AUTOCOLOUR SWINDON LIMITED

💤Zombieactive

08370585 · ltd · incorporated 2013-01-22

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 Jan 2026

Net worth

—

book net assets

Opportunity

78/100

Strong

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What this business does

Primary activity: SIC 99999

Sector: Extraterritorial bodies

Investor take

Pursue

Active trading company with a 73-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 78/100 (strong), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (68/100, director aged 73). 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 (78/100)

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

Lenders & charges

Confirmed no charges registered

Directors & officers

3 officers (1 active, 3 linked, 2 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared

Director network

1 connected companies via shared directors

Filing history

31 filings on record

Gazette notices

No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)

Opportunity Score

78/100Strong

PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional

Solid opportunity signal. Worth a dedicated memo and management meeting.

Business quality

Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.

Acquirability

Strong succession / seller-readiness signals.

Risk profile

Few red flags.

Signal strength

Good data coverage for analysis.

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts

Cash

—

Net Worth

—

Current Assets

—

Current Liabilities

—

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102

Metric	2026-01-31	2025-01-31

Amounts extracted automatically from iXBRL. Fields left blank were not reported or not mapped. Values in GBP unless stated.

Recent activity

Last 30 days

filings

Last 90 days

filing

• 1 accounts

Last 180 days

filings

• 1 accounts
• 1 confirmation-statement

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (21 events)Click to expand

2026-04-22
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2025-03-31
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2024-04-23
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2023-07-10
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2022-02-24
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2021-05-25
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2020-10-12
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2019-10-31
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2019-02-26
📍
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2018-05-16
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2017-10-05
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2016-10-10
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2016-01-26
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2015-10-02
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2015-01-26
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2013-01-22
🏢
Company incorporated
As AUTOCOLOUR SWINDON LIMITED
2013-01-22
➕
WARD, David John appointed
director
2013-01-22
➕
CRS LEGAL SERVICES LIMITED appointed
corporate-secretary
2013-01-22
➖
CRS LEGAL SERVICES LIMITED resigned
corporate-secretary
2013-01-22
➕
HARDBATTLE, Richard Stuart appointed
director
2013-01-22
➖
HARDBATTLE, Richard Stuart resigned
director

Owner dependency

90/100

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.
+Founder age: Director aged approximately 73 — succession pressure is live.

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 70+: Senior director is approximately 73 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 13 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%

Name	Shares	Voting rights	Nature of control	Notified
Mr David John Ward Individual · British · DOB 07/1953 · age 73	75–100%	—	75-100% shares	30/06/2016

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.

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AUXILIUMPLUSUK LIMITED→ 11670116 · est 2018 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	7y	—	—
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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

Incorporated2013-01-22

Jurisdictionengland-wales

Primary SIC99999 — SIC 99999

Registered office

The Quest Cresswell Lane

Lea

Malmesbury

SN16 9PE

England

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2027-10-31

Last made up to: 2026-01-31

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2027-01-28

Last: 2026-01-14

Officers (1 active · 2 resigned)

WARD, David John→

director · ~73y · appointed 2013-01-22

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

CRS LEGAL SERVICES LIMITED→

corporate-secretary · appointed 2013-01-22 · resigned 2013-01-22

Resigned

HARDBATTLE, Richard Stuart→

director · ~56y · appointed 2013-01-22 · resigned 2013-01-22

Resigned

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