EXPRESS SHOPPING LIMITED

🌳Matureactive

SC029803 · ltd · incorporated 1954-01-02

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.

🔒Estimated value

—

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Turnover

—

not disclosed

Net worth

—

book net assets

Opportunity

62/100

Worth a look

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What this business does

Primary activity: SIC 7499

Sector: Professional, scientific & technical

Investor take

Pass (distressed without resilience)

Distressed active trading company — structural issues outweigh the discount.

Opportunity 62/100 (worth a look), bankability 30/100. Strong seller-intent signal (78/100, director aged 77). Asset purchase likely safer than share purchase given structural signals. Biggest value-creation lever: File overdue accounts. Clears statutory overdue flag — immediate bankability uplift for refinance conversations. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (30/100). Current lenders should be on monthly review.

Data confidence

Overall: low (51/100)

Sparse data coverage. Treat AI-generated outputs as preliminary. Manual diligence essential.

Company profile

address, 1 SIC codes, incorporation date

100

Financials

No iXBRL financials extracted

Lenders & charges

Confirmed no charges registered

Directors & officers

16 officers (4 active, 16 linked, 11 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

No PSCs filed (unusual — worth investigating)

Director network

15 connected companies via shared directors

Filing history

3 filings

Gazette notices

No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)

Opportunity Score

62/100Worth a look

PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional

Mixed signal. Worth opening the full target workup before deciding to pursue.

Business quality

Concerning — overdue filings or status flags present.

Acquirability

Strong succession / seller-readiness signals.

Risk profile

Some moderate concerns — review flags.

Signal strength

Good data coverage for analysis.

Recent activity

Last 30 days

filings

Last 90 days

filings

Last 180 days

filings

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (28 events)Click to expand

2018-10-18
📄
court-order
miscellaneous · OC-DV
1997-11-17
➕
CHAPMAN, Douglas Patrick appointed
director
1997-11-17
➕
STARKIE, Francis William Michael appointed
director
1997-11-17
➖
MALLETT, Laurence Edwin resigned
director
1997-11-17
➖
MOORHOUSE, Christopher John resigned
director
1997-09-10
➕
STANLEY, Helen Jane appointed
secretary
1997-09-10
➖
MALLETT, Laurence Edwin resigned
secretary
1997-08-11
➕
THOMAS, Andrea Margaret appointed
secretary
1996-12-01
➖
ROGERS, John Frederick, Dr resigned
director
1996-10-15
➕
MOORHOUSE, Christopher John appointed
director
1996-10-14
➖
ORANGE, John Robert Wellwood resigned
director
1995-01-01
📄
selection-of-documents-registered-before-January-1995
historical · PRE95
1994-09-25
➖
HOLLOW, Alison Jane resigned
secretary
1994-05-05
➖
ELDEN, Russell Graham resigned
secretary
1994-05-05
➕
HOLLOW, Alison Jane appointed
secretary
1994-05-05
➕
MALLETT, Laurence Edwin appointed
secretary
1994-05-05
➖
ELDEN, Russell Graham resigned
director
1994-05-05
➕
MALLETT, Laurence Edwin appointed
director
1992-10-01
➕
ROGERS, John Frederick, Dr appointed
director
1992-09-30
➖
CARLYLE, Walter resigned
director
1992-03-13
➕
ORANGE, John Robert Wellwood appointed
director
1992-03-12
➖
THOMAS, Vivian resigned
director
1990-05-16
➕
THOMAS, Vivian appointed
director
1990-05-15
➖
JONES, Myddleton Robert Pennant resigned
director
1989-09-14
➕
JONES, Myddleton Robert Pennant appointed
director
1989-09-13
➖
CAST, Peter Thomas resigned
director
1987-01-01
📄
selection-of-documents-registered-before-January-1987
historical · PRE87
1954-01-02
🏢
Company incorporated
As EXPRESS SHOPPING LIMITED

Owner dependency

83/100

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 28 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
+Founder age: Director aged approximately 77 — succession pressure is live.

Succession & seller-readiness

91/100

Likely off-market candidate

Strong 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 28 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 72 years old and no new directors in the last 3 years — succession not yet being planned internally.

Red flags

1 high · 1 med ·

Accounts overdue

high

Statutory accounts have not been filed by their due date. Can indicate admin breakdown, cash preservation, or deliberate delay.

Evidence: Next due: 2002-10-31

Has insolvency history

medium

Companies House flags prior insolvency events. Review the insolvency filings for context.

🔒Co-director network graph

Radial SVG graph showing every company connected via shared directors, colour-coded by status.

Available from the Pro tier upwards.

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

🔒Tailored diligence questions

10 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.

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🔒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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