GEORGE NICOLSON (DECORATORS) LIMITED

🌳Matureactive

SC084147 · ltd · incorporated 1983-07-29

Investment thesis

Looks cheap but ownership + security both unclear — probable value trap.

Why interesting: Headline metrics may be attractive.

Why risky: No PSC visibility combined with multiple live charges; transacting likely slow and expensive.

🔒Estimated value

—

Upgrade to see

Turnover

—

year to Mar 2025

Net worth

—

book net assets

Opportunity

79/100

Strong

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What this business does

Primary activity: Painting

Sector: Construction

Investor take

Pursue

Active trading company with a 79-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 79/100 (strong), bankability 77/100. Strong seller-intent signal (73/100, director aged 79). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Consolidate lender relationships. 3 distinct lenders creates friction — refinance into single-lender structure for cleaner diligence. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

7 live charges · 3 lenders · oldest 40.7y

35/100

too messy

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

· Oldest live charge is 40.7 years old — likely at or near maturity.
· 3 lenders named — inter-creditor friction likely.
· Legal-friction score 25/100 — workable, but lender will want more DD.

Data confidence

Overall: medium (73/100)

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

Lenders & charges

7 charges (7/7 with lender, 7/7 with type)

Directors & officers

7 officers (5 active, 7 linked, 6 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

No PSCs filed (unusual — worth investigating)

Director network

7 connected companies via shared directors

Filing history

136 filings on record

Gazette notices

No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)

Opportunity Score

79/100Strong

PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional

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

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	2025-03-31	2024-03-31
Average employees	3300	3300

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

🔒Filing-note intelligence

2 signals 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

filings

Last 90 days

filings

Last 180 days

filing

• 1 confirmation-statement

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (38 events)Click to expand

2025-06-18
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-07-15
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-07-17
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-02-28
📄
capital-cancellation-shares
capital · SH06
2023-01-10
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2022-07-15
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-11-12
📍
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2021-10-19
📄
mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
mortgage · MR04
2021-10-19
📄
mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
mortgage · MR04
2021-10-19
🔓
Charge satisfied #7
2021-10-19
🔓
Charge satisfied #6
2021-08-18
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-05-20
📄
mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
mortgage · MR04
2021-05-20
📄
mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
mortgage · MR04
2021-05-20
📄
mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
mortgage · MR04
2021-05-20
📄
mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
mortgage · MR04
2021-05-20
📄
mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
mortgage · MR04
2021-05-20
🔓
Charge satisfied #9
2021-05-20
🔓
Charge satisfied #4
2021-05-20
🔓
Charge satisfied #3
2021-05-20
🔓
Charge satisfied #2
2021-05-20
🔓
Charge satisfied #1
2020-08-05
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-08-26
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2011-04-06
➕
TEMPEST-MITCHELL, Jeremy Robert appointed
director
2010-11-10
➖
NICOLSON, George resigned
director
1999-09-15
➕
NICOLSON, Ewan Gordon appointed
director
1996-03-14
➕
NICOLSON, Barrie John appointed
director
1993-01-10
➖
GRIEVE, Geoffrey Robert resigned
director
1992-02-03
🔒
Charge registered #9
Lender: The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland
1991-08-23
🔒
Charge registered #7
Lender: The National Mortgage Bank PLC
1991-08-23
🔒
Charge registered #4
Lender: The National Mortgage Bank PLC
1991-08-19
🔒
Charge registered #6
Lender: The National Mortgage Bank PLC
1991-08-19
🔒
Charge registered #3
Lender: The National Mortgage Bank PLC
1989-04-05
➕
GRIEVE, Geoffrey Robert appointed
director
1985-09-10
🔒
Charge registered #2
Lender: The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
1985-09-10
🔒
Charge registered #1
Lender: The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
1983-07-29
🏢
Company incorporated
As GEORGE NICOLSON (DECORATORS) LIMITED

Owner dependency

88/100

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

-4 active directors: Broader management team in place — suggests transferable governance.
+Founder name in company name: Company name contains director surname "NICOLSON" — strong identity link between founder and business.
+Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 30 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
+Founder age: Director aged approximately 79 — succession pressure is live.
+Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

Succession & seller-readiness

90/100

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.
primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 30 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 43 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.

🔒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 →

Similar companies

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Company	Est. value	Turnover	Net worth	Staff	Age	Opp	Director
PEGASUS FIRE PROTECTION COMPANY LIMITED→ SC178102 · est 1997	£9.82M £7.02M–£12.63M	—	—	6700	28y	88	75y
MAXI CONSTRUCTION LIMITED→ SC048718 · est 1971	£9.09M £6.50M–£11.69M	—	—	40	55y	88	82y
THE EDINBURGH SCHOOLS PARTNERSHIP LIMITED→ SC206930 · est 2000	£8.27M £5.91M–£10.63M	—	—	0	26y	84	65y
JOHN G. MACKINTOSH LIMITED→ SC281061 · est 2005	£6.96M £4.97M–£8.95M	—	—	241	21y	88	66y
SERS ENERGY SOLUTIONS (SCOTLAND) LIMITED→ SC392085 · est 2011	£6.04M £4.31M–£7.76M	—	—	19	15y	85	69y
COLORADO CONSTRUCTION & ENGINEERING LIMITED→ SC311182 · est 2006	£3.04M £2.17M–£3.90M	£21.12M	—	3800	19y	87	64y
GORDON BOW PLANT HIRE LTD→ SC135116 · est 1991	£1.57M £1.12M–£2.02M	£9.21M	—	6200	34y	86	68y
GEORGE SHARKEY & SONS LIMITED→ SC164725 · est 1996	£779.7k £556.9k–£1.00M	—	—	68	30y	84	66y
DATS - DESIGN AND TRAINING SOLUTIONS LTD→ SC441708 · est 2013	£1.5k £1.1k–£1.9k	£81.2k	—	100	13y	100	59y
3 ED SISTERCO LIMITED→ SC328041 · est 2007 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	18y	83	65y
AMA CONSTRUCTION (EDINBURGH) LIMITED→ SC100586 · est 1986	—	—	—	2200	39y	83	73y
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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

Incorporated1983-07-29

Jurisdictionscotland

Primary SIC43341 — Painting

Registered office

96-98 Salamander Street

Edinburgh

EH6 7LA

Scotland

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2026-12-31

Last made up to: 2025-03-31

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2027-01-14

Last: 2025-12-31