4DEES SAME DAY COURIER SERVICES LTD
💤Zombieactive
05609728 · ltd · incorporated 2005-11-02
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 Nov 2024
Net worth
£-15.9k
book net assets
Opportunity
80/100
Exceptional
What this business does
Primary activity: Unlicenced Carrier
Sector: Transportation & storage
Investor take
Pass (distressed without resilience)Distressed active trading company — structural issues outweigh the discount.
Opportunity 80/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (70/100, director aged 60). 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 (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
Confirmed no charges registered
85
Directors & officers
2 officers (2 active, 2 linked, 1 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
48 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.
Signals from accounts
Derived from iXBRL accounts · FRS 105 (micro)Negative net assets
Liabilities exceed assets by £15,858
Key financials
2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accountsCash
—
Net Worth
-£16k
↓ 8.0% YoY
Current Assets
£2k
↑ 66% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series
Financials
Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 105 (micro)| Metric | 2024-11-30 | 2023-11-30 |
|---|---|---|
| Total assets | £-15.5k | £-14.4k |
| Current assets | £2.3k | £1.4k |
| Net assets | £-15.9k | £-14.7k |
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
0
filings
Last 180 days
1
filing
- • 1 confirmation-statement
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (18 events)Click to expand
- 2025-05-22📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2024-04-18📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2023-07-06📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2022-07-27📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2021-08-09📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2020-08-28📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2019-08-29📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2018-10-05📍change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-addressaddress · AD01
- 2018-08-06📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2017-08-24📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2016-08-22📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-smallaccounts · AA
- 2015-10-28📄annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholdersannual-return · AR01
- 2015-08-24📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-smallaccounts · AA
- 2014-11-30📄annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholdersannual-return · AR01
- 2014-08-28📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-smallaccounts · AA
- 2005-11-02🏢Company incorporatedAs 4DEES SAME DAY COURIER SERVICES LTD
- 2005-11-02➕FORD, Helen appointedsecretary
- 2005-11-02➕FORD, Steven appointeddirector
Owner dependency
98/100
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
- +Sole director: Only one active director — all governance concentrated on one person.
- +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 20 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
- +Senior director age: Director aged approximately 60 — approaching natural succession window.
- +No director turnover: Company is 20 years old with no director changes — suggests a very tight-knit founder team never broadened.
Succession & seller-readiness
85/100
Likely off-market candidateStrong acquirability signals converging. Worth approaching directly — this is how off-market deals start.
SIGNALS
- secondaryFounder aged 58+: Senior director is approximately 60. Early succession window.
- primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
- primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 20 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
- secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 20 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 · dominant holder ≥75%| Name | Shares | Voting rights | Nature of control | Notified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Mr Steven John Ford Individual · British · DOB 06/1966 · age 60 | 75–100% | — | 75-100% shares | 28/10/2016 |
Mrs Helen Ford Individual · British · DOB 05/1973 · age 53 | — | — | sig. influencesignificant influence | 28/10/2016 |
From Companies House Persons with Significant Control filings. Share ranges are banded per the public PSC regime.
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| 360 TWS LIMITED→ 15082516 · est 2023 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 2y | — | — |
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| 4AS AUTOMOTIVE LTD→ 16860095 · est 2025 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 89 ALEX TRANS LTD→ 10261234 · est 2016 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 9y | — | — |
| A & B HAULAGE LIMITED→ 08938144 · est 2014 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 12y | — | — |
| A-B 4 COURIER LTD→ 15878035 · est 2024 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 1y | — | — |
| A1 CABS UPPINGHAM LIMITED→ 15991958 · est 2024 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 1y | — | — |
| A1 HAULAGE LTD→ 09102190 · est 2014 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 11y | — | — |
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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
Incorporated2005-11-02
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC53202 — Unlicenced Carrier
Registered office
6 Pochin Drive
Market Harborough
Leicestershire
LE16 7LP
England
Filing status
Accounts
Next due: 2026-08-31
Last made up to: 2024-11-30
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-11-11
Last: 2025-10-28
Officers (2 active · 0 resigned)
Active
FORD, Steven→
Activedirector · ~60y · appointed 2005-11-02
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Click a director name to see their full track record across all companies.
Recent filings (48 total)
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-11-05
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-05-22
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-11-07
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-04-18
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-11-05
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-07-06
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-11-10
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-07-27
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-11-05
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-08-09
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-11-06
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2020-08-28
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-11-10
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-08-29
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2018-11-16