-23
    📄
    appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
    officers · AP01
  13. 2015-10-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  14. 2015-04-01
    ➕
    SMITH, Lisa Marie appointed
    director
  15. 2014-12-02
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  16. 2014-10-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  17. 2003-01-25
    ➕
    SMITH, Lisa Marie appointed
    secretary
  18. 2003-01-25
    ➕
    SMITH, Darren appointed
    director
  19. 2002-11-25
    ➖
    HCS SECRETARIAL LIMITED resigned
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  20. 2002-11-25
    ➖
    HANOVER DIRECTORS LIMITED resigned
    corporate-nominee-director
  21. 2002-11-22
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As DCL WATERCARE LIMITED
  22. 2002-11-22
    ➕
    HCS SECRETARIAL LIMITED appointed
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  23. 2002-11-22
    ➕
    HANOVER DIRECTORS LIMITED appointed
    corporate-nominee-director

Owner dependency

84/100
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.
  • +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 23 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Senior director age: Director aged approximately 61 — approaching natural succession window.
  • +Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

Succession & seller-readiness

76/100
Likely off-market candidate

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

SIGNALS
  • secondaryFounder aged 58+: Senior director is approximately 61. Early succession window.
  • secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
  • primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 23 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
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr Darren Smith
Individual · British · DOB 11/1965 · age 61
50–75%
50–75%50-75% shares · 50-75% voting30/06/2016

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

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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
Incorporated2002-11-22
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC36000 — SIC 36000

Registered office

78 Walsall Road
Great Wyrley
Walsall
Staffordshire
WS6 6LA

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-10-31
Last made up to: 2025-01-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-12-06
Last: 2025-11-22

Officers (3 active · 2 resigned)

SMITH, Lisa Marie→
secretary · appointed 2003-01-25
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
SMITH, Darren→
director · ~61y · appointed 2003-01-25
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
SMITH, Lisa Marie→
director · ~60y · appointed 2015-04-01
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
HCS SECRETARIAL LIMITED→
corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 2002-11-22 · resigned 2002-11-25
Resigned
HANOVER DIRECTORS LIMITED→
corporate-nominee-director · appointed 2002-11-22 · resigned 2002-11-25
Resigned

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

Recent filings (59 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-11-24
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-10-01
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-11-22
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-10-24
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-11-24
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-09-13
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-11-23
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-10-25
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-12-07
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-10-18
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-12-02
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2020-07-17
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-12-03
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2019-10-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2018-12-04