CARESTON PROPERTIES LTD.

💤Zombieactive
SC151964 · ltd · incorporated 1994-07-14
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 Jul 2024
Net worth
book net assets
Opportunity
79/100
Strong
🔔
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What this business does
Primary activity: Non-trading company
Sector: Professional, scientific & technical
Investor take
Pursue
Dormant / non-trading with a 78-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 79/100 (strong), bankability 85/100. Strong seller-intent signal (93/100, director aged 78). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Broaden director team. Sole director creates succession risk and reduces buyer comfort. Appoint a second director or strong #2. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (73/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

3 live charges · oldest 30.7y

45/100
under pressure

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

  • · Oldest live charge is 30.7 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
  • · Distress signals active — lender appetite narrows.

Data confidence

Overall: high (81/100)

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
75
Lenders & charges
3 charges (3/3 with lender, 3/3 with type)
90
Directors & officers
7 officers (1 active, 7 linked, 5 with DOB)
84
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
6 connected companies via shared directors
63
Filing history
94 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
80
Strong succession / seller-readiness signals.
Risk profile
77
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
£0£0£0£0£0£0Jul 2023Jul 2024

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102
Metric2024-07-312023-07-31
Average employees00

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
1
filing
  • 1 officers
Last 180 days
1
filing
  • 1 officers
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (36 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-01-26
    📄
    termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM01
  2. 2026-01-24
    BLAIR, John Michael Greene resigned
    director
  3. 2025-10-07
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  4. 2025-04-03
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  5. 2024-07-03
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  6. 2024-04-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  7. 2023-05-02
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  8. 2022-11-15
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  9. 2022-03-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  10. 2021-01-12
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  11. 2019-09-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  12. 2019-04-17
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  13. 2018-03-21
    📄
    mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
    mortgage · MR04
  14. 2018-03-21
    📄
    mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
    mortgage · MR04
  15. 2018-03-21
    📄
    mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
    mortgage · MR04
  16. 2018-03-21
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #3
  17. 2018-03-21
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #2
  18. 2018-03-21
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #1
  19. 2017-12-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  20. 2017-01-10
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  21. 2012-07-23
    THORNTONS LAW LLP resigned
    corporate-secretary
  22. 2004-12-01
    THORNTONS LAW LLP appointed
    corporate-secretary
  23. 2004-11-30
    THORNTONS WS resigned
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  24. 2002-10-29
    ADAMSON, Carol Louise Marion resigned
    director
  25. 1997-03-26
    🔒
    Charge registered #3
    Lender: Scottish Homes
  26. 1996-05-31
    🔒
    Charge registered #2
    Lender: Scottish Homes
  27. 1996-02-16
    ADAMSON, Carol Louise Marion appointed
    director
  28. 1996-02-15
    ADAMSON, Carol Louise Marion resigned
    director
  29. 1995-08-07
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: Scottish Homes
  30. 1994-10-18
    ADAMSON, James Shaw Campbell appointed
    director
  31. 1994-10-18
    ADAMSON, Carol Louise Marion appointed
    director
  32. 1994-10-18
    BLAIR, John Michael Greene appointed
    director
  33. 1994-10-18
    ROBERTSON, John Stewart resigned
    director
  34. 1994-07-14
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As CARESTON PROPERTIES LTD.
  35. 1994-07-14
    THORNTONS WS appointed
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  36. 1994-07-14
    ROBERTSON, John Stewart appointed
    director

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.
  • +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 32 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 78 — succession pressure is live.

Succession & seller-readiness

100/100
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 78 years old. Natural succession window is now.
  • primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
  • primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 32 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 32 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.

Group structure

Careston Limited is the ultimate parent — holding 75%+ shares. This company sits inside their group.

🏛️
Careston Limited
Corporate parent · holds 75-100% shares · board control
ultimate parent
CARESTON PROPERTIES LTD.
This company · SC151964

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%
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Careston Limited
Corporate entity
75100%
75–100%board control75-100% shares · 75-100% voting · board control06/04/2016

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
Incorporated1994-07-14
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC74990 — Non-trading company

Registered office

5 Atholl Crescent
Edinburgh
EH3 8EJ
Scotland

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-04-30
Last made up to: 2024-07-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-07-28
Last: 2025-07-14

Officers (1 active · 6 resigned)

ADAMSON, James Shaw Campbell
director · ~78y · appointed 1994-10-18
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
THORNTONS LAW LLP
corporate-secretary · appointed 2004-12-01 · resigned 2012-07-23
Resigned
THORNTONS WS
corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 1994-07-14 · resigned 2004-11-30
Resigned
ADAMSON, Carol Louise Marion
director · ~76y · appointed 1996-02-16 · resigned 2002-10-29
Resigned
ADAMSON, Carol Louise Marion
director · ~76y · appointed 1994-10-18 · resigned 1996-02-15
Resigned
BLAIR, John Michael Greene
director · ~72y · appointed 1994-10-18 · resigned 2026-01-24
Resigned
ROBERTSON, John Stewart
director · ~77y · appointed 1994-07-14 · resigned 1994-10-18
Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

3
Total charges
0
Outstanding
0
Active lenders
Status:Lender:3 of 3 shown
TypeProperties
satisfied
Scottish Homes
Standard security1 property26/03/199721/03/2018
satisfied
Scottish Homes
Standard security1 property31/05/199621/03/2018
satisfied
Scottish Homes
Standard security1 property07/08/199521/03/2018

Recent filings (94 total)

termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2026-01-26
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2025-10-07
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-07-25
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2025-04-03
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-07-26
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2024-07-03
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2024-04-23
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-07-17
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2023-05-02
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2022-11-15
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-07-25
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2022-03-23
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-07-28
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2021-01-12
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-07-29