EXPRESS DISTRIBUTION SERVICES LTD

🌳Matureactive

NI033129 · ltd · incorporated 1997-10-21

Investment thesis

Established operating company — standard diligence applies, no dominant angle.

Why interesting: Live, filing, normal profile.

Why risky: No standout signals in either direction.

Opportunity decay

approaching window · 12-months

Approaching a transaction window — refinance or sale event plausible in the next 12 months.

· Oldest live charge 22.7y old — refinance window within 12 months

🔒Estimated value

—

Upgrade to see

Turnover

£9.88M

year to Oct 2025

Net worth

—

book net assets

Opportunity

82/100

Exceptional

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What this business does

Primary activity: SIC 53201

Sector: Transportation & storage

Investor take

Pursue

Leverage-led grower. Family succession underway — not a classic acquisition target.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Same-surname younger director in place — likely family handover, not open to sale. Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Discharge stale live charges. 3 live charge(s) created 15+ years ago — likely paid but undischarged. Clean register. Most likely exit: strategic trade sale (78/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

3 live charges · 2 lenders · oldest 22.7y

60/100

clean up first

Refinance viable after a tidy-up — address the highlighted items first.

· Oldest live charge is 22.7 years old — likely at or near maturity.
· Two lenders — manageable, but coordination required.
· Legal-friction score 25/100 — workable, but lender will want more DD.
· Profitable and stable/growing — lender coverage supportable.

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

Lenders & charges

3 charges (3/3 with lender, 3/3 with type)

Directors & officers

4 officers (3 active, 4 linked, 2 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

1 active PSC(s) of 3 total, 3 with control declared

Director network

2 connected companies via shared directors

Filing history

82 filings on record

Gazette notices

No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)

🔒Estimated company valuation

Sector-multiple EBITDA, turnover, and NAV-proxy valuation range with confidence tier — derived from extracted iXBRL financials.

Available from the Pro tier upwards.

See pricing →

Opportunity Score

82/100Exceptional

PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional

Strong composite across quality, acquirability, and risk. High-priority target — progress to serious diligence.

Business quality

Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.

Acquirability

Strong succession / seller-readiness signals.

Risk profile

Few red flags.

Signal strength

100

Good data coverage for analysis.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · FRS 102

Profitable

Profit before tax £843,854

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts

Cash

—

Net Worth

—

Current Assets

—

Current Liabilities

—

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102

Metric	2025-10-31	2024-10-31
Turnover	£9.88M	—
Gross profit	£2.56M	—
Operating profit	£879.3k	—
Profit before tax	£843.9k	—
Average employees	6000	7500

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

🔒Filing-note intelligence

2 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

filings

Last 90 days

filing

• 1 accounts

Last 180 days

filings

• 1 accounts
• 1 confirmation-statement

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (25 events)Click to expand

2026-02-27
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-medium
accounts · AA
2025-07-25
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-medium
accounts · AA
2024-12-19
📄
cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
2024-12-19
📄
notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC02
2024-12-19
📄
cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
2024-03-29
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-full
accounts · AA
2024-03-05
➕
NEILL, Jonathan appointed
director
2024-03-05
📄
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2023-04-05
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-full
accounts · AA
2022-01-18
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-01-21
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-01-16
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-01-14
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2018-06-08
📄
withdrawal-of-a-person-with-significant-control-statement
persons-with-significant-control · PSC09
2018-06-08
📄
notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
2018-01-31
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2017-12-22
📄
notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
2016-01-01
➕
NEILL, Jonahan appointed
secretary
2016-01-01
➖
NEILL, Jacqueline Roberta resigned
secretary
2005-03-10
🔒
Charge registered #3
Lender: Northern Bank Limited
2003-09-15
🔒
Charge registered #2
Lender: Northern Bank LTD
2003-09-15
🔒
Charge registered #1
Lender: Northern Bank LTD
1997-10-21
🏢
Company incorporated
As EXPRESS DISTRIBUTION SERVICES LTD
1997-10-21
➕
NEILL, David appointed
director
1997-10-21
➕
NEILL, Jacqueline Roberta appointed
secretary

Owner dependency

91/100

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

+Two-director setup: Only two active directors — typical of owner-managed SMEs but limits succession.
+Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 29 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
+Founder age: Director aged approximately 65 — succession pressure is live.
+Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

Succession & seller-readiness

36/100

Weak signal

Limited succession signal. Not a near-term off-market candidate.

SIGNALS

primaryFamily succession underway: Not a takeover target — NEILL, Jonathan (same surname) appointed 2024-03-05. Pattern consistent with intra-family handover.
primaryFounder aged 63+: Senior director is approximately 65. Approaching typical UK retirement age — succession thinking likely.
secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 29 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
supportingClean filings + long tenure: Disciplined long-tenure operator — classic lifestyle-business pattern that often sells quietly.

