ADAPTIVE DESIGN ENGINEERING LTD

💤Zombieactive
12682901 · ltd · incorporated 2020-06-19
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 Jun 2025
Net worth
£215
book net assets
Opportunity
71/100
Strong
🔔
Follow this company (free)
Email alerts on filings, charges, director changes, gazette notices. No account needed.

Unsubscribe any time from any email. GDPR-respectful.

What this business does
Primary activity: Engineering design activities for industrial process and production
Sector: Professional, scientific & technical
Investor take
Pursue
Strong opportunity: asset-holding vehicle 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 (80/100)

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

Company profile
address, 1 SIC codes, incorporation date
100
Financials
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
2 connected companies via shared directors
51
Filing history
12 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.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · accounting standard not declared
Positive net assets
Net assets £215

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
Net Worth
£215
~ YoY
Current Assets
£5
~ YoY
Current Liabilities
£0£43£86£129£172£215Jun 2024Jun 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2025-06-302024-06-30
Total assets£215£215
Current assets£5£5
Net assets£215£215

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

Recent activity

Last 30 days
1
filing
  • 1 confirmation-statement
Last 90 days
2
filings
  • 1 confirmation-statement
  • 1 accounts
Last 180 days
2
filings
  • 1 confirmation-statement
  • 1 accounts
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (8 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-04-11
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  2. 2025-03-21
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  3. 2024-04-19
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  4. 2023-03-14
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  5. 2022-03-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  6. 2020-06-19
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As ADAPTIVE DESIGN ENGINEERING LTD
  7. 2020-06-19
    BOW, Christopher Joshua appointed
    director
  8. 2020-06-19
    📄
    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 6 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 Christopher Joshua Bow
Individual · Welsh · DOB 02/1972 · age 54
75100%
75–100%board control75-100% shares · 75-100% voting · board control19/06/2020

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 →

Similar companies

Active · Professional services · CF postcode area
CompanyEst. valueTurnoverNet worthStaffAgeOppDirector
A D V ACCOUNTANCY LIMITED
06792769 · est 2009 · no financials extracted
17y
ACB TRAINING LTD
08699901 · est 2013 · no financials extracted
12y
ACTUATE (MANAGEMENT SERVICES) LIMITED
05970774 · est 2006 · no financials extracted
19y
ACUITY REAL ESTATE ADVISERS LIMITED
12017478 · est 2019 · no financials extracted
6y
AD SERVICES (CARDIFF) LTD
07287714 · est 2010 · no financials extracted
15y
AD VAULT LTD
12519664 · est 2020 · no financials extracted
6y
ADAM HUGHES WEALTH MANAGEMENT LTD
11289029 · est 2018 · no financials extracted
8y
ADAM WRIGHT LIMITED
08932962 · est 2014 · no financials extracted
12y
ADAPTOVATE LTD
13162848 · est 2021 · no financials extracted
5y
ADAVAK LTD
13782755 · est 2021 · no financials extracted
4y
ADDIS & YASSIR LTD
13764373 · est 2021 · no financials extracted
4y
ADE4CARE LIMITED
15330408 · est 2023 · no financials extracted
2y
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
Incorporated2020-06-19
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC71121 — Engineering design activities for industrial process and production

Registered office

6 Dane Street
Merthyr Tydfil
Mid Glamorgan
CF47 8SF
United Kingdom

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2027-03-31
Last made up to: 2025-06-30
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-06-15
Last: 2026-06-01

Officers (1 active · 0 resigned)

BOW, Christopher Joshua
director · ~54y · appointed 2020-06-19
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active

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

Recent filings (12 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-06-01
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2026-04-11
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-06-26
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-03-21
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-06-24
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-04-19
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-07-19
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-03-14
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-06-26
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-03-23
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-07-12
incorporation-company
incorporation · NEWINC
2020-06-19