AITKEN & STEWART LIMITED

💤Zombieactive
SC068486 · ltd · incorporated 1979-06-11
Investment thesis
Zombie company — trading but stalled; unlikely mover.
Why interesting: Quiet, steady; could be a succession or carve-out candidate with the right conversation.
Why risky: No growth signal; thin margin for error on price.
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Mar 2025
Net worth
£72.4k
book net assets
Opportunity
79/100
Strong
🔔
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What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 46730
Sector: Wholesale & retail
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 79-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 79/100 (strong), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (68/100, director aged 79). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Discharge stale live charges. 1 live charge(s) created 15+ years ago — likely paid but undischarged. Clean register. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (73/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

2 live charges · 2 lenders · oldest 41.1y

30/100
under pressure

Refinance would be pressure-driven, not opportunity-driven. Expect tighter margins and covenant scrutiny.

  • · Oldest live charge is 41.1 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Two lenders — manageable, but coordination required.
  • · Distress signals active — lender appetite narrows.

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
2 charges (2/2 with lender, 2/2 with type)
90
Directors & officers
5 officers (2 active, 5 linked, 3 with DOB)
82
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
3 connected companies via shared directors
54
Filing history
88 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
79/100Strong
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
85
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 £72,426

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
—
Net Worth
£72k
~ YoY
Current Assets
£72k
~ YoY
Current Liabilities
—
£0£14k£29k£43k£58k£72kMar 2024Mar 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2025-03-312024-03-31
Total assets£72.4k£72.4k
Current assets£72.4k£72.4k
Net assets£72.4k£72.4k

Amounts extracted automatically from iXBRL. Fields left blank were not reported or not mapped. Values in GBP unless stated.

Recent activity

Last 30 days
0
filings
Last 90 days
0
filings
Last 180 days
0
filings
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (23 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-09-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-09-24
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  3. 2023-10-20
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  4. 2022-12-12
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  5. 2022-10-24
    📄
    appoint-person-secretary-company-with-name-date
    officers · AP03
  6. 2022-10-21
    ➕
    AITKEN, Nicola Livingstone appointed
    secretary
  7. 2021-11-16
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  8. 2021-03-05
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  9. 2019-12-05
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  10. 2018-12-07
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  11. 2018-06-28
    📄
    termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM01
  12. 2017-12-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  13. 2017-12-14
    ➖
    AITKEN, Robert Thomas Moore resigned
    director
  14. 2016-12-19
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  15. 2016-01-06
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  16. 2015-09-03
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  17. 2014-10-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  18. 2009-07-10
    ➖
    LOUDON, Walter Morris resigned
    secretary
  19. 2009-07-10
    ➖
    LOUDON, Walter Morris resigned
    director
  20. 1992-09-17
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #1
  21. 1992-08-31
    🔒
    Charge registered #2
    Lender: Clydesdale Bank Public Limited Company
  22. 1985-03-14
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: Standard Chartered Bank
  23. 1979-06-11
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As AITKEN & STEWART LIMITED

Owner dependency

100/100
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
  • +Sole director: Only one active director — all governance concentrated on one person.
  • +Founder name in company name: Company name contains director surname "AITKEN" — strong identity link between founder and business.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 79 — succession pressure is live.

Succession & seller-readiness

85/100
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 79 years old. Natural succession window is now.
  • primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 47 years old and no new directors in the last 3 years — succession not yet being planned internally.

Red flags

clean
No red flags detected from available public data. (This is not a clean bill of health — detailed accounts review still recommended.)

Shareholders & ownership

1 active beneficial owner
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr Alexander Cameron William Aitken
Individual · British · DOB 04/1947 · age 79
——sig. influencesignificant influence06/04/2016

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

8 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
Incorporated1979-06-11
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC46730 — SIC 46730

Registered office

Milton Sawmill
Auchencarroch Road
Alexandria
Glasgow
G83 9EY

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-12-31
Last made up to: 2025-03-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-09-11
Last: 2025-08-28

Officers (2 active · 3 resigned)

AITKEN, Nicola Livingstone→
secretary · appointed 2022-10-21
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
AITKEN, Alexander Cameron Wilson→
director · ~79y
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
LOUDON, Walter Morris→
secretary · resigned 2009-07-10
Resigned
AITKEN, Robert Thomas Moore→
director · ~90y · resigned 2017-12-14
Resigned
LOUDON, Walter Morris→
director · ~77y · resigned 2009-07-10
Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

2
Total charges
1
Outstanding
1
Active lenders
Status:Lender:2 of 2 shown
TypeProperties
outstanding
Virgin Money
Clydesdale Bank Public Limited Company
Floating charge1 property31/08/1992—
satisfied
Standard Chartered Bank
Floating charge1 property14/03/198517/09/1992
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (88 total)

accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-09-23
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-09-04
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-09-24
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-08-28
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-10-20
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-10-03
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-12-12
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-10-24
appoint-person-secretary-company-with-name-date
officers · AP03
2022-10-24
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-11-16
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-09-06
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-03-05
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-09-07
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2019-12-05
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-09-11