3K ENGINEERING LIMITED

💤Zombieactive
07111788 · ltd · incorporated 2009-12-23
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
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Turnover
year to Mar 2025
Net worth
£76
book net assets
Opportunity
80/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 25990
Sector: Manufacturing
Investor take
Pursue
Asset-holding vehicle with a 63-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 80/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (70/100, director aged 63). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Cash flow review and working-capital discipline. Cash down -31% YoY — forensic review of receivables, stock turns, and creditor days. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (73/100).

Data confidence

Overall: high (80/100)

Strong data coverage across all sections. AI outputs should be trusted with minimal caveats.

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
1 officers (1 active, 1 linked, 1 with DOB)
90
Ownership & PSC
2 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared
90
Director network
2 connected companies via shared directors
51
Filing history
37 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 102
Positive net assets
Net assets £76
Net assets shrinking
Down £2,895 YoY
Cash YoY
-31%
Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
£22k
↓ 31% YoY
Net Worth
£76
↓ 97% YoY
Current Assets
£44k
↓ 26% YoY
Current Liabilities
£0£12k£24k£36k£48k£59kMar 2024Mar 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102
Metric2025-03-312024-03-31
Total assets£26.7k£35.6k
Current assets£43.7k£59.4k
Cash£22.1k£32.0k
Debtors£21.6k£27.4k
Net assets£76£3.0k

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
2
filings
  • 1 accounts
  • 1 confirmation-statement
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (17 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-12-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2025-09-27
    📄
    notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
  3. 2024-11-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  4. 2023-12-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  5. 2022-12-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  6. 2022-06-01
    📄
    capital-alter-shares-subdivision
    capital · SH02
  7. 2021-12-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  8. 2021-03-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  9. 2020-10-28
    📄
    accounts-amended-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AAMD
  10. 2019-12-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  11. 2018-12-07
    📄
    change-account-reference-date-company-current-extended
    accounts · AA01
  12. 2018-08-16
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  13. 2017-05-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  14. 2016-05-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  15. 2016-01-12
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  16. 2009-12-23
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As 3K ENGINEERING LIMITED
  17. 2009-12-23
    KERR, John David appointed
    director

Owner dependency

98/100
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 16 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Senior director age: Director aged approximately 63 — approaching natural succession window.
  • +No director turnover: Company is 16 years old with no director changes — suggests a very tight-knit founder team never broadened.

Succession & seller-readiness

88/100
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 63. 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 16 years.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 16 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 · dominant holder ≥75%
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr John David Kerr
Individual · British · DOB 01/1963 · age 63
75100%
75-100% shares01/06/2016
Mr Anthony Benjamin Kerr
Individual · British · DOB 03/1984 · age 42
2550%
25–50%25-50% shares · 25-50% voting01/04/2022

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

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
Incorporated2009-12-23
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC25990 — SIC 25990

Registered office

Unit A Merrylees Industrial Estate, Leeside
Desford
Leicester
Leicestershire
LE9 9FS

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-12-31
Last made up to: 2025-03-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-12-25
Last: 2025-12-11

Officers (1 active · 0 resigned)

KERR, John David
director · ~63y · appointed 2009-12-23
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active

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

Recent filings (37 total)

accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-12-30
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-12-11
notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
2025-09-27
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-12-24
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-11-28
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-01-03
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-12-29
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-12-30
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-12-28
capital-alter-shares-subdivision
capital · SH02
2022-06-01
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-01-24
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-12-23
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-03-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-02-03
accounts-amended-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AAMD
2020-10-28