ACE CATERING ONLINE LTD

💤Zombieactive
11519969 · ltd · incorporated 2018-08-15
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.
Why now
Window steady · medium confidence
Mixed signals — 1 changes over 30 days, no clear direction yet.
  • · Filings: 14 → 15
What changed my view
Last 30 days

Picture improved over the last 30 days — 1 positive signal vs 0 negative.

  • Filings: 1415
Last 90 days

No snapshot from 90 days ago — start tracking from today.

Last 180 days

No snapshot from 180 days ago — start tracking from today.

🔒Estimated value
Upgrade to see
Turnover
year to Aug 2025
Net worth
book net assets
Opportunity
71/100
Strong
🔔
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What this business does
Primary activity: Wholesale of other machinery and equipment
Sector: Wholesale & retail
Investor take
Pursue
Strong opportunity: active trading company with strong profile and bankable structure.

Opportunity 71/100 (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 (58/100).

Data confidence

Overall: high (84/100)

Strong data coverage across all sections. AI outputs should be trusted with minimal caveats.

Company profile
address, 1 SIC codes, incorporation date
100
Financials
3 years of iXBRL accounts extracted + narrative notes parsed
95
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
15 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
71/100Strong
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional 

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

Business quality
65
Adequate — check latest filings for context.
Acquirability
50
Some acquirability indicators.
Risk profile
85
Few red flags.
Signal strength
90
Good data coverage for analysis.

Key financials

3 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
Net Worth
Current Assets
Current Liabilities
£0£0£0£0£0£0Aug 2023Aug 2024Aug 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102
Metric2025-08-312024-08-312023-08-31
Average employees000

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
1
filing
  • 1 accounts
Last 180 days
1
filing
  • 1 accounts
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (10 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-05-15
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2025-05-16
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  3. 2024-05-21
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  4. 2023-05-15
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  5. 2022-05-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  6. 2021-05-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  7. 2019-12-04
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  8. 2018-08-15
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As ACE CATERING ONLINE LTD
  9. 2018-08-15
    DOYLE, Seamus John appointed
    director
  10. 2018-08-15
    📄
    incorporation-company
    incorporation · NEWINC

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 8 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

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 Seamus John Doyle
Individual · British · DOB 03/1973 · age 53
75100%
75–100%75-100% shares · 75-100% voting15/08/2018

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

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.

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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.

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Company details

Statusactive
Typeltd
Incorporated2018-08-15
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC46690 — Wholesale of other machinery and equipment

Registered office

Unit 3 Vernon Park Trading Estate
Southwark Street
Nottingham
NG6 0DA
United Kingdom

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2027-05-31
Last made up to: 2025-08-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-08-28
Last: 2025-08-14

Officers (1 active · 0 resigned)

DOYLE, Seamus John
director · ~53y · appointed 2018-08-15
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active

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

Recent filings (15 total)

accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2026-05-15
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-08-23
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-05-16
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-09-19
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-05-21
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-09-23
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-05-15
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-10-13
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-05-27
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-09-16
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-05-28
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-08-27
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-12-04
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-08-28
incorporation-company
incorporation · NEWINC
2018-08-15