AUTOMOTIVE DESIGN & DEVELOPMENT LIMITED

🌳Matureactive
08748971 · ltd · incorporated 2013-10-25
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
hardening · 12-months
Already tight — no obvious softening catalysts on the horizon.
  • · Thesis: well-run, low negotiation leverage
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Oct 2024
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
78/100
Strong
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What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 45200
Sector: Wholesale & retail
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company. Family succession underway — not a classic acquisition target.

Opportunity 78/100 (strong), bankability 75/100. Same-surname younger director in place — likely family handover, not open to sale. Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. 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
2 officers (2 active, 2 linked, 2 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
26 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
78/100Strong
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional 

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

Business quality
70
Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.
Acquirability
70
Strong succession / seller-readiness signals.
Risk profile
85
Few red flags.
Signal strength
90
Good data coverage for analysis.

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
—
Net Worth
—
Current Assets
—
Current Liabilities
—
£0£0£0£0£0£0Oct 2023Oct 2024

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102
Metric2024-10-312023-10-31
Average employees200100

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
0
filings
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (18 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-06-04
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-11-05
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  3. 2024-07-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  4. 2024-03-08
    📄
    appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
    officers · AP01
  5. 2024-03-01
    ➕
    WOODS, Andrew Richard appointed
    director
  6. 2023-07-11
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  7. 2022-08-08
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  8. 2021-07-22
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  9. 2020-07-03
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  10. 2019-02-01
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  11. 2018-04-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  12. 2017-07-25
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  13. 2016-04-13
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  14. 2015-11-12
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  15. 2015-06-17
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  16. 2014-11-05
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  17. 2013-10-25
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As AUTOMOTIVE DESIGN & DEVELOPMENT LIMITED
  18. 2013-10-25
    ➕
    WOODS, Richard Edwin appointed
    director

Owner dependency

86/100
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.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 69 — succession pressure is live.
  • +Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.
  • +No director turnover: Company is 13 years old with no director changes — suggests a very tight-knit founder team never broadened.

Succession & seller-readiness

29/100
Weak signal

Limited succession signal. Not a near-term off-market candidate.

SIGNALS
  • primaryFamily succession underway: Not a takeover target — WOODS, Andrew Richard (same surname) appointed 2024-03-01. Pattern consistent with intra-family handover.
  • primaryFounder aged 63+: Senior director is approximately 69. 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 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 Richard Edwin Woods
Individual · British · DOB 04/1957 · age 69
75–100%
75–100%board control75-100% shares · 75-100% voting · board control30/04/2016

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 →

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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
Incorporated2013-10-25
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC45200 — SIC 45200

Registered office

Henwood House
Henwood
Ashford
Kent
TN24 8DH

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-07-31
Last made up to: 2024-10-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-11-08
Last: 2025-10-25

Officers (2 active · 0 resigned)

WOODS, Andrew Richard→
director · ~43y · appointed 2024-03-01
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
WOODS, Richard Edwin→
director · ~69y · appointed 2013-10-25
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active

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

Recent filings (26 total)

confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-11-05
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-06-04
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-11-05
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2024-11-05
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-07-23
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2024-03-08
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-11-03
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-07-11
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-11-09
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-08-08
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-11-01
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-07-22
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-11-05
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2020-07-03
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-11-05