Can you be sued for slandering a company that’s been removed from the register and been dissolved?

I have a small claims against a company however I found out that he voluntarily had it removed from companies house register and dissolved about 7 weeks ago, I further found out he was still doing business under that name.

I made some comments to customers “you’ve now no guarantee as this company is dissolved” and he is threatening to sue me for slander and defamation!!!
my reply was really? You shouldn’t be still trading under that company name, and taking money from jobs you shouldn’t be doing!!