ACTIVATED CARBON INNOVATION UK LTD

🚨Distressedactive
11937650 · ltd · incorporated 2019-04-10
Investment thesis
Distressed but structurally messy — likely a value trap without major surgery.
Why interesting: Headline may look cheap; sector may be recovering.
Why risky: Critical deal-killers in ownership or security; closing cost and post-deal clean-up likely to dominate.
🔒Estimated value
Upgrade to see
Turnover
year to Jun 2024
Net worth
£-242.6k
book net assets
Opportunity
70/100
Strong
🔔
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What this business does
Primary activity: Other engineering activities
Sector: Professional, scientific & technical
Investor take
Pass (distressed without resilience)
Distressed active trading company — structural issues outweigh the discount.

Opportunity 70/100 (strong), bankability 50/100. High owner-dependency — earn-out structure likely required for clean transition. Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: distressed disposal / insolvency (85/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

2 live charges · 2 lenders · oldest 6.5y

30/100
under pressure

Refinance would be pressure-driven, not opportunity-driven. Expect tighter margins and covenant scrutiny.

  • · Oldest live charge is 6.5 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Two lenders — manageable, but coordination required.
  • · Distress signals active — lender appetite narrows.

Data confidence

Overall: medium (79/100)

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
2 charges (2/2 with lender, 2/2 with type)
90
Directors & officers
3 officers (3 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
22 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
70/100Strong
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional 

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

Business quality
45
Concerning — overdue filings or status flags present.
Acquirability
75
Strong succession / seller-readiness signals.
Risk profile
77
Few red flags.
Signal strength
100
Good data coverage for analysis.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · accounting standard not declared
Negative net assets
Liabilities exceed assets by £242,581

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
£18k
Net Worth
-£243k
Current Assets
£651k
Current Liabilities
-£243k-£64k£115k£294k£473k£651kJun 2023Jun 2024

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2024-06-302023-06-30
Total assets£-233.3k
Current assets£651.4k
Cash£18.3k
Debtors£633.1k
Net assets£-242.6k

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

🔒Filing-note intelligence

4 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
1
filing
  • 1 confirmation-statement
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (22 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-03-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-03-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  3. 2023-03-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  4. 2023-01-20
    📄
    change-account-reference-date-company-previous-shortened
    accounts · AA01
  5. 2022-11-04
    📄
    change-account-reference-date-company-previous-extended
    accounts · AA01
  6. 2022-07-19
    📄
    mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
    mortgage · MR04
  7. 2022-07-19
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #1
  8. 2022-03-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  9. 2021-07-12
    📄
    legacy
    liquidation · MT04
  10. 2021-07-01
    📄
    legacy
    liquidation · MT01
  11. 2021-06-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  12. 2020-08-06
    📄
    mortgage-create-with-deed-with-charge-number-charge-creation-date
    mortgage · MR01
  13. 2020-08-03
    🔒
    Charge registered #2
    Lender: Hsbc UK Bank PLC
  14. 2020-03-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  15. 2020-03-31
    📄
    change-account-reference-date-company-previous-shortened
    accounts · AA01
  16. 2019-12-27
    📄
    mortgage-create-with-deed-with-charge-number-charge-creation-date
    mortgage · MR01
  17. 2019-12-18
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: Bibby Financial Services LTD (As Security Trustee)
  18. 2019-04-10
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As ACTIVATED CARBON INNOVATION UK LTD
  19. 2019-04-10
    MENG, Fanli, Dr appointed
    secretary
  20. 2019-04-10
    CHALABI, Rifat Al, Dr appointed
    director
  21. 2019-04-10
    MENG, Fanli, Dr appointed
    director
  22. 2019-04-10
    📄
    incorporation-company
    incorporation · NEWINC

Owner dependency

66/100
High — earn-out structure required

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

FACTORS
  • +Two-director setup: Only two active directors — typical of owner-managed SMEs but limits succession.
  • +Senior director age: Director aged approximately 63 — approaching natural succession window.

Succession & seller-readiness

56/100
Strong succession signal

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

SIGNALS
  • primaryFounder aged 63+: Senior director is approximately 63. Approaching typical UK retirement age — succession thinking likely.
  • secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.

Red flags

1 med ·
Has insolvency history
medium

Companies House flags prior insolvency events. Review the insolvency filings for context.

Group structure

Chinook Ac Ltd is the ultimate parent — holding 75%+ shares. This company sits inside their group.

🏛️
Chinook Ac Ltd
Corporate parent · holds 75-100% shares
ultimate parent
ACTIVATED CARBON INNOVATION UK LTD
This company · 11937650

Parent relationships inferred from Persons with Significant Control filings. Full subsidiary tree requires reverse-lookup (coming).

Shareholders & ownership

1 active beneficial owner · dominant holder ≥75%
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Chinook Ac Ltd
Corporate entity
75100%
75–100%75-100% shares · 75-100% voting10/04/2019

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
Incorporated2019-04-10
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC71129 — Other engineering activities

Registered office

1 Nottingham Science Park
Jesse Boot Avenue
Nottingham
NG7 2RU
United Kingdom

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-06-30
Last made up to: 2024-06-30
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-04-23
Last: 2026-04-09

Officers (3 active · 0 resigned)

MENG, Fanli, Dr
secretary · appointed 2019-04-10
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
CHALABI, Rifat Al, Dr
director · ~63y · appointed 2019-04-10
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
MENG, Fanli, Dr
director · ~62y · appointed 2019-04-10
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active

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

Mortgages & charges

2
Total charges
1
Outstanding
1
Active lenders
Status:Lender:2 of 2 shown
TypeProperties
outstanding
HSBC
Hsbc UK Bank PLC
A registered charge1 property03/08/2020
satisfied
Bibby Financial Services
Bibby Financial Services LTD (As Security Trustee)
A registered charge4 properties18/12/201919/07/2022
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (22 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-05-06
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-06-09
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-03-29
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-05-07
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-03-26
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-05-09
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-03-29
change-account-reference-date-company-previous-shortened
accounts · AA01
2023-01-20
change-account-reference-date-company-previous-extended
accounts · AA01
2022-11-04
mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
mortgage · MR04
2022-07-19
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-05-10
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-03-30
legacy
liquidation · MT04
2021-07-12
legacy
liquidation · MT01
2021-07-01
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-06-29