ACE FINANCIAL PLANNING LIMITED

💤Zombieactive
05273634 · ltd · incorporated 2004-10-29
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 Oct 2025
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
80/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: Activities of insurance agents and brokers
Sector: Financial & insurance
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 65-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 80/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 65). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Broaden director team. Sole director creates succession risk and reduces buyer comfort. Appoint a second director or strong #2. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (73/100).

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
Confirmed no charges registered
85
Directors & officers
4 officers (2 active, 4 linked, 1 with DOB)
75
Ownership & PSC
4 active PSC(s) of 4 total, 4 with control declared
90
Director network
2 connected companies via shared directors
51
Filing history
53 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£0Oct 2024Oct 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2025-10-312024-10-31
Average employees00

Amounts extracted automatically from iXBRL. Fields left blank were not reported or not mapped. Values in GBP unless stated.

Recent activity

Last 30 days
0
filings
Last 90 days
1
filing
  • • 1 accounts
Last 180 days
2
filings
  • • 1 accounts
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (22 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-03-10
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  2. 2025-02-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  3. 2024-04-12
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  4. 2022-11-14
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  5. 2021-11-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  6. 2020-11-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  7. 2019-12-09
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  8. 2019-01-03
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  9. 2018-01-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  10. 2017-03-21
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  11. 2016-02-08
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  12. 2015-12-09
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  13. 2015-06-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  14. 2014-11-07
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  15. 2014-05-08
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  16. 2004-10-29
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As ACE FINANCIAL PLANNING LIMITED
  17. 2004-10-29
    ➕
    SHAH, Atul Chhaganlal appointed
    secretary
  18. 2004-10-29
    ➕
    SHAH, Pankaj appointed
    director
  19. 2004-10-29
    ➕
    BHARDWAJ, Ashok appointed
    nominee-secretary
  20. 2004-10-29
    ➖
    BHARDWAJ, Ashok resigned
    nominee-secretary
  21. 2004-10-29
    ➕
    BHARDWAJ CORPORATE SERVICES LIMITED appointed
    corporate-nominee-director
  22. 2004-10-29
    ➖
    BHARDWAJ CORPORATE SERVICES LIMITED resigned
    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 21 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 65 — succession pressure is live.

Succession & seller-readiness

95/100
Likely off-market candidate

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

SIGNALS
  • primaryFounder aged 63+: Senior director is approximately 65. Approaching typical UK retirement age — succession thinking likely.
  • primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
  • primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 21 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 21 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

4 active beneficial owners · fragmented
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr Atul Chhaganlal Shah
Individual · British · DOB 07/1965 · age 61
25–50%
25–50%25-50% shares · 25-50% voting29/10/2016
Mr Pankaj Shah
Individual · British · DOB 10/1961 · age 65
25–50%
25–50%25-50% shares · 25-50% voting29/10/2016
Mrs Bindi Shah
Individual · British · DOB 03/1963 · age 63
25–50%
25–50%25-50% shares · 25-50% voting29/10/2016
Mrs Nina Shah
Individual · British · DOB 01/1969 · age 57
25–50%
25–50%25-50% shares · 25-50% voting29/10/2016

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 →

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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
Incorporated2004-10-29
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC66220 — Activities of insurance agents and brokers

Registered office

13 Paynesfield Road
Bushey Heath
Bushey
WD23 1PQ

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2027-07-31
Last made up to: 2025-10-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-11-12
Last: 2025-10-29

Officers (2 active · 2 resigned)

SHAH, Atul Chhaganlal→
secretary · appointed 2004-10-29
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
SHAH, Pankaj→
director · ~65y · appointed 2004-10-29
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
BHARDWAJ, Ashok→
nominee-secretary · appointed 2004-10-29 · resigned 2004-10-29
Resigned
BHARDWAJ CORPORATE SERVICES LIMITED→
corporate-nominee-director · appointed 2004-10-29 · resigned 2004-10-29
Resigned

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

Recent filings (53 total)

accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2026-03-10
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-10-31
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-02-26
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-11-04
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-04-12
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-12-04
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-12-05
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-11-14
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-11-29
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-11-27
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2020-11-30
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-10-30
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2019-12-09
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-10-30
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2019-01-03