ADVANCED AUTOMOTIVE SYSTEMS LIMITED

🌳Matureactive

04692613 · ltd · incorporated 2003-03-11

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

approaching window · 12-months

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

· Oldest live charge 23.0y old — refinance window within 12 months

🔒Estimated value

—

Upgrade to see

Turnover

—

year to Mar 2025

Net worth

—

book net assets

Opportunity

82/100

Exceptional

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What this business does

Primary activity: SIC 25990

Sector: Manufacturing

ALSO REGISTERED FOR

46180Agents specialised in the sale of other particular products

Investor take

Pursue

Active trading company with a 62-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (70/100, director aged 62). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Discharge stale live charges. 3 live charge(s) created 15+ years ago — likely paid but undischarged. Clean register. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

3 live charges · oldest 23.0y

65/100

clean up first

Refinance viable after a tidy-up — address the highlighted items first.

· Oldest live charge is 23.0 years old — likely at or near maturity.
· Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
· Legal-friction score 25/100 — workable, but lender will want more DD.

Data confidence

Overall: medium (79/100)

Adequate coverage. AI outputs are reliable for the sections scored high; verify the rest in diligence.

Company profile

address, 2 SIC codes, incorporation date

100

Financials

2 years of iXBRL accounts extracted (YoY deltas available) + narrative notes parsed

Lenders & charges

3 charges (3/3 with lender, 3/3 with type)

Directors & officers

4 officers (3 active, 4 linked, 2 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

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

Director network

1 connected companies via shared directors

Filing history

53 filings on record

Gazette notices

No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)

Opportunity Score

82/100Exceptional

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	6	600

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

filings

Last 90 days

filing

• 1 confirmation-statement

Last 180 days

filings

• 1 confirmation-statement
• 1 accounts

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (24 events)Click to expand

2025-12-18
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-10-18
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-10-25
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-11-28
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-11-15
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-11-20
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-10-15
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2018-10-15
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2017-11-02
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2016-11-08
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2016-03-20
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2015-10-19
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2015-03-25
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2014-09-08
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2014-03-16
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2004-09-26
🔒
Charge registered #3
Lender: The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland
2004-09-26
🔒
Charge registered #2
Lender: The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland
2003-05-19
🔒
Charge registered #1
Lender: The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland
2003-03-11
🏢
Company incorporated
As ADVANCED AUTOMOTIVE SYSTEMS LIMITED
2003-03-11
➕
HARBOTTLE, Stuart Craig appointed
secretary
2003-03-11
➕
HARBOTTLE, Alistair Mark appointed
director
2003-03-11
➕
HARBOTTLE, Stuart Craig appointed
director
2003-03-11
➕
SWIFT INCORPORATIONS LIMITED appointed
corporate-nominee-secretary
2003-03-11
➖
SWIFT INCORPORATIONS LIMITED resigned
corporate-nominee-secretary

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 62 — 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 62. 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 23 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

2 active beneficial owners

Name	Shares	Voting rights	Nature of control	Notified
Mr Stuart Craig Harbottle Individual · British · DOB 09/1964 · age 62	25–50%	—	25-50% shares	06/04/2016
Mr Alistair Mark Harbottle Individual · British · DOB 08/1967 · age 59	25–50%	—	25-50% shares	06/04/2016

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 · Manufacturing · NE postcode area

Company	Est. value	Turnover	Net worth	Staff	Age	Opp	Director
AEC CONSULTING LIMITED→ 16707129 · est 2025 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
AEI CABLES LIMITED→ 07745837 · est 2011 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	14y	—	—
AEROSPACE METROLOGY & ELECTROMECHANICAL CALIBRATION LIMITED→ 05109687 · est 2004 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	21y	—	—
AEROTECH AVIATION SERVICES LTD→ 17017069 · est 2026 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
AF VISUALS LTD→ 17036643 · est 2026 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
AFL ENGINEERING (N.E) LIMITED→ 02581355 · est 1991 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	35y	—	—
AFTER A LOCK AND SAFE LIMITED→ 03998786 · est 2000 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	25y	—	—
AG UK ART LIMITED→ 15221671 · est 2023 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	2y	—	—
AGA INDUSTRY LTD→ 15054425 · est 2023 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	2y	—	—
AGMA LIMITED→ 00939450 · est 1968 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	57y	—	—
AGRICHEMIX LIMITED→ 16831941 · est 2025 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
AGW MECHANICAL SERVICES LIMITED→ 14840876 · est 2023 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	2y	—	—

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

🔒Tailored diligence questions

7 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

Incorporated2003-03-11

Jurisdictionengland-wales

Primary SIC25990 — SIC 25990

Registered office

1 Willow Park, Scots Gap

Morpeth

Northumberland

NE61 4DA

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2026-12-31

Last made up to: 2025-03-31

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2027-03-25

Last: 2026-03-11

Officers (3 active · 1 resigned)

HARBOTTLE, Stuart Craig→

secretary · appointed 2003-03-11

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

HARBOTTLE, Alistair Mark→

director · ~59y · appointed 2003-03-11

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

HARBOTTLE, Stuart Craig→

director · ~62y · appointed 2003-03-11

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

SWIFT INCORPORATIONS LIMITED→

corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 2003-03-11 · resigned 2003-03-11

Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

Total charges

Outstanding

Active lenders

Status:Lender:3 of 3 shown

		Type	Properties
outstanding	Lloyds Banking Group The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland	Assignment of keyman life policy intimation dated 06/10/04 and assignation dated	1 property	26/09/2004	—
outstanding	Lloyds Banking Group The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland	Assignment of keyman life policy intimation dated 06/10/04 and assignation dated	1 property	26/09/2004	—
outstanding	Lloyds Banking Group The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland	Debenture	1 property	19/05/2003	—

Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.