5 BOROUGHS LUBRICANTS LTD.

💤Zombieactive
08931515 · ltd · incorporated 2014-03-10
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 Mar 2025
Net worth
£2.1k
book net assets
Opportunity
78/100
Strong
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What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 19209
Sector: Manufacturing
Investor take
Pursue
Strong opportunity: asset-holding vehicle with strong profile and bankable structure.

Opportunity 78/100 (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: 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
75
Lenders & charges
Confirmed no charges registered
85
Directors & officers
2 officers (2 active, 2 linked, 1 with DOB)
80
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
24 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.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · accounting standard not declared
Positive net assets
Net assets £2,123

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
—
Net Worth
£2k
↑ 52% YoY
Current Assets
£9k
↓ 34% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
£0£3k£5k£8k£11k£13kMar 2024Mar 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2025-03-312024-03-31
Total assets£2.1k£1.4k
Current assets£8.7k£13.3k
Net assets£2.1k£1.4k

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
2
filings
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
  • • 1 accounts
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (17 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-12-17
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-12-12
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  3. 2023-12-19
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  4. 2022-12-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  5. 2021-12-09
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  6. 2021-02-19
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  7. 2020-03-03
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  8. 2018-12-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  9. 2017-12-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  10. 2017-03-03
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  11. 2016-05-03
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  12. 2016-03-16
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  13. 2015-06-17
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  14. 2014-03-10
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As 5 BOROUGHS LUBRICANTS LTD.
  15. 2014-03-10
    ➕
    BATES, Christopher appointed
    secretary
  16. 2014-03-10
    ➕
    BATES, Christopher appointed
    director
  17. 2014-03-10
    📄
    incorporation-company
    incorporation · NEWINC

Owner dependency

88/100
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.
  • +Senior director age: Director aged approximately 64 — approaching natural succession window.
  • +No director turnover: Company is 12 years old with no director changes — suggests a very tight-knit founder team never broadened.

Succession & seller-readiness

78/100
Likely off-market candidate

Strong acquirability signals converging. Worth approaching directly — this is how off-market deals start.

SIGNALS
  • primaryFounder aged 63+: Senior director is approximately 64. Approaching typical UK retirement age — succession thinking likely.
  • primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
  • secondary12+ year tenure: Director in role 12 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 Christopher Bates
Individual · British · DOB 10/1962 · age 64
75–100%
—75-100% shares06/04/2016

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
Incorporated2014-03-10
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC19209 — SIC 19209

Registered office

6 Old Manor Court
Coddington
Newark
NG24 2TW

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-12-31
Last made up to: 2025-03-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-03-24
Last: 2026-03-10

Officers (2 active · 0 resigned)

BATES, Christopher→
secretary · appointed 2014-03-10
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
BATES, Christopher→
director · ~64y · appointed 2014-03-10
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active

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

Recent filings (24 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-03-13
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-12-17
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-04-01
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-12-12
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-04-05
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-12-19
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-04-03
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-12-23
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-03-18
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-12-09
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-03-22
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-02-19
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-03-10
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2020-03-03
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-03-12