Ian
I assume you don't pay for the results you get when you make inquiries at Companies House. AS such the free public info is pretty meaningless.
I once bothered to look at my old business and the info available. On the limited info available I certainly wouldn't have given credit to myself. But that is only half the story.
So for example a business can have a positive cash flow, be cash rich, but the accounts (which are simply a snap-shot in time) which may be skewed to minimize tax (as opposed to say skewed to show maximum profits ahead of the sale of a business).
But of course info is restricted to try and tempt you to buy a more detailed credit check.
Once upon a time suppliers would send a Status Enquiry direct to the bank of a potential customer. The answer you got would cost money and be supplied in a "form of code" (which was easy to understand if you read a few of the replies) and would give you a far more meaningful measure of the credit worthiness of any business and its ability to pay its debts as they fall due for if the bank gave an inaccurate assessment they could (and often were) sued for defamation.
Rog