HCH EXPRESS LTD

💤Zombieactive
SC496960 · ltd · incorporated 2015-02-05
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 Dec 2024
Net worth
book net assets
Opportunity
74/100
Strong
🔔
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What this business does
Primary activity: Take-away food shops and mobile food stands
Sector: Accommodation & food service
Investor take
Pursue
Strong opportunity: active trading company with strong profile and bankable structure.

Opportunity 74/100 (strong), bankability 75/100. High owner-dependency — earn-out structure likely required for clean transition. 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 (58/100).

Data confidence

Overall: high (81/100)

Strong data coverage across all sections. AI outputs should be trusted with minimal caveats.

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
3 officers (1 active, 3 linked, 3 with DOB)
90
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 3 total, 3 with control declared
90
Director network
5 connected companies via shared directors
60
Filing history
33 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
74/100Strong
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional 

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

Business quality
70
Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.
Acquirability
55
Some acquirability indicators.
Risk profile
85
Few red flags.
Signal strength
90
Good data coverage for analysis.

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
Net Worth
Current Assets
Current Liabilities
£0£0£0£0£0£0Dec 2023Dec 2024

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2024-12-312023-12-31
Average employees100200

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
1
filing
  • 1 confirmation-statement
Last 180 days
1
filing
  • 1 confirmation-statement
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (22 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-09-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-09-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  3. 2023-09-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  4. 2022-09-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  5. 2021-09-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  6. 2020-10-19
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  7. 2019-09-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  8. 2018-12-20
    📄
    notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
  9. 2018-12-20
    📄
    cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
  10. 2018-12-20
    📄
    appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
    officers · AP01
  11. 2018-12-20
    📄
    termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM01
  12. 2018-12-18
    HORNE, Jonathan Henry appointed
    director
  13. 2018-12-18
    HORNE, Harrison Robert resigned
    director
  14. 2018-09-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  15. 2018-02-09
    📄
    notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
  16. 2018-02-09
    📄
    cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
  17. 2018-02-09
    📄
    termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM01
  18. 2018-02-09
    📄
    appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
    officers · AP01
  19. 2018-02-08
    HORNE, Harrison Robert appointed
    director
  20. 2018-02-08
    HORNE, Jonathan Henry resigned
    director
  21. 2015-02-05
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As HCH EXPRESS LTD
  22. 2015-02-05
    HORNE, Jonathan Henry appointed
    director

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
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr Jonathan Henry Horne
Individual · British · DOB 04/1980 · age 46
sig. influencesignificant influence18/12/2018
2 historic (ceased) PSCs
  • Mr Harrison Robert Horneceased 18/12/2018· 75-100% shares
  • Mr Jonathan Henry Horneceased 08/02/2018· 75-100% 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 →

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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
Incorporated2015-02-05
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC56103 — Take-away food shops and mobile food stands

Registered office

22-26 Seagate
Dundee
DD1 2EQ
United Kingdom

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-09-30
Last made up to: 2024-12-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-01-03
Last: 2025-12-20

Officers (1 active · 2 resigned)

HORNE, Jonathan Henry
director · ~46y · appointed 2018-12-18
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
HORNE, Harrison Robert
director · ~40y · appointed 2018-02-08 · resigned 2018-12-18
Resigned
HORNE, Jonathan Henry
director · ~46y · appointed 2015-02-05 · resigned 2018-02-08
Resigned

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

Recent filings (33 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-03-12
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-09-30
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-01-14
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-09-30
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-02-21
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-09-26
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-02-24
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-09-28
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-02-16
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-09-29
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-01-19
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-10-19
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-01-24
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-09-27
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2018-12-20