DEFENSOR TRUSTEES (2001) LIMITED

🌳Matureactive

SC083874 · private-limited-guarant-nsc · incorporated 1983-07-08

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

approaching window · 12-months

Approaching a transaction window — refinance or sale event plausible in the next 12 months.

· Oldest live charge 30.1y old — refinance window within 12 months

🔒Estimated value

—

Upgrade to see

Turnover

—

year to Dec 2024

Net worth

—

book net assets

Opportunity

83/100

Exceptional

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What this business does

Primary activity: Non-trading company

Sector: Professional, scientific & technical

Investor take

Pursue

Strong opportunity: dormant / non-trading with exceptional profile and bankable structure.

Opportunity 83/100 (exceptional), bankability 85/100. High owner-dependency — earn-out structure likely required for clean transition. Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

1 live charge · oldest 30.1y

85/100

ready

Refinance conversation should be productive — structure clean and timing right.

· Oldest live charge is 30.1 years old — likely at or near maturity.
· Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
· Legal-friction score 20/100 — clean.

Data confidence

Overall: high (83/100)

Strong data coverage across all sections. AI outputs should be trusted with minimal caveats.

Company profile

address, 1 SIC codes, incorporation date

100

Financials

2 years of iXBRL accounts extracted (YoY deltas available) + narrative notes parsed

Lenders & charges

1 charges (1/1 with lender, 1/1 with type)

Directors & officers

38 officers (12 active, 38 linked, 32 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared

Director network

12 connected companies via shared directors

Filing history

164 filings on record

Gazette notices

No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)

Opportunity Score

83/100Exceptional

PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional

Strong composite across quality, acquirability, and risk. High-priority target — progress to serious diligence.

Business quality

Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.

Acquirability

Strong succession / seller-readiness signals.

Risk profile

Few red flags.

Signal strength

100

Good data coverage for analysis.

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts

Cash

—

Net Worth

—

Current Assets

—

Current Liabilities

—

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102

Metric	2024-12-31	2023-12-31

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

Recent activity

Last 30 days

filings

Last 90 days

filings

Last 180 days

filings

• 1 confirmation-statement
• 1 officers

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (79 events)Click to expand

2025-11-06
📄
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2025-10-31
➖
CAIRNS, Rodger William resigned
director
2025-08-22
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2025-07-08
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2025-06-13
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2025-06-13
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2025-06-13
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2024-08-29
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2023-09-07
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2023-07-19
📍
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2023-05-29
➕
MCLAREN, Keith Anthony appointed
director
2023-05-29
📄
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2023-05-05
📍
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2022-09-07
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2022-05-10
➕
CAIRNS, Rodger William appointed
director
2022-05-10
📄
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2021-09-20
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2021-04-22
📄
notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC02
2021-04-21
📄
withdrawal-of-a-person-with-significant-control-statement
persons-with-significant-control · PSC09
2021-04-02
📄
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2021-04-02
📄
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2021-04-02
📄
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2021-04-02
📄
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2021-03-31
➕
CHARLOTTE SECRETARIES LIMITED appointed
corporate-secretary
2021-03-31
➕
BLAIN, Andrew John appointed
director
2021-03-31
➕
CAMPBELL, Gillian Fay appointed
director
2021-03-31
➕
CARTY, Gillian Anne appointed
director
2021-03-31
➕
FRIER, George William appointed
director
2021-03-31
➕
KNOX, Louisa Stewart appointed
director
2021-03-31
➕
MCGILL, Christopher Paul appointed
director
2021-03-31
➕
RUST, Malcolm Hamilton appointed
director
2021-03-31
➕
SINCLAIR, Douglas Cassie appointed
director
2021-03-31
➖
DENTONS SECRETARIES LIMITED resigned
corporate-secretary
2021-03-31
➖
BLYTH, Douglas John resigned
director
2020-12-31
➖
HARRISON, Roderick Alexander Louden resigned
director
2019-08-31
➖
JOHNSTONE, Frank Raine resigned
director
2019-03-11
➖
RICHMOND, Alison resigned
director
2019-02-27
➕
RICHMOND, Alison appointed
director
2018-07-30
➕
HARRISON, Roderick Alexander Louden appointed
director
2018-01-26
➖
HUTCHISON, Rona Nicolson resigned
director
2018-01-26
➕
JOHNSTONE, Frank Raine appointed
director
2017-10-27
➕
DENTONS SECRETARIES LIMITED appointed
corporate-secretary
2017-10-27
➖
MACLAY MURRAY & SPENS LLP resigned
corporate-nominee-secretary
2017-10-27
➖
BIGGART, Andrew Stevenson resigned
director
2016-10-01
➖
MCCAA, Lorna Margaret resigned
director
2015-09-18
➕
HUTCHISON, Rona Nicolson appointed
director
2015-04-24
🔓
Charge satisfied #1
2014-10-20
➕
GRAHAM, Alexis Irene appointed
director
2014-06-01
➕
BLYTH, Douglas John appointed
director
2014-06-01
➕
MCCAA, Lorna Margaret appointed
director

Showing most recent 50 of 79 events

Owner dependency

73/100

High — earn-out structure required

Material founder dependency. Consider a 2-3 year earn-out and build in a handover plan before completion.

FACTORS

-11 active directors: Broader management team in place — suggests transferable governance.
+Founder name in company name: Company name contains director surname "RUST" — strong identity link between founder and business.
+Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 26 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
+Senior director age: Director aged approximately 64 — approaching natural succession window.

Succession & seller-readiness

70/100

Strong succession signal

Multiple signals suggest succession is on the horizon. Candidate for proactive outreach.

SIGNALS

primaryFounder aged 63+: Senior director is approximately 64. Approaching typical UK retirement age — succession thinking likely.
primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 26 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
supportingClean filings + long tenure: Disciplined long-tenure operator — classic lifestyle-business pattern that often sells quietly.

Red flags

clean

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

Group structure

Shepherd & Wedderburn (Nominees) Limited is the ultimate parent — holding 75%+ shares. This company sits inside their group.

🏛️

Shepherd & Wedderburn (Nominees) Limited

Corporate parent · board control

⬇

DEFENSOR TRUSTEES (2001) LIMITED

This company · SC083874

Parent relationships inferred from Persons with Significant Control filings. Full subsidiary tree requires reverse-lookup (coming).

Shareholders & ownership

1 active beneficial owner · dominant holder ≥75%

Name	Shares	Voting rights	Nature of control	Notified
Shepherd & Wedderburn (Nominees) Limited Corporate entity	—	75–100%	board control75-100% voting · board control	31/03/2021

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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ABACAB TWO LIMITED→ SC215557 · est 2001 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	25y	—	—
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ABOVEBOARD HOMES LTD→ SC644426 · est 2019 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	6y	—	—
ABRDN CORPORATE SECRETARY LIMITED→ SC559540 · est 2017 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	9y	—	—
ADAM SMITH LIMITED→ SC116109 · est 1989 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	37y	—	—

Peers ranked by estimated value, then turnover, then opportunity score.See all →

🔒Tailored diligence questions

6 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

Typeprivate-limited-guarant-nsc

Incorporated1983-07-08

Jurisdictionscotland

Primary SIC74990 — Non-trading company

Registered office

C/O Shepherd And Wedderburn Llp

9 Haymarket Square

Edinburgh

EH3 8FY

Scotland

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2026-09-30

Last made up to: 2024-12-31

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2027-01-19

Last: 2026-01-05