Red flags

clean

No red flags detected from available public data. (This is not a clean bill of health — detailed accounts review still recommended.)

Group structure

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

🏛️

Neill Holdings Ltd

Corporate parent · holds 75-100% shares

ultimate parent

⬇

EXPRESS DISTRIBUTION SERVICES LTD

This company · NI033129

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%

Name	Shares	Voting rights	Nature of control	Notified
Neill Holdings Ltd Corporate entity	75–100%	—	75-100% shares	01/12/2024

2 historic (ceased) PSCs

Mr Jonathan Neillceased 01/12/2024· 25-50% shares
Mr David Neillceased 01/12/2024· 25-50% shares

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 · Transport & logistics · BT postcode area

Company	Est. value	Turnover	Net worth	Staff	Age	Opp	Director
PATMOND ENERGY LIMITED→ NI030470 · est 1996	£10.68M £8.01M–£13.35M	£40.12M	—	400	30y	87	76y
ARDBOE COLDSTORE LTD→ NI049805 · est 2004	£8.82M £6.62M–£11.03M	£15.26M	—	12200	22y	92	67y
MM FREIGHT LTD→ NI614252 · est 2012	£6.21M £4.65M–£7.76M	£41.54M	—	200	13y	88	53y
LOANE TRANSPORT LIMITED→ NI016810 · est 1983	£6.20M £4.65M–£7.75M	£25.10M	—	13500	42y	87	71y
ASAP CARGO LTD→ NI064810 · est 2007	£5.50M £4.12M–£6.87M	£16.92M	—	5000	18y	91	53y
B.P. MCKEEFRY LIMITED→ NI028403 · est 1994	£4.62M £3.47M–£5.78M	£23.77M	—	11000	32y	88	61y
R BARKLEY & SONS LIMITED→ NI038757 · est 2000	£2.00M £1.50M–£2.50M	£14.06M	—	8700	25y	87	72y
MULGREW HAULAGE LIMITED→ NI038151 · est 2000	£1.89M £1.41M–£2.36M	—	—	332	26y	87	81y
WILL FREIGHT SERVICES LIMITED→ NI013381 · est 1979	£639.5k £479.6k–£799.4k	£786.2k	—	400	47y	87	63y
A1 TRANSPORT (NI) LTD→ NI073250 · est 2009	£301.3k £226.0k–£376.6k	—	—	77	16y	94	58y
BLAIR INTERNATIONAL LTD→ NI649774 · est 2017	£45.9k £34.4k–£57.4k	£11.61M	—	8800	8y	93	76y
QUALITY FREIGHT LIMITED→ NI029307 · est 1995	—	—	—	600	31y	87	74y

Peers ranked by estimated value, then turnover, then opportunity score.See all →

🔒Tailored diligence questions

8 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

Incorporated1997-10-21

Jurisdictionnorthern-ireland

Primary SIC53201 — SIC 53201

Registered office

Unit 15 Silverwood Business Park

Lurgan

Craigavon

BT66 6SY

Northern Ireland

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2027-07-31

Last made up to: 2025-10-31

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2027-01-02

Last: 2025-12-19

Officers (3 active · 1 resigned)

NEILL, Jonahan→

secretary · appointed 2016-01-01

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

NEILL, David→

director · ~65y · appointed 1997-10-21

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

NEILL, Jonathan→

director · ~41y · appointed 2024-03-05

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

NEILL, Jacqueline Roberta→

secretary · appointed 1997-10-21 · resigned 2016-01-01

Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

Total charges

Outstanding

Active lenders

Status:Lender:3 of 3 shown

		Type	Properties
outstanding	Northern Bank Northern Bank Limited	Solicitors letter of undertaking	1 property	10/03/2005	—
outstanding	Northern Bank Northern Bank LTD	Mortgage or charge	1 property	15/09/2003	—
outstanding	Northern Bank Northern Bank LTD	Mortgage or charge	1 property	15/09/2003	—

Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (82 total)

accounts-with-accounts-type-medium

accounts · AA

2026-02-27

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates

confirmation-statement · CS01

2026-02-02

accounts-with-accounts-type-medium

accounts · AA

2025-07-25

confirmation-statement-with-updates

confirmation-statement · CS01

2024-12-19

cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control

persons-with-significant-control · PSC07

2024-12-19

notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control

persons-with-significant-control · PSC02

2024-12-19

cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control

persons-with-significant-control · PSC07

2024-12-19

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates

confirmation-statement · CS01

2024-08-05

accounts-with-accounts-type-full

accounts · AA

2024-03-29

appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date

officers · AP01

2024-03-05

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates

confirmation-statement · CS01

2023-07-24

accounts-with-accounts-type-full

accounts · AA

2023-04-05

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates

confirmation-statement · CS01

2022-08-01

accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full

accounts · AA

2022-01-18

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates

confirmation-statement · CS01

2021-08-12