ARGON ENGINEERING (AIRDRIE) LIMITED

🌳Matureactive
SC063092 · ltd · incorporated 1977-09-15
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
hardening · 12-months
Already tight — no obvious softening catalysts on the horizon.
  • · Thesis: well-run, low negotiation leverage
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Sept 2025
Net worth
£1.49M
book net assets
Opportunity
77/100
Strong
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What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 25990
Sector: Manufacturing
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 73-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 77/100 (strong), bankability 67/100. Strong seller-intent signal (78/100, director aged 73). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Consolidate lender relationships. 5 distinct lenders creates friction — refinance into single-lender structure for cleaner diligence. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

10 live charges · 5 lenders · oldest 38.4y

35/100
too messy

Refinance path is blocked by complexity. Rethink structure or expect bespoke, expensive terms.

  • · Oldest live charge is 38.4 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · 5 lenders named — inter-creditor friction likely.
  • · Legal-friction score 40/100 — workable, but lender will want more DD.

Data confidence

Overall: medium (79/100)

Adequate coverage. AI outputs are reliable for the sections scored high; verify the rest in diligence.

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
10 charges (10/10 with lender, 10/10 with type)
90
Directors & officers
6 officers (3 active, 6 linked, 3 with DOB)
80
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared
90
Director network
3 connected companies via shared directors
54
Filing history
117 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
77/100Strong
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional 

Solid opportunity signal. Worth a dedicated memo and management meeting.

Business quality
70
Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.
Acquirability
70
Strong succession / seller-readiness signals.
Risk profile
77
Few red flags.
Signal strength
100
Good data coverage for analysis.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · accounting standard not declared
Positive net assets
Net assets £1,491,362
Cash YoY
+9%
Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
£975k
↑ 9.4% YoY
Net Worth
£1.5m
↑ 4.0% YoY
Current Assets
£1.4m
↑ 4.6% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
£0£298k£597k£895k£1.2m£1.5mSept 2024Sept 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2025-09-302024-09-30
Total assets£1.55M£1.50M
Current assets£1.39M£1.33M
Cash£975.3k£891.2k
Debtors£371.1k£397.6k
Net assets£1.49M£1.43M

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
0
filings
Last 90 days
2
filings
  • • 1 persons-with-significant-control
  • • 1 accounts
Last 180 days
3
filings
  • • 1 persons-with-significant-control
  • • 1 accounts
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (40 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-03-09
    📄
    cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
  2. 2026-01-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  3. 2025-06-13
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  4. 2024-01-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  5. 2023-02-16
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  6. 2022-01-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  7. 2021-07-19
    📄
    capital-return-purchase-own-shares
    capital · SH03
  8. 2021-05-31
    ➖
    GRAY, Ian Anderson resigned
    director
  9. 2021-05-31
    📄
    termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM01
  10. 2021-01-14
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  11. 2020-01-20
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  12. 2019-01-18
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  13. 2018-01-18
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  14. 2017-01-20
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  15. 2016-01-20
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  16. 2015-10-21
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  17. 2015-09-15
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #10
  18. 2015-04-20
    ➕
    MCCRACKEN, Gareth Robert appointed
    director
  19. 2014-04-08
    🔒
    Charge registered #10
    Lender: Clydesdale Bank PLC
  20. 2014-03-17
    🔒
    Charge registered #9
    Lender: Clydesdale Bank PLC
  21. 2009-03-26
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #2
  22. 2009-01-20
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #5
  23. 2009-01-20
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #4
  24. 2009-01-20
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #3
  25. 2006-06-13
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #6
  26. 2004-04-20
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #7
  27. 2003-09-12
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #8
  28. 1998-09-17
    🔒
    Charge registered #8
    Lender: British Steel (Industry) Limited
  29. 1998-09-04
    🔒
    Charge registered #7
    Lender: British Steel (Industry) Limited
  30. 1998-06-17
    🔒
    Charge registered #6
    Lender: North Lanarkshire Council
  31. 1998-06-04
    🔒
    Charge registered #5
    Lender: The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
  32. 1997-12-31
    🔒
    Charge registered #4
    Lender: The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
  33. 1990-08-31
    ➕
    MCCRACKEN, Gordon Clark appointed
    secretary
  34. 1990-08-31
    ➖
    WHITE, Shona Jean Neilson resigned
    secretary
  35. 1990-08-31
    ➖
    WHITE, Shona Jean Neilson resigned
    director
  36. 1989-01-05
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #1
  37. 1988-01-07
    🔒
    Charge registered #3
    Lender: The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
  38. 1987-12-22
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: Clydesdale Bank Public Limited Company
  39. 1987-11-12
    🔒
    Charge registered #2
    Lender: The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
  40. 1977-09-15
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As ARGON ENGINEERING (AIRDRIE) LIMITED

