1ST CITY CORP LIMITED

🌿Early-stageactive
15533699 · ltd · incorporated 2024-03-01
Investment thesis
Growth-phase business — story-led; valuation sensitive to momentum.
Why interesting: Trading is scaling; acquirers paying for trajectory get disproportionate leverage.
Why risky: Price often leads fundamentals; dependency on founder often high.
🔒Estimated value
Upgrade to see
Turnover
year to Mar 2025
Net worth
book net assets
Opportunity
75/100
Strong
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What this business does
Primary activity: Other service activities n.e.c.
Sector: Other service activities
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 65-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 75/100 (strong), bankability 70/100. Strong seller-intent signal (60/100, director aged 65). 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 (73/100).

Data confidence

Overall: medium (73/100)

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
1 year of iXBRL accounts extracted (no YoY comparison) + narrative notes parsed
50
Lenders & charges
Confirmed no charges registered
85
Directors & officers
2 officers (1 active, 2 linked, 2 with DOB)
90
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared
90
Director network
10 connected companies via shared directors
75
Filing history
9 filings
60
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
75/100Strong
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional 

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

Business quality
60
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.

Key financials

1 year extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
Net Worth
Current Assets
Current Liabilities

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102
Metric2025-03-31

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 confirmation-statement
Last 180 days
7
filings
  • 2 persons-with-significant-control
  • 2 officers
  • 1 confirmation-statement
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (11 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-01-18
    📄
    notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
  2. 2026-01-18
    📄
    appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
    officers · AP01
  3. 2026-01-18
    📄
    termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM01
  4. 2026-01-18
    📄
    cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
  5. 2025-11-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  6. 2025-11-26
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  7. 2024-03-01
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As 1ST CITY CORP LIMITED
  8. 2024-03-01
    COHEN, Neil Stuart appointed
    director
  9. 2024-03-01
    SYMES, Darren appointed
    director
  10. 2024-03-01
    SYMES, Darren resigned
    director
  11. 2024-03-01
    📄
    incorporation-company
    incorporation · NEWINC

Owner dependency

95/100
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.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 65 — succession pressure is live.
  • +Young company: Only 2.2 years old — management layer unlikely to be developed.

Succession & seller-readiness

65/100
Strong succession signal

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

SIGNALS
  • primaryFounder aged 63+: Senior director is approximately 65. Approaching typical UK retirement age — succession thinking likely.
  • 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
Neil Stuart Cohen
Individual · British · DOB 08/1961 · age 65
75100%
75–100%board control75-100% shares · 75-100% voting · board control01/03/2024
1 historic (ceased) PSC
  • Mr Darren Symesceased 01/03/2024· 75-100% shares · 75-100% voting · board control

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

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
Incorporated2024-03-01
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC96090 — Other service activities n.e.c.

Registered office

72 Halliwick Road
London
N10 1AB
England

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-12-31
Last made up to: 2025-03-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-03-14
Last: 2026-02-28

Officers (1 active · 1 resigned)

COHEN, Neil Stuart
director · ~65y · appointed 2024-03-01
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
SYMES, Darren
director · ~68y · appointed 2024-03-01 · resigned 2024-03-01
Resigned

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

Recent filings (9 total)

confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-04-01
notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
2026-01-18
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2026-01-18
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2026-01-18
cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
2026-01-18
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2025-11-26
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2025-11-26
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-04-11
incorporation-company
incorporation · NEWINC
2024-03-01