ADVANCED CAR TUNING TRADING AS AUTOHELP LTD.
🌳Matureactive
04755592 · ltd · incorporated 2003-05-07
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.
Why now
Window steady · low confidence
Steady and tidy — no seller pressure yet. Approach only if an angle opens.
Opportunity decay
approaching window · 12-months
Approaching a transaction window — refinance or sale event plausible in the next 12 months.
- · Oldest live charge 21.3y old — refinance window within 12 months
What changed my view
Last 30 days
No material changes in the last 30 days.
Last 90 days
No snapshot from 90 days ago — start tracking from today.
Last 180 days
No snapshot from 180 days ago — start tracking from today.
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to May 2025
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 33170
Sector: Manufacturing
Investor take
PursueActive trading company with a 74-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.
Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 74). 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 21.3y
65/100
clean up first
Refinance viable after a tidy-up — address the highlighted items first.
- · Oldest live charge is 21.3 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 (77/100)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
6 officers (2 active, 6 linked, 3 with DOB)
80
Ownership & PSC
2 active PSC(s) of 3 total, 3 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
73 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.
Key financials
2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accountsCash
—
Net Worth
—
Current Assets
—
Current Liabilities
—
Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series
Financials
Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown| Metric | 2025-05-31 | 2024-05-31 |
|---|---|---|
| Total assets | — | £53.6k |
| Current assets | — | £40.0k |
| Net assets | — | £29.2k |
| Average employees | 500 | — |
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 confirmation-statement
Last 180 days
1
filing
- • 1 confirmation-statement
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (30 events)Click to expand
- 2026-01-06📄change-to-a-person-with-significant-controlpersons-with-significant-control · PSC04
- 2026-01-06📄change-to-a-person-with-significant-controlpersons-with-significant-control · PSC04
- 2026-01-06📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2025-01-18📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2023-11-26📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2023-10-12📄notification-of-a-person-with-significant-controlpersons-with-significant-control · PSC01
- 2023-10-12📄change-to-a-person-with-significant-controlpersons-with-significant-control · PSC04
- 2022-11-26📄change-person-director-company-with-change-dateofficers · CH01
- 2022-09-24📄change-to-a-person-with-significant-controlpersons-with-significant-control · PSC04
- 2022-09-02📄notification-of-a-person-with-significant-controlpersons-with-significant-control · PSC01
- 2022-07-10📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2022-07-10📄termination-director-company-with-name-termination-dateofficers · TM01
- 2022-07-10📄cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-controlpersons-with-significant-control · PSC07
- 2022-07-07➖BASKERVILLE, Paul resigneddirector
- 2022-06-12📄change-person-director-company-with-change-dateofficers · CH01
- 2022-05-24📄change-person-director-company-with-change-dateofficers · CH01
- 2021-10-24📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2020-09-08📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2019-11-30📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2019-07-10➖AVERY, Dennis James resignedsecretary
- 2012-03-01➕GARRISON, Barry Roger appointeddirector
- 2005-03-21🔒Charge registered #1Lender: Lloyds Tsb Bank PLC
- 2003-05-07🏢Company incorporatedAs ADVANCED CAR TUNING TRADING AS AUTOHELP LTD.
- 2003-05-07➕JAMES, Ian appointeddirector
- 2003-05-07➕AVERY, Dennis James appointedsecretary
- 2003-05-07➕BTC (SECRETARIES) LIMITED appointedcorporate-nominee-secretary
- 2003-05-07➖BTC (SECRETARIES) LIMITED resignedcorporate-nominee-secretary
- 2003-05-07➕BASKERVILLE, Paul appointeddirector
- 2003-05-07➕BTC (DIRECTORS) LTD appointedcorporate-nominee-director
- 2003-05-07➖BTC (DIRECTORS) LTD resignedcorporate-nominee-director
Owner dependency
83/100
Critical — business is the founderThe 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.
- +Founder age: Director aged approximately 74 — succession pressure is live.
Succession & seller-readiness
96/100
Likely off-market candidateStrong acquirability signals converging. Worth approaching directly — this is how off-market deals start.
SIGNALS
- primaryFounder aged 70+: Senior director is approximately 74 years old. Natural succession window is now.
- 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
cleanNo 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 Ian James Individual · British · DOB 01/1952 · age 74 | 25–50% | 25–50% | board controlsig. influence25-50% shares · 25-50% voting · board control · significant influence · firm interest | 01/09/2022 |
Mr Barry Roger Garrison Individual · British · DOB 01/1957 · age 69 | 25–50% | 25–50% | sig. influence25-50% shares · 25-50% voting · significant influence · firm interest | 11/04/2017 |
1 historic (ceased) PSC
- Mr Paul Baskervilleceased 07/07/2022· 25-50% shares
From Companies House Persons with Significant Control filings. Share ranges are banded per the public PSC regime.
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A J R PRECISION PLASTICS LIMITED→ 02072823 · est 1986 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 39y | — | — |
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| ALHO ALUMINIUM LIMITED→ 16165762 · est 2025 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 1y | — | — |
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| ALL FINISHING SOLUTIONS LTD→ 15876816 · est 2024 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 1y | — | — |
| ALL METAL SERVICES LIMITED→ 01159685 · est 1974 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 52y | — | — |
| ALLAGGRO LIMITED→ 09342477 · est 2014 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 11y | — | — |
| ALLAN AUSTIN LIMITED→ 00474623 · est 1949 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 76y | — | — |
| ALLBATTERIES LIMITED→ 02717382 · est 1992 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 33y | — | — |
| ALLDOS (UK) LIMITED→ 03284476 · est 1996 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 29y | — | — |
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.
See pricing →Company details
Statusactive
Typeltd
Incorporated2003-05-07
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC33170 — SIC 33170
Registered office
1-5 Gravelly Lane
Erdington
Birmingham
B23 6UJ
Filing status
Accounts
Next due: 2027-02-28
Last made up to: 2025-05-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-05-07
Last: 2026-04-23
Officers (2 active · 4 resigned)
GARRISON, Barry Roger→
Activedirector · ~69y · appointed 2012-03-01
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
AVERY, Dennis James→
Resignedsecretary · appointed 2003-05-07 · resigned 2019-07-10
BTC (SECRETARIES) LIMITED→
Resignedcorporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 2003-05-07 · resigned 2003-05-07
BASKERVILLE, Paul→
Resigneddirector · ~70y · appointed 2003-05-07 · resigned 2022-07-07
BTC (DIRECTORS) LTD→
Resignedcorporate-nominee-director · appointed 2003-05-07 · resigned 2003-05-07
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
| Type | Properties | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| outstanding | Lloyds Banking Group Lloyds Tsb Bank PLC | Debenture | 1 property | 21/03/2005 | — |
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.
Recent filings (73 total)
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-04-24
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2026-01-06
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2026-01-06
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2026-01-06
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-05-20
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-01-18
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-05-15
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-11-26
notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
2023-10-12
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2023-10-12
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-05-09
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2022-11-26
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2022-09-24
notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
2022-09-02
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-07-10