CARS RECOVERY LIMITED

🌳Matureactive
SC334403 · ltd · incorporated 2007-11-23
Investment thesis
Well-run mature business — low negotiation leverage; premium likely.
Why interesting: Textbook target; clean filings, stable trading.
Why risky: No pressure on seller; any deal likely at full price.
Opportunity decay
approaching window · 12-months
Approaching a transaction window — refinance or sale event plausible in the next 12 months.
  • · Oldest live charge 18.2y old — refinance window within 12 months
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Oct 2025
Net worth
£186.5k
book net assets
Opportunity
83/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 45200
Sector: Wholesale & retail
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 68-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 83/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (63/100, director aged 68). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

2 live charges · 2 lenders · oldest 18.2y

70/100
ready

Refinance conversation should be productive — structure clean and timing right.

  • · Oldest live charge is 18.2 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Two lenders — manageable, but coordination required.
  • · Legal-friction score 15/100 — clean.

Data confidence

Overall: high (80/100)

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
2 charges (2/2 with lender, 2/2 with type)
90
Directors & officers
7 officers (5 active, 7 linked, 5 with DOB)
84
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 4 total, 4 with control declared
90
Director network
4 connected companies via shared directors
57
Filing history
82 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
83/100Exceptional
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
85
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 102
Positive net assets
Net assets £186,500

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
£232k
Net Worth
£187k
Current Assets
£460k
Current Liabilities
—
£0£92k£184k£276k£368k£460kOct 2024Oct 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102
Metric2025-10-312024-10-31
Total assets£688.3k—
Current assets£459.7k—
Cash£231.6k—
Debtors£228.0k—
Net assets£186.5k—
Average employees—2000

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

🔒Filing-note intelligence

1 signal 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
1
filing
  • • 1 accounts
Last 90 days
1
filing
  • • 1 accounts
Last 180 days
1
filing
  • • 1 accounts
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (30 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-04-03
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2025-07-08
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  3. 2024-06-17
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  4. 2023-07-05
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  5. 2022-06-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  6. 2021-05-10
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  7. 2020-09-30
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  8. 2020-05-25
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  9. 2019-09-12
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  10. 2019-09-12
    📄
    cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
  11. 2019-03-14
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  12. 2018-08-14
    📄
    notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
  13. 2018-08-14
    📄
    cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
  14. 2018-08-07
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  15. 2018-06-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  16. 2018-02-08
    📄
    change-corporate-secretary-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH04
  17. 2017-10-17
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  18. 2014-06-21
    ➕
    PATTERSON, Philip Alexander Crofts appointed
    director
  19. 2014-05-13
    🔒
    Charge registered #2
    Lender: Mw Trustees Limited
  20. 2013-04-04
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #1
  21. 2008-05-13
    ➕
    STRONACHS SECRETARIES LIMITED appointed
    corporate-secretary
  22. 2008-05-13
    ➖
    STRONACHS resigned
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  23. 2008-02-09
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: Bank of Scotland PLC
  24. 2007-12-21
    ➕
    PATTERSON, Harry Mark Crofts appointed
    director
  25. 2007-12-21
    ➕
    PATTERSON, Mark Alexander Pirie appointed
    director
  26. 2007-12-21
    ➕
    PATTERSON, Sally-Anne appointed
    director
  27. 2007-12-21
    ➖
    NEILSON, Ewan Craig resigned
    nominee-director
  28. 2007-11-23
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As CARS RECOVERY LIMITED
  29. 2007-11-23
    ➕
    STRONACHS appointed
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  30. 2007-11-23
    ➕
    NEILSON, Ewan Craig appointed
    nominee-director

Owner dependency

73/100
High — earn-out structure required

Material founder dependency. Consider a 2-3 year earn-out and build in a handover plan before completion.

FACTORS
  • -4 active directors: Broader management team in place — suggests transferable governance.
  • +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 18 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 68 — succession pressure is live.
  • +Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

Succession & seller-readiness

73/100
Strong succession signal

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

SIGNALS
  • primaryFounder aged 63+: Senior director is approximately 68. Approaching typical UK retirement age — succession thinking likely.
  • secondary12+ year tenure: Director in role 18 years.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 18 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

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
Mr Harry Mark Crofts Patterson
Individual · British · DOB 09/1987 · age 39
75–100%
75–100%75-100% shares · 75-100% voting14/08/2018
3 historic (ceased) PSCs
  • Mr Philip Alexander Crofts Pattersonceased 12/09/2019· 25-50% shares · 25-50% voting
  • Ms Sally-Anne Miller Pattersonceased 14/08/2018· 25-50% shares · 25-50% voting
  • Mr Harry Mark Crofts Pattersonceased 21/07/2017· 25-50% shares · 25-50% voting

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
Incorporated2007-11-23
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC45200 — SIC 45200

Registered office

28 Albyn Place
Aberdeen
AB10 1YL
United Kingdom

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2027-07-31
Last made up to: 2025-10-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-10-05
Last: 2025-09-21

Officers (5 active · 2 resigned)

STRONACHS SECRETARIES LIMITED→
corporate-secretary · appointed 2008-05-13
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
PATTERSON, Harry Mark Crofts→
director · ~39y · appointed 2007-12-21
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
PATTERSON, Mark Alexander Pirie→
director · ~68y · appointed 2007-12-21
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
PATTERSON, Philip Alexander Crofts→
director · ~33y · appointed 2014-06-21
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
PATTERSON, Sally-Anne→
director · ~65y · appointed 2007-12-21
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
STRONACHS→
corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 2007-11-23 · resigned 2008-05-13
Resigned
NEILSON, Ewan Craig→
nominee-director · ~68y · appointed 2007-11-23 · resigned 2007-12-21
Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

2
Total charges
1
Outstanding
1
Active lenders
Status:Lender:2 of 2 shown
TypeProperties
outstanding
Mw Trustees
Mw Trustees Limited
A registered charge1 property13/05/2014—
satisfied
Lloyds Banking Group
Bank of Scotland PLC
Bond & floating charge1 property09/02/200804/04/2013
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (82 total)

accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2026-04-03
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-09-22
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-07-08
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-09-23
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-06-17
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-09-21
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-07-05
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-09-21
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-06-28
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-09-23
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-05-10
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-09-30
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2020-09-30
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-05-25
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-09-26