A S MOTORS (DEVON) LIMITED

💤Zombieactive
08478605 · ltd · incorporated 2013-04-08
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 Apr 2025
Net worth
£-50.3k
book net assets
Opportunity
74/100
Strong
🔔
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What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 45200
Sector: Wholesale & retail
Investor take
Pass (distressed without resilience)
Distressed active trading company — structural issues outweigh the discount.

Opportunity 74/100 (strong), bankability 75/100. High owner-dependency — earn-out structure likely required for clean transition. 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: distressed disposal / insolvency (65/100).

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
75
Lenders & charges
Confirmed no charges registered
85
Directors & officers
3 officers (1 active, 3 linked, 2 with DOB)
83
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
1 connected companies via shared directors
48
Filing history
43 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
74/100Strong
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional 

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

Business quality
70
Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.
Acquirability
55
Some acquirability indicators.
Risk profile
85
Few red flags.
Signal strength
90
Good data coverage for analysis.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · FRS 102
Negative net assets
Liabilities exceed assets by £50,316
Cash YoY
+759%
Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
£902
↑ 759% YoY
Net Worth
-£50k
↑ 15% YoY
Current Assets
£9k
↓ 39% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
-£59k-£44k-£30k-£15k-£543£14kApr 2024Apr 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102
Metric2025-04-292024-04-29
Total assets£20.3k£-32.5k
Current assets£8.5k£14.0k
Cash£902£105
Debtors£24£438
Net assets£-50.3k£-58.9k

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

🔒Filing-note intelligence

3 signals 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
1
filing
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
Last 180 days
2
filings
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
  • • 1 accounts
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (22 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-12-22
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-12-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  3. 2023-10-02
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  4. 2023-05-16
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  5. 2023-01-18
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  6. 2022-06-23
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  7. 2022-06-23
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  8. 2022-01-07
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  9. 2021-02-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  10. 2020-03-20
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  11. 2020-01-21
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  12. 2019-05-27
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  13. 2019-05-27
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  14. 2019-01-25
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  15. 2018-04-23
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  16. 2018-01-18
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  17. 2015-04-09
    ➖
    SQUIRES 2010 LP resigned
    corporate-secretary
  18. 2013-04-30
    ➕
    SQUIRES, Andrew Norman appointed
    director
  19. 2013-04-30
    ➕
    SQUIRES 2010 LP appointed
    corporate-secretary
  20. 2013-04-30
    ➖
    HOWE, Colin George resigned
    director
  21. 2013-04-08
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As A S MOTORS (DEVON) LIMITED
  22. 2013-04-08
    ➕
    HOWE, Colin George appointed
    director

Owner dependency

75/100
High — earn-out structure required

Material founder dependency. Consider a 2-3 year earn-out and build in a handover plan before completion.

FACTORS
  • +Sole director: Only one active director — all governance concentrated on one person.

Succession & seller-readiness

58/100
Strong succession signal

Multiple signals suggest succession is on the horizon. Candidate for proactive outreach.

SIGNALS
  • 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%
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr Andrew Norman Squires
Individual · British · DOB 07/1971 · age 55
75–100%
—75-100% shares08/04/2017

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
Incorporated2013-04-08
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC45200 — SIC 45200

Registered office

13 Hyde Road
Paignton
Devon
TQ4 5BW
United Kingdom

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2027-01-29
Last made up to: 2025-04-29
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-04-22
Last: 2026-04-08

Officers (1 active · 2 resigned)

SQUIRES, Andrew Norman→
director · ~55y · appointed 2013-04-30
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
SQUIRES 2010 LP→
corporate-secretary · appointed 2013-04-30 · resigned 2015-04-09
Resigned
HOWE, Colin George→
director · ~65y · appointed 2013-04-08 · resigned 2013-04-30
Resigned

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

Recent filings (43 total)

confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-04-13
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-12-22
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-04-16
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-12-23
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-04-23
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-10-02
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2023-05-16
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-04-21
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-01-18
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2022-06-23
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2022-06-23
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-04-22
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-01-07
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-04-22
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-02-26