Deep Water
Deep Water Research

Financial Distress and Corporate Status Analysis: Acme Entities

Financial-distress signals for the UK company Acme Cloud Ltd: county court judgments, winding-up petitions, insolvency or administration notices, and other corroborating evidence of supplier distress. Prioritise these sources: companies-house, gov-uk. Report only corroborated findings and name primary sources.

Jul 2, 202648 sources reviewed

Executive Summary

This research report investigates potential financial distress signals—including County Court Judgments (CCJs), winding-up petitions, insolvency notices, and supplier distress—for "Acme Cloud Ltd." A comprehensive review of the provided official Companies House records and corroborating data yielded the following key findings:

  • Target Identity Discrepancy: The exact entity name "Acme Cloud Ltd" does not appear in the provided official records. Instead, the data details two distinct UK-registered companies: ACME LTD (Company No. 11519884) and ACME INC LTD (Company No. SC704338). A third entity, ACME Pty Ltd, is explicitly identified as a fictional Australian dataset and is excluded from the primary distress analysis.
  • No Active Financial Distress Indicated: For the primary active UK entity, ACME LTD, there are zero recorded indicators of financial distress. The company maintains an "Active" status with up-to-date financial accounts, and the official register shows no insolvency proceedings, administration notices, or mortgage charges.
  • Voluntary (Non-Hostile) Dissolution: The secondary UK entity, ACME INC LTD, was legally dissolved in June 2026. Crucially, this was executed via a voluntary strike-off (DS01) rather than compulsory liquidation or a creditor-led winding-up petition, indicating an orderly shutdown of a dormant company rather than financial distress.
  • Lack of Corroborating Derogatory Data: The provided evidence contains no records of County Court Judgments (CCJs), disqualified directors, or supplier-reported payment defaults for any of the identified entities.

1. Entity Identification and Structural Mapping

Given the absence of a direct match for "Acme Cloud Ltd," accurate intelligence gathering requires disambiguating the provided entities. Relying on the UK government's Companies House "Find and update company information" service [2], we have identified two distinct corporate bodies in the UK, alongside one illustrative dataset from an external repository.

Entity Comparison Matrix

Attribute ACME LTD (UK) ACME INC LTD (UK/Scotland) ACME Pty Ltd (Australia)
Registration Number 11519884 [13] SC704338 [3] ABN: 12 345 678 901 [28]
Current Status Active [17] Dissolved [3] N/A (Fictional Entity) [20]
Incorporation Date 15 August 2018 [21] 16 July 2021 [27] N/A
Sector / Activity Architectural activities (SIC: 71111) [1] Unknown (Dormant at closure) [30] Tier 2 General Purpose [24]
Registered Office London, EC2A 4EA [25] Scotland (SC prefix) [3] Australia [24]
Latest Accounts Up to 31 March 2025 [9] Up to 31 December 2024 [15] FY ending 30 June 2025 [20]

Note: Companies House data allows users to verify company status (e.g., live or dissolved) entirely free of charge [2].

2. Current Status and Financial Posture of ACME LTD

ACME LTD (Company Registration Number 11519884) [13] is the most likely active candidate for distress monitoring in the UK dataset.

Corporate History and Operations

Incorporated on 15 August 2018 [21], the company operates out of a registered office located at 76 Tabernacle Street, London, United Kingdom, EC2A 4EA [25]. The entity previously traded under the name ACME LEGACY LTD from its incorporation until 21 September 2021 [5]. Officially, its nature of business is categorized under Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code 71111, which designates "Architectural activities" [1].

Financial and Structural Risks

A core component of structural financial risk analysis relies on the timely filing of corporate accounts, the date of which is made publicly available by Companies House [6]. Delays in filing are historically strongly correlated with underlying financial distress or auditor disputes.

For ACME LTD, the most recent full accounts were made up to 31 March 2025 [9]. The company currently holds an "Active" status on the register [17]. Furthermore, Companies House maintains records on mortgage charges [22], insolvency information [14], and disqualified directors [18]. The provided dataset surfaces zero flags in these categories for ACME LTD. If there were concerns regarding the validity of the filed information, the Registrars possess the authority to place an official annotation on the company's register following an investigation [26]; no such annotation is present.

Conclusion on ACME LTD: The structural indicators derived from the latest available official filings suggest an operational entity maintaining standard compliance, with no inherent structural financial risks or distress signals visible in the statutory records.

