AB TRAILERS LIMITED

💤Zombieactive
13856136 · ltd · incorporated 2022-01-18
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 Jan 2025
Net worth
£-12.0k
book net assets
Opportunity
71/100
Strong
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What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 33170
Sector: Manufacturing
Investor take
Pass (distressed without resilience)
Distressed active trading company — structural issues outweigh the discount.

Opportunity 71/100 (strong), bankability 70/100. 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 (76/100)

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
8 filings
60
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
60
Adequate — check latest filings for context.
Acquirability
55
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
Negative net assets
Liabilities exceed assets by £11,977
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
-£12k
↓ 113% YoY
Current Assets
£4k
↑ 11% YoY
Current Liabilities
-£12k-£9k-£6k-£2k£966£4kJan 2024Jan 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2025-01-312024-01-31
Total assets£29.1k£35.8k
Current assets£4.2k£3.8k
Net assets£-12.0k£-5.6k

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
1
filing
  • 1 confirmation-statement
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (6 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-10-18
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-08-16
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  3. 2023-10-17
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  4. 2022-01-18
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As AB TRAILERS LIMITED
  5. 2022-01-18
    BARTLETT, Ashley James appointed
    director
  6. 2022-01-18
    📄
    incorporation-company
    incorporation · NEWINC

Owner dependency

75/100
High — earn-out structure required

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

FACTORS
  • +Sole director: Only one active director — all governance concentrated on one person.

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 Ashley James Bartlett
Individual · British · DOB 05/1989 · age 37
75100%
75–100%board control75-100% shares · 75-100% voting · board control18/01/2022

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.

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Company details

Statusactive
Typeltd
Incorporated2022-01-18
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC33170 — SIC 33170

Registered office

Gorsebank Frimley Road
Ash Vale
Aldershot
GU12 5NL
England

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-10-31
Last made up to: 2025-01-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-01-17
Last: 2026-01-03

Officers (1 active · 0 resigned)

BARTLETT, Ashley James
director · ~37y · appointed 2022-01-18
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active

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

Recent filings (8 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-01-16
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-10-18
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-01-03
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-08-16
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-01-03
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-10-17
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-01-20
incorporation-company
incorporation · NEWINC
2022-01-18