AUTOWHEELS OF DARTFORD LIMITED

🌳Matureactive
07116826 · ltd · incorporated 2010-01-05
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 14.5y old — refinance window within 12 months
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Dec 2024
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 45400
Sector: Wholesale & retail
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 66-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 66). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

1 live charge · oldest 14.5y

85/100
ready

Refinance conversation should be productive — structure clean and timing right.

  • · Oldest live charge is 14.5 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
  • · Legal-friction score 15/100 — clean.

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
3 officers (3 active, 3 linked, 2 with DOB)
83
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 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
82/100Exceptional
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
100
Good data coverage for analysis.

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
—
Net Worth
—
Current Assets
—
Current Liabilities
—
-£26k-£12k£3k£17k£32k£46kDec 2023Dec 2024

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2024-12-312023-12-31
Total assets—£198.3k
Current assets—£46.3k
Net assets—£-26.4k

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 (21 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-06-24
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-08-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  3. 2024-08-14
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  4. 2024-02-12
    📍
    change-sail-address-company-with-old-address-new-address
    address · AD02
  5. 2024-02-12
    📍
    move-registers-to-sail-company-with-new-address
    address · AD03
  6. 2024-02-09
    📍
    move-registers-to-sail-company-with-new-address
    address · AD03
  7. 2024-02-09
    📍
    change-sail-address-company-with-old-address-new-address
    address · AD02
  8. 2024-02-09
    📍
    move-registers-to-sail-company-with-new-address
    address · AD03
  9. 2024-02-09
    📍
    change-sail-address-company-with-new-address
    address · AD02
  10. 2023-07-31
    ➕
    LAVENDER, Joanne appointed
    director
  11. 2023-07-31
    📄
    appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
    officers · AP01
  12. 2023-07-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  13. 2022-09-03
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  14. 2021-03-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  15. 2020-04-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  16. 2019-10-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  17. 2018-09-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  18. 2011-12-12
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: Barclays Bank PLC
  19. 2010-01-05
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As AUTOWHEELS OF DARTFORD LIMITED
  20. 2010-01-05
    ➕
    LAVENDER, Joanne appointed
    secretary
  21. 2010-01-05
    ➕
    LAVENDER, Michael appointed
    director

Owner dependency

91/100
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
  • +Two-director setup: Only two active directors — typical of owner-managed SMEs but limits succession.
  • +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 16 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 66 — succession pressure is live.
  • +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
  • primaryFounder aged 63+: Senior director is approximately 66. Approaching typical UK retirement age — succession thinking likely.
  • secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
  • secondary12+ year tenure: Director in role 16 years.
  • 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

1 active beneficial owner · dominant holder ≥75%
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr Michael William Lavender
Individual · British · DOB 07/1987 · age 39
75–100%
75–100%board control75-100% shares · 75-100% voting · board control06/04/2016

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

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.

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Company details

Statusactive
Typeltd
Incorporated2010-01-05
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC45400 — SIC 45400

Registered office

68d East Hill 68d East Hill
Dartford
Kent
DA1 1RZ
England

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-09-30
Last made up to: 2024-12-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-02-18
Last: 2026-02-04

Officers (3 active · 0 resigned)

LAVENDER, Joanne→
secretary · appointed 2010-01-05
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
LAVENDER, Joanne→
director · ~66y · appointed 2023-07-31
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
LAVENDER, Michael→
director · ~39y · appointed 2010-01-05
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active

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
Barclays
Barclays Bank PLC
Debenture1 property12/12/2011—
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (43 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-02-12
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-06-24
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-03-12
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-08-28
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2024-08-14
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-02-18
change-sail-address-company-with-old-address-new-address
address · AD02
2024-02-12
move-registers-to-sail-company-with-new-address
address · AD03
2024-02-12
move-registers-to-sail-company-with-new-address
address · AD03
2024-02-09
change-sail-address-company-with-old-address-new-address
address · AD02
2024-02-09
move-registers-to-sail-company-with-new-address
address · AD03
2024-02-09
change-sail-address-company-with-new-address
address · AD02
2024-02-09
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2023-07-31
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-07-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-02-15