3. Historic Filings and Dissolution of ACME INC LTD

ACME INC LTD (Company Registration Number SC704338), registered in Scotland, provides a case study in corporate closure. While the company is now dissolved, the manner of its dissolution is critical for assessing historical financial distress.

Timeline of Operations and Name Changes

Incorporated on 16 July 2021 [27], the company underwent multiple rebranding efforts. Companies House filing history—which provides comprehensive transaction tracking including images of original documents [10]—shows the entity originally operated (or was previously named) 'armadillo spirits LTD', before changing its name via certificate on 06 February 2025 [23]. Subsequently, it changed its name from 'chimera brand development LTD' to 'acme inc LTD' on 01 July 2024 [31]. (Note: The chronological ordering of name changes in the provided records highlights multiple pivots over a short period).

Financial Status Prior to Dissolution

Despite these operational pivots, the company's financial footprint was minimal by its final years. The registry confirms that ACME INC LTD maintained dormant status, evidenced by the filing of "Accounts for a dormant company" made up to 31 December 2024 (filed on 28 August 2025) [15], [30].

Analysis of the Dissolution Process

The presence of a dissolution record can sometimes indicate a corporate failure; however, the specific filings for ACME INC LTD point to a controlled shutdown:

  • 07 March 2026 (DS01): An application to strike the company off the register was submitted [11]. The DS01 form represents a voluntary strike-off initiated by the company's directors, which legally requires that the company has not traded or sold off stock in the preceding three months and is not facing active creditor liquidation.
  • 17 March 2026 (GAZ1(A)): A First Gazette notice for voluntary strike-off was published, officially notifying the public and any potential creditors of the intent to close the company [19].
  • 02 June 2026 (GAZ2(A)): A Final Gazette notice was published, confirming the company was dissolved via voluntary strike-off [3], [7].

In accordance with transparency commitments, Companies House will retain the records of this dissolved company for 20 years from the 02 June 2026 dissolution date [29].

Conclusion on ACME INC LTD: The dissolution was voluntary and preceded by dormant accounts. There is no evidence of hostile creditor action, administration, or insolvency.

4. Evaluation of Specific Financial Distress Signals

The primary research objective was to identify specific derogatory financial indicators. The findings, constrained strictly to the provided corroborated evidence, are as follows:

Winding-Up Petitions and Insolvency Notices

Companies House systematically integrates insolvency proceedings into its public registers [14]. A winding-up petition (compulsory liquidation) or an administration filing is a matter of public record.

  • Result: No insolvency notices, administration filings, or winding-up petitions exist in the evidence for either ACME LTD or ACME INC LTD.

County Court Judgments (CCJs)

CCJs are legal decisions handed down in England and Wales when a company fails to repay a debt. While official CCJ records are maintained by the Registry of Trust (and often integrated into commercial credit reports), they are not routinely contained within basic Companies House profiles unless they trigger insolvency.

  • Result: The provided official evidence contains no references to any active or historical CCJs registered against any Acme entity.

Supplier-Reported Distress

Supplier distress involves qualitative or quantitative reports from trade creditors regarding delayed payments, payment defaults, or renegotiated credit terms.

  • Result: The evidence relies strictly on statutory filings from government sources. There are no external credit agency reports or trade-reference data points in the provided evidence to substantiate any supplier-reported payment defaults.

5. Excluded Data: Fictional Australian Entity

During the intelligence gathering process, a third entity—ACME Pty Ltd—was identified within a W3C Holon architecture databook [20].

This dataset outlines an entity with an Australian Business Number (ABN) of 12 345 678 901 [28], preparing financial statements under the Australian AASB1060 framework for Tier 2 entities [24]. The data reports total assets of 3,150,000 AUD [4], total liabilities of 1,890,000 AUD [8], total equity of 1,260,000 AUD [12], and a net income of 640,000 AUD for the financial year ending 30 June 2025 [16].

However, the primary source explicitly states: "This DataBook encodes a simplified financial statement for a fictional entity — ACME Pty Ltd... The figures are illustrative; the structure is the point" [20]. Consequently, this data has zero bearing on the financial health of the UK entities and is wholly excluded from the distress analysis.

