Section 5.9 · portfolio-wide signal, not opportunity-specific

Distressed detection

Signals that a business may be under financial pressure, drawn from filed data and public registers. Detection changes how an opportunity is handled. It never changes the quality score.

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Distress is a handling flag, not a scoring input. A business in difficulty may be a good acquisition at the right price, and a healthy business may be a poor one. Mixing the two into a single number destroys both signals, so the platform keeps them separate and shows them side by side.

Opportunities scanned

Active pipeline

Any signal present

14.6% of pipeline

Two or more signals

Handling changes

Formal insolvency

Excluded from pipeline

Signal catalogue

Each signal is derived from a source with a recorded authorisation basis. Signals that would require scraping a restricted register are not implemented and are shown as unavailable rather than approximated.

Signal	Source	Trigger	Weight	Status
Accounts filed late	Companies House filing history Verified	Filed after the statutory deadline in any of the last three years	Low	Live
Two consecutive late filings	Companies House filing history Verified	Late in two successive years	Medium	Live
Compulsory strike-off action	Companies House register Verified	Gazette first notice active and not discontinued	High	Live
New charge registered	Companies House charges Verified	Charge created in the last 12 months with a lender not previously present	Low	Live
Net liabilities on the balance sheet	Filed accounts Verified	Net assets negative in the most recent filed year	High	Live
Two consecutive loss years	Filed accounts Verified	Operating loss in the two most recent filed years	Medium	Live
Director resignations clustered	Companies House officers Verified	Two or more resignations within 90 days	Medium	Live
Auditor resignation	Companies House filing history Verified	Auditor ceased to hold office outside the normal rotation	Medium	Live
Winding-up petition advertised	The Gazette	Petition notice published against the entity	Excludes	Adapter pending authorisation
County court judgments	Registry Trust	Any unsatisfied judgment on record	High	Not implemented, paid register
Trade payment behaviour	Credit bureau	Average days beyond terms above sector norm	Medium	Not implemented, no data agreement

Three signals are not implemented. Their absence is reported on every opportunity so a clean result is never read as a full check.

Pipeline entries with signals

Entity	Score	Signals	Handling
Calder Print Group Ltd Demo entity	64	Late filing ×2 New charge	Enhanced diligence
Brightwell Logistics Ltd Demo entity	58	Net liabilities Two loss years Directors out	Enhanced diligence
Marlow Fabrication Ltd Demo entity	51	Strike-off notice	Excluded pending resolution
Northgate Facilities Services Ltd This opportunity	72	None detected	Standard

Score and distress state are shown together and never combined. Brightwell scores 58 and carries three signals. Marlow scores 51 and carries one, and the one it carries removes it from the pipeline.

What detection changes

Signals	Effect
None	Standard handling. The absence of signals is reported with the list of checks that are not implemented.
One low or medium	Flag shown on the dashboard and in the Stage 1 deck. No change to process.
Two or more	Enhanced diligence pack required before Stage 2. Payment behaviour and creditor position added to the information request. Valuation carries a mandatory downside case.
Any high signal	Approval gate hard-stops at operator level. The opportunity cannot progress on an analyst approval alone.
Formal insolvency	Removed from the active pipeline. Distressed and insolvent acquisitions are outside the Phase 1 mandate and the platform will not model them.

Detection never adjusts the acquisition quality score, the valuation multiple or the recommended maximum price. An operator who wants distress reflected in the price does it as a recorded override with a reason, which is visible in the audit trail.

Method and limits

How the check runs

Runs on entity resolution and again whenever filed data is refreshed.
Every signal records the source document, the retrieval date and the field that triggered it.
A signal that clears is retained in history with its clearance date, not deleted.
Nothing is inferred from a source that has not been ingested.

What this does not catch

Pressure that has not yet reached a filed document. Filed accounts can be nine months old.
Trade creditor stretch, disputed invoices and supplier stop-lists.
Bank covenant breaches, which are private between the company and its lender.
Judgments and petitions, until the two pending adapters have an authorisation record.

Q Northgate returns no signals. That means no signal was found in the eight implemented checks, on data filed to 31 March 2025. It does not mean the business is free of financial pressure today.

AcquiScope produces analysis and modelling, not regulated investment advice. Entities named on this screen are invented for the prototype and do not refer to any real company.