AUTOCRAFT CARDIFF LIMITED

🌳Matureactive
04855654 · ltd · incorporated 2003-08-04
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 22.8y old — refinance window within 12 months
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Sept 2025
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
80/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 45200
Sector: Wholesale & retail
Investor take
Pursue
Strong opportunity: active trading company with exceptional profile and bankable structure.

Opportunity 80/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. High owner-dependency — earn-out structure likely required for clean transition. 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 22.8y

65/100
clean up first

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

  • · Oldest live charge is 22.8 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 2 total, 2 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
61 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
75
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 accounts
Cash
—
Net Worth
—
Current Assets
—
Current Liabilities
—
£0£0£0£0£0£0Sept 2024Sept 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102
Metric2025-09-302024-09-30
Average employees10001000

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
1
filing
  • • 1 accounts
Last 90 days
1
filing
  • • 1 accounts
Last 180 days
2
filings
  • • 1 accounts
  • • 1 capital
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (27 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-06-22
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2026-03-17
    📄
    capital-allotment-shares
    capital · SH01
  3. 2025-06-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  4. 2024-06-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  5. 2023-06-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  6. 2022-09-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  7. 2021-07-13
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  8. 2021-04-13
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  9. 2019-07-05
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  10. 2019-05-16
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  11. 2018-07-02
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  12. 2017-07-12
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  13. 2016-07-05
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  14. 2015-08-06
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  15. 2015-08-06
    📄
    capital-allotment-shares
    capital · SH01
  16. 2015-06-01
    ➖
    DOWDEN, Lennox Edwin resigned
    director
  17. 2015-03-30
    ➖
    DOWDEN, Pauline Yvonne resigned
    secretary
  18. 2014-02-05
    ➕
    LEWIS, Cory appointed
    director
  19. 2014-02-05
    ➕
    LEWIS, Jason Charles appointed
    director
  20. 2003-09-11
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: Hsbc Bank PLC
  21. 2003-08-04
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As AUTOCRAFT CARDIFF LIMITED
  22. 2003-08-04
    ➕
    DOWDEN, Pauline Yvonne appointed
    secretary
  23. 2003-08-04
    ➕
    SWIFT INCORPORATIONS LIMITED appointed
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  24. 2003-08-04
    ➖
    SWIFT INCORPORATIONS LIMITED resigned
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  25. 2003-08-04
    ➕
    DOWDEN, Lennox Edwin appointed
    director
  26. 2003-08-04
    ➕
    INSTANT COMPANIES LIMITED appointed
    corporate-nominee-director
  27. 2003-08-04
    ➖
    INSTANT COMPANIES LIMITED resigned
    corporate-nominee-director

Owner dependency

74/100
High — earn-out structure required

Material founder dependency. Consider a 2-3 year earn-out and build in a handover plan before completion.

FACTORS
  • +Two-director setup: Only two active directors — typical of owner-managed SMEs but limits succession.
  • +Senior director age: Director aged approximately 59 — approaching natural succession window.
  • +Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

Succession & seller-readiness

69/100
Strong succession signal

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

SIGNALS
  • secondaryFounder aged 58+: Senior director is approximately 59. Early succession window.
  • secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
  • secondary12+ year tenure: Director in role 12 years.
  • 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
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr Jason Charles Lewis
Individual · British · DOB 01/1967 · age 59
25–50%
25–50%25-50% shares · 25-50% voting06/04/2016
Mr Cory Lewis
Individual · British · DOB 09/1987 · age 39
25–50%
25–50%25-50% shares · 25-50% voting06/04/2016

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
Incorporated2003-08-04
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC45200 — SIC 45200

Registered office

Ipswich Road
Cardiff
South Glamorgan
CF23 9AQ
United Kingdom

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2027-06-30
Last made up to: 2025-09-30
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-08-14
Last: 2025-07-31

Officers (2 active · 4 resigned)

LEWIS, Cory→
director · ~39y · appointed 2014-02-05
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
LEWIS, Jason Charles→
director · ~59y · appointed 2014-02-05
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
DOWDEN, Pauline Yvonne→
secretary · appointed 2003-08-04 · resigned 2015-03-30
Resigned
SWIFT INCORPORATIONS LIMITED→
corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 2003-08-04 · resigned 2003-08-04
Resigned
DOWDEN, Lennox Edwin→
director · ~74y · appointed 2003-08-04 · resigned 2015-06-01
Resigned
INSTANT COMPANIES LIMITED→
corporate-nominee-director · appointed 2003-08-04 · resigned 2003-08-04
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 property11/09/2003—
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (61 total)

accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2026-06-22
capital-allotment-shares
capital · SH01
2026-03-17
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-09-26
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-06-30
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-09-26
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-06-27
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-08-03
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-06-30
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-09-29
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-08-24
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-09-02
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-07-13
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-04-13
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-08-21
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-08-13