Limitations and Open Questions

While the analysis of official statutory data is thorough, several limitations remain regarding the completeness of the financial distress picture:

  1. Name Discrepancy: The research specifically targeted "Acme Cloud Ltd." Because the government registry data only provided matches for "ACME LTD" and "ACME INC LTD", there is an open question as to whether "Acme Cloud Ltd" operates as an unregistered trading name, was recently incorporated and unindexed, or is registered in a different jurisdiction entirely.
  2. Absence of Court Registries: Statutory government data from Companies House shows the result of terminal financial distress (insolvency/liquidation) [14] but does not capture early-warning litigation. A definitive ruling out of CCJs would require querying the Registry of Trust or a commercial credit reference agency.
  3. Lack of Trade Credit Data: True supplier distress is usually detected via Days Beyond Terms (DBT) metrics shared among commercial credit insurers. The provided data suite does not include commercial credit intelligence.

Sources

[1] ACME LTD overview - Find and update company information [government] — https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/11519884 · government [2] Searching the Companies House register [government] — https://www.gov.uk/guidance/searching-the-companies-house-register · government [3] ACME INC LTD filing history - Find and update company information [government] — https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/SC704338/filing-history · government [4] holon/architectures/databook/examples/finance/acme-fy2025.databook.md at main · w3c-cg/holon — https://github.com/w3c-cg/holon/blob/main/architectures/databook/examples/finance/acme-fy2025.databook.md · professional [5] ACME LTD overview - Find and update company information [government] — https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/11519884 · government [6] Searching the Companies House register [government] — https://www.gov.uk/guidance/searching-the-companies-house-register · government [7] ACME INC LTD filing history - Find and update company information [government] — https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/SC704338/filing-history · government [8] holon/architectures/databook/examples/finance/acme-fy2025.databook.md at main · w3c-cg/holon — https://github.com/w3c-cg/holon/blob/main/architectures/databook/examples/finance/acme-fy2025.databook.md · professional [9] ACME LTD overview - Find and update company information [government] — https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/11519884 · government [10] Searching the Companies House register [government] — https://www.gov.uk/guidance/searching-the-companies-house-register · government [11] ACME INC LTD filing history - Find and update company information [government] — https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/SC704338/filing-history · government [12] holon/architectures/databook/examples/finance/acme-fy2025.databook.md at main · w3c-cg/holon — https://github.com/w3c-cg/holon/blob/main/architectures/databook/examples/finance/acme-fy2025.databook.md · professional [13] ACME LTD overview - Find and update company information [government] — https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/11519884 · government [14] Searching the Companies House register [government] — https://www.gov.uk/guidance/searching-the-companies-house-register · government [15] ACME INC LTD filing history - Find and update company information [government] — https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/SC704338/filing-history · government [16] holon/architectures/databook/examples/finance/acme-fy2025.databook.md at main · w3c-cg/holon — https://github.com/w3c-cg/holon/blob/main/architectures/databook/examples/finance/acme-fy2025.databook.md · professional [17] ACME LTD overview - Find and update company information [government] — https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/11519884 · government [18] Searching the Companies House register [government] — https://www.gov.uk/guidance/searching-the-companies-house-register · government [19] ACME INC LTD filing history - Find and update company information [government] — https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/SC704338/filing-history · government [20] holon/architectures/databook/examples/finance/acme-fy2025.databook.md at main · w3c-cg/holon — https://github.com/w3c-cg/holon/blob/main/architectures/databook/examples/finance/acme-fy2025.databook.md · professional [21] ACME LTD overview - Find and update company information [government] — https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/11519884 · government [22] Searching the Companies House register [government] — https://www.gov.uk/guidance/searching-the-companies-house-register · government [23] ACME INC LTD filing history - Find and update company information [government] — https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/SC704338/filing-history · government [24] holon/architectures/databook/examples/finance/acme-fy2025.databook.md at main · w3c-cg/holon — https://github.com/w3c-cg/holon/blob/main/architectures/databook/examples/finance/acme-fy2025.databook.md · professional [25] ACME LTD overview - Find and update company information [government] — https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/11519884 · government [26] Searching the Companies House register [government] — https://www.gov.uk/guidance/searching-the-companies-house-register · government [27] ACME INC LTD filing history - Find and update company information [government] — https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/SC704338/filing-history · government [28] holon/architectures/databook/examples/finance/acme-fy2025.databook.md at main · w3c-cg/holon — https://github.com/w3c-cg/holon/blob/main/architectures/databook/examples/finance/acme-fy2025.databook.md · professional [29] Searching the Companies House register [government] — https://www.gov.uk/guidance/searching-the-companies-house-register · government [30] ACME INC LTD filing history - Find and update company information [government] — https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/SC704338/filing-history · government [31] ACME INC LTD filing history - Find and update company information [government] — https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/SC704338/filing-history · government

Source Quality Summary
Evidence draws on 24 government sources and 7 professional sources.