A J COX HAULAGE LIMITED

💤Zombieactive
04600374 · ltd · incorporated 2002-11-25
Investment thesis
Zombie company — trading but stalled; unlikely mover.
Why interesting: Quiet, steady; could be a succession or carve-out candidate with the right conversation.
Why risky: No growth signal; thin margin for error on price.
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Dec 2025
Net worth
£247.5k
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: Freight transport by road
Sector: Transportation & storage
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 72-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 72). 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 23.3y

45/100
under pressure

Refinance would be pressure-driven, not opportunity-driven. Expect tighter margins and covenant scrutiny.

  • · Oldest live charge is 23.3 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
  • · Distress signals active — lender appetite narrows.

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
4 officers (1 active, 4 linked, 1 with DOB)
75
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
57 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 declared
Positive net assets
Net assets £247,460
Cash YoY
-2%
Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
£215k
↓ 2.5% YoY
Net Worth
£247k
↑ 1.9% YoY
Current Assets
£217k
↓ 8.0% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
£0£49k£99k£148k£198k£247kDec 2024Dec 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2025-12-312024-12-31
Total assets£247.5k£242.9k
Current assets£217.0k£235.8k
Cash£214.8k£220.3k
Debtors£1.2k£10.5k
Net assets£247.5k£242.9k

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
1
filing
  • • 1 accounts
Last 180 days
1
filing
  • • 1 accounts
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (24 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-04-14
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2025-08-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  3. 2025-01-24
    ➖
    LYONS, Jane Marguerita resigned
    secretary
  4. 2025-01-24
    📄
    termination-secretary-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM02
  5. 2024-02-09
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  6. 2023-04-18
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  7. 2022-09-09
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  8. 2021-03-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  9. 2020-05-19
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  10. 2019-05-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  11. 2018-07-22
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  12. 2017-03-24
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  13. 2016-03-04
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  14. 2015-11-25
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  15. 2015-08-02
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  16. 2014-11-25
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  17. 2003-03-03
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: Hsbc Bank PLC
  18. 2002-12-09
    ➕
    COX, Adrian John appointed
    director
  19. 2002-12-09
    ➕
    LYONS, Jane Marguerita appointed
    secretary
  20. 2002-12-09
    ➖
    SECRETARIAL APPOINTMENTS LIMITED resigned
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  21. 2002-12-09
    ➖
    CORPORATE APPOINTMENTS LIMITED resigned
    corporate-nominee-director
  22. 2002-11-25
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As A J COX HAULAGE LIMITED
  23. 2002-11-25
    ➕
    SECRETARIAL APPOINTMENTS LIMITED appointed
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  24. 2002-11-25
    ➕
    CORPORATE APPOINTMENTS LIMITED appointed
    corporate-nominee-director

Owner dependency

100/100
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 23 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 72 — succession pressure is live.

Succession & seller-readiness

100/100
Likely off-market candidate

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

SIGNALS
  • primaryFounder aged 70+: Senior director is approximately 72 years old. Natural succession window is now.
  • primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
  • 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 · dominant holder ≥75%
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr Adrian John Cox
Individual · British · DOB 05/1954 · age 72
75–100%
—75-100% shares25/11/2016

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

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
Incorporated2002-11-25
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC49410 — Freight transport by road

Registered office

Roundhill Farm
Moorledge Road
Chew Magna
Bristol
BS18 8TB

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2027-09-30
Last made up to: 2025-12-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-12-09
Last: 2025-11-25

Officers (1 active · 3 resigned)

COX, Adrian John→
director · ~72y · appointed 2002-12-09
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
LYONS, Jane Marguerita→
secretary · appointed 2002-12-09 · resigned 2025-01-24
Resigned
SECRETARIAL APPOINTMENTS LIMITED→
corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 2002-11-25 · resigned 2002-12-09
Resigned
CORPORATE APPOINTMENTS LIMITED→
corporate-nominee-director · appointed 2002-11-25 · resigned 2002-12-09
Resigned

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
TypeProperties
outstanding
HSBC
Hsbc Bank PLC
Debenture1 property03/03/2003—
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (57 total)

accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2026-04-14
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-11-26
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-08-29
termination-secretary-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM02
2025-01-24
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-11-29
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-02-09
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-11-28
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-04-18
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-11-28
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-09-09
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-12-03
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2021-03-28
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-02-22
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2020-05-19
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-11-30