Owner dependency

81/100
Critical — business is the founder

The business appears inseparable from the founder. Acquisition without a serious earn-out or meaningful transition period would likely destroy value.

FACTORS
  • +Two-director setup: Only two active directors — typical of owner-managed SMEs but limits succession.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 73 — succession pressure is live.
  • +Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

Succession & seller-readiness

81/100
Likely off-market candidate

Strong acquirability signals converging. Worth approaching directly — this is how off-market deals start.

SIGNALS
  • primaryFounder aged 70+: Senior director is approximately 73 years old. Natural succession window is now.
  • secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 49 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

1 med ·
Charge satisfaction-then-recreation pattern
medium

Multiple instances where a charge was satisfied and a new charge created within 6 months. Suggests active refinancing cycle.

Shareholders & ownership

1 active beneficial owner
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr Gordon Clark Mccracken
Individual · British · DOB 05/1953 · age 73
50–75%
—50-75% shares06/04/2016
1 historic (ceased) PSC
  • Mr Iain Anderson Grayceased 31/05/2021· 25-50% shares

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
Incorporated1977-09-15
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC25990 — SIC 25990

Registered office

Block 8 Unit 3
Chapelhall Industrial Estate
Airdrie
ML6 8QH

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2027-06-30
Last made up to: 2025-09-30
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-10-24
Last: 2025-10-10

Officers (3 active · 3 resigned)

MCCRACKEN, Gordon Clark→
secretary · appointed 1990-08-31
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
MCCRACKEN, Gareth Robert→
director · ~50y · appointed 2015-04-20
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
MCCRACKEN, Gordon Clark→
director · ~73y
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
WHITE, Shona Jean Neilson→
secretary · resigned 1990-08-31
Resigned
GRAY, Ian Anderson→
director · ~73y · resigned 2021-05-31
Resigned
WHITE, Shona Jean Neilson→
director · resigned 1990-08-31
Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

10
Total charges
1
Outstanding
1
Active lenders
Status:Lender:10 of 10 shown
TypeProperties
satisfied
Virgin Money
Clydesdale Bank PLC
A registered charge1 property08/04/201415/09/2015
outstanding
Virgin Money
Clydesdale Bank PLC
A registered charge1 property17/03/2014—
satisfied
British Steel (Industry)
British Steel (Industry) Limited
Standard security1 property17/09/199812/09/2003
satisfied
British Steel (Industry)
British Steel (Industry) Limited
Bond & floating charge1 property04/09/199820/04/2004
satisfied
North Lanarkshire Council
Floating charge1 property17/06/199813/06/2006
satisfied
Lloyds Banking Group
The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
Standard security1 property04/06/199820/01/2009
satisfied
Lloyds Banking Group
The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
Standard security1 property31/12/199720/01/2009
satisfied
Lloyds Banking Group
The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
Standard security1 property07/01/198820/01/2009
satisfied
Virgin Money
Clydesdale Bank Public Limited Company
Floating charge1 property22/12/198705/01/1989
satisfied
Lloyds Banking Group
The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
Bond & floating charge1 property12/11/198726/03/2009
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (117 total)

cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
2026-03-09
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2026-01-28
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-10-27
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2025-06-13
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-10-21
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2024-01-29
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-10-18
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2023-02-16
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-10-10
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2022-01-26
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-10-18
capital-return-purchase-own-shares
capital · SH03
2021-07-19
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2021-05-31
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2021-01-14
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-10-19