4F INNOVATIONS LTD

💤Zombieactive
12372651 · ltd · incorporated 2019-12-20
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 Dec 2024
Net worth
£-6.1k
book net assets
Opportunity
76/100
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 76/100 (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: Cash flow review and working-capital discipline. Cash down -70% YoY — forensic review of receivables, stock turns, and creditor days. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (73/100).

Data confidence

Overall: medium (71/100)

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 (1 active, 2 linked, 2 with DOB)
90
Ownership & PSC
No PSCs filed (unusual — worth investigating)
35
Director network
1 connected companies via shared directors
48
Filing history
13 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
76/100Strong
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional 

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

Business quality
65
Adequate — check latest filings for context.
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
Negative net assets
Liabilities exceed assets by £6,073
Net assets shrinking
Down £6,173 YoY
Cash draining
Cash down 70% YoY
Cash YoY
-70%
Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
£1k
↓ 70% YoY
Net Worth
-£6k
↓ 6173% YoY
Current Assets
£3k
↓ 80% YoY
Current Liabilities
-£6k-£2k£2k£6k£10k£15kDec 2023Dec 2024

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2024-12-312023-12-31
Total assets£-4.0k£6.4k
Current assets£2.9k£14.6k
Cash£1.1k£3.6k
Debtors£1.8k£11.0k
Net assets£-6.1k£100

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 (11 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-07-15
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-09-06
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  3. 2023-08-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  4. 2023-07-23
    📄
    termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM01
  5. 2023-07-21
    RICHARDS, James Lester resigned
    director
  6. 2022-04-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  7. 2021-05-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  8. 2019-12-20
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As 4F INNOVATIONS LTD
  9. 2019-12-20
    ATKINSON, Philip Austin appointed
    director
  10. 2019-12-20
    RICHARDS, James Lester appointed
    director
  11. 2019-12-20
    📄
    incorporation-company
    incorporation · NEWINC

Owner dependency

83/100
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 61 — approaching natural succession window.

Succession & seller-readiness

55/100
Strong succession signal

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

SIGNALS
  • secondaryFounder aged 58+: Senior director is approximately 61. Early succession window.
  • 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.)
🔒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
Incorporated2019-12-20
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC71129 — Other engineering activities

Registered office

8 Winmarleigh Street
Warrington
Cheshire
WA1 1JW
United Kingdom

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-09-30
Last made up to: 2024-12-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-10-24
Last: 2025-10-10

Officers (1 active · 1 resigned)

ATKINSON, Philip Austin
director · ~61y · appointed 2019-12-20
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
RICHARDS, James Lester
director · ~54y · appointed 2019-12-20 · resigned 2023-07-21
Resigned

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

Recent filings (13 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-10-10
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-07-15
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-12-19
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-09-06
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-12-21
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-08-31
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2023-07-23
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-01-19
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-04-29
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-12-20
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-05-28
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-02-04
incorporation-company
incorporation · NEWINC
2019-12-20