ACE FIXINGS LTD
🌳Matureactive
NI055683 · ltd · incorporated 2005-06-22
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 7.5y old — refinance window within 12 months
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Dec 2024
Net worth
£883.1k
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 46730
Sector: Wholesale & retail
Investor take
PursueActive trading company with a 77-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.
Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 77). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).
🏦
Refinance opportunity
1 live charge · oldest 7.5y
85/100
ready
Refinance conversation should be productive — structure clean and timing right.
- · Oldest live charge is 7.5 years old — likely at or near maturity.
- · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
- · Legal-friction score 15/100 — clean.
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
75
Lenders & charges
1 charges (1/1 with lender, 1/1 with type)
90
Directors & officers
5 officers (3 active, 5 linked, 2 with DOB)
78
Ownership & PSC
2 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared
90
Director network
5 connected companies via shared directors
60
Filing history
57 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
82/100Exceptional
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional
Strong composite across quality, acquirability, and risk. High-priority target — progress to serious diligence.
Business quality
70
Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.
Acquirability
80
Strong succession / seller-readiness signals.
Risk profile
85
Few red flags.
Signal strength
100
Good data coverage for analysis.
Signals from accounts
Derived from iXBRL accounts · FRS 102Positive net assets
Net assets £883,054
Net assets shrinking
Down £78,423 YoY
Key financials
2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accountsCash
—
Net Worth
£883k
↓ 8.2% YoY
Current Assets
£2.1m
↑ 3.2% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series
Financials
Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102| Metric | 2024-12-31 | 2023-12-31 |
|---|---|---|
| Total assets | £822.7k | £938.5k |
| Current assets | £2.05M | £1.99M |
| Net assets | £883.1k | £961.5k |
Amounts extracted automatically from iXBRL. Fields left blank were not reported or not mapped. Values in GBP unless stated.
🔒Filing-note intelligence
3 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
0
filings
Last 90 days
0
filings
Last 180 days
0
filings
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (25 events)Click to expand
- 2025-09-30📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2024-09-30📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2023-10-09📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2022-09-30📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2021-11-03📄capital-name-of-class-of-sharescapital · SH08
- 2021-11-03📄resolutionresolution · RESOLUTIONS
- 2021-11-03📄memorandum-articlesincorporation · MA
- 2021-07-19📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2021-05-17📄change-to-a-person-with-significant-controlpersons-with-significant-control · PSC04
- 2021-05-17📄change-to-a-person-with-significant-controlpersons-with-significant-control · PSC04
- 2020-10-05📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2020-02-03📄change-account-reference-date-company-previous-extendedaccounts · AA01
- 2019-04-25📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2018-11-29📄mortgage-create-with-deed-with-charge-number-charge-creation-datemortgage · MR01
- 2018-11-28🔒Charge registered #1Lender: Northern Bank Limited
- 2018-04-27📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2017-04-04📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-smallaccounts · AA
- 2005-06-22🏢Company incorporatedAs ACE FIXINGS LTD
- 2005-06-22➕MCGILLIAN, Deirdre appointedsecretary
- 2005-06-22➕MCGILLIAN, Austin appointeddirector
- 2005-06-22➕MCGILLIAN, Deirdre appointeddirector
- 2005-06-22➕C.S. SECRETARIAL SERVICES LTD appointedcorporate-secretary
- 2005-06-22➖C.S. SECRETARIAL SERVICES LTD resignedcorporate-secretary
- 2005-06-22➕CS DIRECTOR SERVICES LIMITED appointedcorporate-director
- 2005-06-22➖CS DIRECTOR SERVICES LIMITED resignedcorporate-director
Owner dependency
91/100
Critical — business is the founderThe 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 21 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
- +Founder age: Director aged approximately 77 — succession pressure is live.
- +Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.
Succession & seller-readiness
96/100
Likely off-market candidateStrong acquirability signals converging. Worth approaching directly — this is how off-market deals start.
SIGNALS
- primaryFounder aged 70+: Senior director is approximately 77 years old. Natural succession window is now.
- secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
- primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 21 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
- secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 21 years old and no new directors in the last 3 years — succession not yet being planned internally.
- supportingClean filings + long tenure: Disciplined long-tenure operator — classic lifestyle-business pattern that often sells quietly.
Red flags
cleanNo red flags detected from available public data. (This is not a clean bill of health — detailed accounts review still recommended.)
Shareholders & ownership
2 active beneficial owners| Name | Shares | Voting rights | Nature of control | Notified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Mr Austin Mcgillian Individual · British · DOB 09/1949 · age 77 | 25–50% | — | 25-50% shares | 23/06/2016 |
Mrs Deirdre Mcgillian Individual · British · DOB 09/1953 · age 73 | 25–50% | — | 25-50% shares | 23/06/2016 |
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 · Wholesale & distribution · BT postcode area| Company | Est. value | Turnover | Net worth | Staff | Age | Opp | Director |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BUBBLES WHOLESALE LIMITED→ NI603437 · est 2010 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 15y | — | — |
| BUCHANAN (WHOLESALE) LTD→ NI007645 · est 1969 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 56y | — | — |
| BUILD SIMPLY LTD→ NI722438 · est 2024 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 1y | — | — |
| BUILDING PRODUCTS DISTRIBUTORS LIMITED→ NI026338 · est 1992 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 34y | — | — |
| BUILDING PROTECTION SYSTEMS (NI) LIMITED→ NI015190 · est 1981 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 44y | — | — |
| BULK BUY NI GROUP LTD→ NI700769 · est 2023 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 2y | — | — |
| BULLOUGH TRADING SOLUTIONS LIMITED→ NI646129 · est 2017 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 8y | — | — |
| BULONG LTD→ NI727977 · est 2025 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 1y | — | — |
| BUNNY AND BIRDY LTD→ NI690382 · est 2022 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 3y | — | — |
| BURKES AGRI SUPPLIES LTD→ NI627223 · est 2014 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 11y | — | — |
| BURKES OF CORNASCRIEBE (2014) LIMITED→ NI627753 · est 2014 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 11y | — | — |
| BUSINESS STORAGE PRODUCTS LIMITED→ NI071525 · est 2009 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 17y | — | — |
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
Incorporated2005-06-22
Jurisdictionnorthern-ireland
Primary SIC46730 — SIC 46730
Registered office
Woodside Industrial Est
Woodside Road
Ballymena
BT42 4HX
Filing status
Accounts
Next due: 2026-09-30
Last made up to: 2024-12-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-07-06
Last: 2025-06-22
Officers (3 active · 2 resigned)
MCGILLIAN, Deirdre→
Activesecretary · appointed 2005-06-22
View their other companies + combined net worth →
MCGILLIAN, Austin→
Activedirector · ~77y · appointed 2005-06-22
View their other companies + combined net worth →
MCGILLIAN, Deirdre→
Activedirector · ~73y · appointed 2005-06-22
View their other companies + combined net worth →
C.S. SECRETARIAL SERVICES LTD→
Resignedcorporate-secretary · appointed 2005-06-22 · resigned 2005-06-22
CS DIRECTOR SERVICES LIMITED→
Resignedcorporate-director · appointed 2005-06-22 · resigned 2005-06-22
Click a director name to see their full track record across all companies.
Mortgages & charges
1
Total charges
1
Outstanding
1
Active lenders
Status:Lender:1 of 1 shown
| Type | Properties | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| outstanding | Northern Bank Northern Bank Limited | A registered charge | — | 28/11/2018 | — |
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.
Recent filings (57 total)
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-09-30
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-06-27
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-09-30
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-06-24
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-10-09
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-06-23
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-09-30
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-06-29
capital-name-of-class-of-shares
capital · SH08
2021-11-03
resolution
resolution · RESOLUTIONS
2021-11-03
memorandum-articles
incorporation · MA
2021-11-03
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-07-19
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-06-23
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2021-05-17
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2021-05-17