ARS (STOKE ON TRENT) LIMITED
💤Zombieactive
06537754 · ltd · incorporated 2008-03-18
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 Mar 2025
Net worth
£797.5k
book net assets
Opportunity
80/100
Exceptional
What this business does
Primary activity: Freight transport by road
Sector: Transportation & storage
Investor take
PursueAsset-holding vehicle with a 67-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.
Opportunity 80/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 67). 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
3 officers (2 active, 3 linked, 2 with DOB)
83
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
43 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 102Positive net assets
Net assets £797,497
Cash YoY
-0%
Year on year
Key financials
2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accountsCash
£305k
~ YoY
Net Worth
£797k
↑ 1.4% YoY
Current Assets
£409k
↑ 15% YoY
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Total assets | £842.3k | £821.3k |
| Current assets | £409.0k | £354.7k |
| Cash | £304.8k | £304.8k |
| Debtors | £104.2k | £49.9k |
| Net assets | £797.5k | £786.7k |
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
0
filings
Last 180 days
1
filing
- • 1 confirmation-statement
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (20 events)Click to expand
- 2025-09-04📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2024-09-06📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2023-07-10📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2022-06-02📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2022-03-18📄change-to-a-person-with-significant-controlpersons-with-significant-control · PSC04
- 2022-03-18📄cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-controlpersons-with-significant-control · PSC07
- 2021-12-10📄capital-return-purchase-own-sharescapital · SH03
- 2021-11-04📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2021-07-09📄termination-director-company-with-name-termination-dateofficers · TM01
- 2021-07-01➖HEATH, David resigneddirector
- 2020-09-15📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2019-09-11📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2018-09-17📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2017-12-21📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2016-12-09📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-smallaccounts · AA
- 2016-03-21📄annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholdersannual-return · AR01
- 2008-03-18🏢Company incorporatedAs ARS (STOKE ON TRENT) LIMITED
- 2008-03-18➕WATTS, Jill appointedsecretary
- 2008-03-18➕WATTS, Richard John appointeddirector
- 2008-03-18➕HEATH, David appointeddirector
Owner dependency
100/100
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 18 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
- +Founder age: Director aged approximately 67 — succession pressure is live.
Succession & seller-readiness
88/100
Likely off-market candidateStrong acquirability signals converging. Worth approaching directly — this is how off-market deals start.
SIGNALS
- primaryFounder aged 63+: Senior director is approximately 67. Approaching typical UK retirement age — succession thinking likely.
- primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
- secondary12+ year tenure: Director in role 18 years.
- secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 18 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
1 active beneficial owner · dominant holder ≥75%| Name | Shares | Voting rights | Nature of control | Notified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Mr Richard John Watts Individual · English · DOB 02/1959 · age 67 | 75–100% | — | 75-100% shares | 06/04/2016 |
1 historic (ceased) PSC
- Mr David Heathceased 31/03/2021· 25-50% shares
From Companies House Persons with Significant Control filings. Share ranges are banded per the public PSC regime.
Similar companies
Active · Transport & logistics · ST postcode area| Company | Est. value | Turnover | Net worth | Staff | Age | Opp | Director |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ALL COUNTIES TRUCK MOVEMENTS LIMITED→ 15282305 · est 2023 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 2y | — | — |
| ALOHA LTD→ 15122495 · est 2023 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 2y | — | — |
| ALPHA TRANSPORT SERVCE LTD→ 13566899 · est 2021 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 4y | — | — |
| AM RECOVERY AND TYRES LTD→ 16226094 · est 2025 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 1y | — | — |
| ANTELOPE LOGISTICS LIMITED→ 15006060 · est 2023 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 2y | — | — |
| ANTONIA2018 EXPERT LTD→ 13989525 · est 2022 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 4y | — | — |
| APOLLO TRANSPORT LTD→ 13152447 · est 2021 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 5y | — | — |
| ARRIVING TRANSPORT LTD→ 04241759 · est 2001 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 24y | — | — |
| ARROW CONNECT LTD→ 15138589 · est 2023 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 2y | — | — |
| AS UNIVERSAL IMPORTS LTD→ 16768924 · est 2025 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| ASCROFT TRANSPORT LIMITED→ 02958257 · est 1994 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 31y | — | — |
| ASG MANAGEMENT LTD→ 16527045 · est 2025 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
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
Incorporated2008-03-18
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC49410 — Freight transport by road
Registered office
Beech Cottage Boon Hill Road
Bignall End
Stoke-On-Trent
Staffordshire
ST7 8LG
Filing status
Accounts
Next due: 2026-12-31
Last made up to: 2025-03-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-04-01
Last: 2026-03-18
Officers (2 active · 1 resigned)
Active
WATTS, Richard John→
Activedirector · ~67y · appointed 2008-03-18
View their other companies + combined net worth →
HEATH, David→
Resigneddirector · ~68y · appointed 2008-03-18 · resigned 2021-07-01
Click a director name to see their full track record across all companies.
Recent filings (43 total)
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-03-19
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2025-09-04
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-03-26
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2024-09-06
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-03-18
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2023-07-10
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-03-26
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2022-06-02
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2022-03-18
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-03-18
cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
2022-03-18
capital-return-purchase-own-shares
capital · SH03
2021-12-10
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2021-11-04
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2021-07-09
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-03-18