AQUILA TRADING LIMITED

💤Zombieactive
10108393 · ltd · incorporated 2016-04-07
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
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Turnover
year to Mar 2025
Net worth
£-77.1k
book net assets
Opportunity
64/100
Worth a look
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What this business does
Primary activity: Retail sale via mail order houses or via Internet
Sector: Wholesale & retail
Investor take
Pass (distressed without resilience)
Distressed active trading company — structural issues outweigh the discount.

Opportunity 64/100 (worth a look), bankability 65/100. High owner-dependency — earn-out structure likely required for clean transition. Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Deleverage or restructure. Leverage at 100% of assets — consider sale of non-core assets or equity injection. 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
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
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
26 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
64/100Worth a look
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional 

Mixed signal. Worth opening the full target workup before deciding to pursue.

Business quality
60
Adequate — check latest filings for context.
Acquirability
50
Some acquirability indicators.
Risk profile
67
Some moderate concerns — review flags.
Signal strength
90
Good data coverage for analysis.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · accounting standard not declared
Negative net assets
Liabilities exceed assets by £77,097
High leverage
Liabilities are 100% of total assets
Leverage
100%
Liabilities / Total assets

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
Net Worth
-£77k
Current Assets
£7k
Current Liabilities
-£77k-£60k-£44k-£27k-£10k£7kMar 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£28.1k
Current assets£6.8k
Net assets£-77.1k
Average employees400

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 (15 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-12-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-12-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  3. 2024-09-10
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  4. 2023-12-22
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  5. 2022-12-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  6. 2021-12-21
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  7. 2020-11-16
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  8. 2019-12-08
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  9. 2019-08-19
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  10. 2018-12-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  11. 2018-02-24
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  12. 2017-12-13
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  13. 2017-05-15
    📄
    change-account-reference-date-company-previous-shortened
    accounts · AA01
  14. 2016-04-07
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As AQUILA TRADING LIMITED
  15. 2016-04-07
    SHERRATT, Wesley John appointed
    director

Owner dependency

80/100
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.
  • +No director turnover: Company is 10 years old with no director changes — suggests a very tight-knit founder team never broadened.

Succession & seller-readiness

45/100
Moderate signal

Some succession indicators present. Worth watching; approach if sector/strategy fits.

SIGNALS
  • primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.

Red flags

1 high ·
Confirmation statement overdue
high

Annual confirmation statement not filed on time. Required statutory filing — overdue is a strong discipline signal.

Evidence: Next due: 2026-04-29

Shareholders & ownership

1 active beneficial owner · dominant holder ≥75%
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr Wesley John Sherratt
Individual · British · DOB 03/1984 · age 42
75100%
75-100% shares07/04/2016

From Companies House Persons with Significant Control filings. Share ranges are banded per the public PSC regime.

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Peers ranked by estimated value, then turnover, then opportunity score.See all →
🔒Tailored diligence questions

9 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
Incorporated2016-04-07
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC47910 — Retail sale via mail order houses or via Internet

Registered office

50 Bagnall Road
Stoke-On-Trent
ST2 7AZ
England

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-12-31
Last made up to: 2025-03-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-04-29OVERDUE
Last: 2025-04-15

Officers (1 active · 0 resigned)

SHERRATT, Wesley John
director · ~42y · appointed 2016-04-07
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)

accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-12-27
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-04-22
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-12-31
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2024-09-10
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-04-15
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-04-08
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-12-22
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-04-04
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-12-23
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-04-05
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-12-21
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-04-21
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2020-11-16
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-04-20
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-04-20