AUTO FINANCE LIMITED
💤Zombieactive
07662496 · ltd · incorporated 2011-06-08
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 Jun 2025
Net worth
£-50.4k
book net assets
Opportunity
80/100
Exceptional
What this business does
Primary activity: Other service activities n.e.c.
Sector: Other service activities
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 (83/100, director aged 80). 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: 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
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
3 connected companies via shared directors
54
Filing history
42 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 102Negative net assets
Liabilities exceed assets by £50,442
Very low cash
Cash position: £25
Cash YoY
+2400%
Year on year
Key financials
2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accountsCash
£25
↑ 2400% YoY
Net Worth
-£50k
↓ 15% YoY
Current Assets
£61k
↓ 2.1% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series
Financials
Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102| Metric | 2025-06-30 | 2024-06-30 |
|---|---|---|
| Total assets | £-9.0k | £6.6k |
| Current assets | £61.3k | £62.6k |
| Cash | £25 | £1 |
| Debtors | £61.2k | £62.6k |
| Net assets | £-50.4k | £-43.9k |
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 confirmation-statement
Last 180 days
2
filings
- • 1 confirmation-statement
- • 1 accounts
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (17 events)Click to expand
- 2026-03-27📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2025-03-31📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2025-03-07📍change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-addressaddress · AD01
- 2024-08-21📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2024-07-09📄gazette-filings-brought-up-to-dategazette · DISS40
- 2024-06-12📄dissolved-compulsory-strike-off-suspendeddissolution · DISS16(SOAS)
- 2024-05-28📄gazette-notice-compulsorygazette · GAZ1
- 2023-03-01📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2022-08-30📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2021-06-21📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2020-03-31📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2019-03-22📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2018-04-04📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2017-05-09📄accounts-amended-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-smallaccounts · AAMD
- 2017-03-31📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-smallaccounts · AA
- 2011-06-08🏢Company incorporatedAs AUTO FINANCE LIMITED
- 2011-06-08➕ELLIS-JONES, Meirion 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 15 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
- +Founder age: Director aged approximately 80 — succession pressure is live.
- +No director turnover: Company is 15 years old with no director changes — suggests a very tight-knit founder team never broadened.
Succession & seller-readiness
98/100
Likely off-market candidateStrong acquirability signals converging. Worth approaching directly — this is how off-market deals start.
SIGNALS
- primaryFounder aged 70+: Senior director is approximately 80 years old. Natural succession window is now.
- primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
- secondary12+ year tenure: Director in role 15 years.
- secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 15 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 Meirion Ellis-Jones Individual · British · DOB 08/1946 · age 80 | 75–100% | 75–100% | board control75-100% shares · 75-100% voting · board control | 07/04/2016 |
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 →Similar companies
Active · Trade services · SY postcode area| Company | Est. value | Turnover | Net worth | Staff | Age | Opp | Director |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ALLEY BARBERS LIMITED→ 04756654 · est 2003 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 22y | — | — |
| ASKARI MARKETING LIMITED→ 06631521 · est 2008 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 17y | — | — |
| AUBREY KIRKHAM FUNERAL DIRECTORS LIMITED→ 05543993 · est 2005 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 20y | — | — |
| AUTHENTIC EVOLUTION LTD→ 09809250 · est 2015 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 10y | — | — |
| B E Y BARBERS SY1 LTD→ 16568082 · est 2025 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| BALLARD INTERIORS LTD→ 07394527 · est 2010 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 15y | — | — |
| BANG CONSTRUCTION LIMITED→ 03927012 · est 2000 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 26y | — | — |
| BARNES SALON LTD→ 14107899 · est 2022 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 3y | — | — |
| BARRY HAWKINS (WEM) LIMITED→ 02928887 · est 1994 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 31y | — | — |
| BASE SQUARED LTD→ 07819618 · est 2011 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 14y | — | — |
| BATTLEFIELD LANDSCAPES LTD→ 08964890 · est 2014 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 12y | — | — |
| BAWDEN GEARY LIMITED→ 10108920 · est 2016 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 10y | — | — |
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
Incorporated2011-06-08
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC96090 — Other service activities n.e.c.
Registered office
8 Science Park
Cefn Llan Science Park
Aberystwyth
SY23 3AH
Wales
Filing status
Accounts
Next due: 2027-03-31
Last made up to: 2025-06-30
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-06-22
Last: 2026-06-08
Officers (1 active · 0 resigned)
ELLIS-JONES, Meirion→
Activedirector · ~80y · appointed 2011-06-08
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Click a director name to see their full track record across all companies.
Recent filings (42 total)
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-06-08
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2026-03-27
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-07-10
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2025-03-31
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2025-03-07
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2024-08-21
gazette-filings-brought-up-to-date
gazette · DISS40
2024-07-09
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-07-07
dissolved-compulsory-strike-off-suspended
dissolution · DISS16(SOAS)
2024-06-12
gazette-notice-compulsory
gazette · GAZ1
2024-05-28
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-07-12
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2023-03-01
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2022-08-30
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-07-01
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-06-28