MERLIN HOUSE LIMITED

🌳Matureactive

SC216220 · ltd · incorporated 2001-02-28

Investment thesis

Property vehicle with a workable charge structure — clean refinance potential.

Why interesting: Asset-backed; value largely in underlying property; lender engagement likely possible.

Why risky: Dependent on title and valuation due diligence; standard property risks.

Why now

Window steady · low confidence

Stable recent picture — watch for any upcoming trigger event.

Opportunity decay

approaching window · 12-months

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

· Oldest live charge 25.1y old — refinance window within 12 months

What changed my view

Last 30 days

No material changes in the last 30 days.

Last 90 days

No snapshot from 90 days ago — start tracking from today.

Last 180 days

No snapshot from 180 days ago — start tracking from today.

🔒Estimated value

—

Upgrade to see

Turnover

—

year to Feb 2025

Net worth

£40.5k

book net assets

Opportunity

83/100

Exceptional

🔒Generate AI memo →🔒Outreach pack →🔒Corporate story →📑 Reports →Sign in to watch

What this business does

Primary activity: Other letting and operating of own or leased real estate

Sector: Real estate

Investor take

Pursue

Property-backed borrower with a 64-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 83/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (70/100, director aged 64). 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 (65/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

1 live charge · oldest 25.1y

65/100

clean up first

Refinance viable after a tidy-up — address the highlighted items first.

· Oldest live charge is 25.1 years old — likely at or near maturity.
· Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
· Legal-friction score 25/100 — workable, but lender will want more DD.

Data confidence

Overall: high (80/100)

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

4 officers (3 active, 4 linked, 3 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

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

Director network

4 connected companies via shared directors

Filing history

53 filings on record

Gazette notices

No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)

🔒Estimated company valuation

Sector-multiple EBITDA, turnover, and NAV-proxy valuation range with confidence tier — derived from extracted iXBRL financials.

Available from the Pro tier upwards.

See pricing →

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.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · accounting standard not declared

Positive net assets

Net assets £40,484

Net assets shrinking

Down £1,749 YoY

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts

Cash

—

Net Worth

£40k

↓ 4.1% YoY

Current Assets

£1k

↓ 15% YoY

Current Liabilities

—

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown

Metric	2025-02-28	2024-02-28
Total assets	£135.4k	£137.2k
Current assets	£1.3k	£1.6k
Net assets	£40.5k	£42.2k

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

filing

• 1 confirmation-statement

Last 180 days

filing

• 1 confirmation-statement

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (22 events)Click to expand

2025-11-19
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-11-27
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-11-15
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-10-25
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-11-03
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-02-18
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2019-11-20
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2018-11-28
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2017-11-21
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2016-11-28
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2016-03-01
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2015-12-01
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2015-03-12
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2014-11-28
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2014-03-10
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2013-10-04
➖
DOCKRELL, Maureen Mary resigned
director
2001-05-04
🔒
Charge registered #1
Lender: The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
2001-02-28
🏢
Company incorporated
As MERLIN HOUSE LIMITED
2001-02-28
➕
DENHOLM, Bryan appointed
secretary
2001-02-28
➕
DENHOLM, Bryan appointed
director
2001-02-28
➕
MCPHAIL, Alexander appointed
director
2001-02-28
➕
DOCKRELL, Maureen Mary appointed
director

Owner dependency

76/100

High — earn-out structure required

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

FACTORS

+Two-director setup: Only two active directors — typical of owner-managed SMEs but limits succession.
+Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 25 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
+Senior director age: Director aged approximately 64 — approaching natural succession window.

Succession & seller-readiness

86/100

Likely off-market candidate

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

SIGNALS

primaryFounder aged 63+: Senior director is approximately 64. Approaching typical UK retirement age — succession thinking likely.
secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 25 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 25 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

clean

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

Group structure

Forth Logistics Marine Services Ltd is the ultimate parent — holding 75%+ shares. This company sits inside their group.

🏛️

Forth Logistics Marine Services Ltd

Corporate parent · holds 75-100% shares

ultimate parent

⬇

MERLIN HOUSE LIMITED

This company · SC216220

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
Forth Logistics Marine Services Ltd Corporate entity	75–100%	—	75-100% shares	06/04/2016

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 →

Similar companies

Active · Property · KY postcode area

Company	Est. value	Turnover	Net worth	Staff	Age	Opp	Director
PCM PROPERTIES LIMITED→ SC142138 · est 1993	£1.18M £1.01M–£1.36M	—	£1.18M	—	33y	82	68y
G.W. DOUGLAS PROPERTY & GARAGE COMPANY LIMITED→ SC031202 · est 1955	£1.10M £938.6k–£1.27M	—	£1.10M	—	70y	82	70y
MVPR LIMITED→ SC240584 · est 2002	£753.5k £640.4k–£866.5k	—	£753.5k	—	23y	82	69y
A J W PROPERTIES (SCOTLAND) LIMITED→ SC254914 · est 2003	£631.0k £536.4k–£725.7k	—	£631.0k	—	22y	82	73y
BENTHEAD DEVELOPMENTS LIMITED→ SC123999 · est 1990	£469.5k £399.1k–£539.9k	—	£469.5k	—	36y	82	65y
ABBEYFORT HOLIDAYS LIMITED→ SC301687 · est 2006	£408.0k £346.8k–£469.2k	—	£408.0k	—	20y	83	61y
TAYLOR BROTHERS (PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT) LIMITED→ SC058985 · est 1975	£392.5k £333.7k–£451.4k	—	£392.5k	—	50y	83	79y
STARK'S PARK PROPERTIES LTD→ SC226922 · est 2002	£337.6k £287.0k–£388.3k	—	£337.6k	—	24y	82	75y
BRAEFIELD LIMITED→ SC158886 · est 1995	£276.5k £235.1k–£318.0k	—	£276.5k	—	30y	82	74y
GOOD NEWS (DUNFERMLINE) LIMITED→ SC168501 · est 1996	£126.6k £107.6k–£145.6k	—	£126.6k	—	29y	82	67y
SUMMITS INVESTMENTS LIMITED→ SC169947 · est 1996	£123.7k £105.1k–£142.3k	—	£123.7k	—	29y	82	73y
REGENTS ESTATES AND MORTGAGES LIMITED→ SC252333 · est 2003	£107.7k £91.5k–£123.8k	—	£107.7k	—	22y	82	64y

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

Typeltd

Incorporated2001-02-28

Jurisdictionscotland

Primary SIC68209 — Other letting and operating of own or leased real estate

Registered office

Merlin House, 5 Crossway

Hillend Industrial Park

Dalgety Bay

Fife

KY11 9JE

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2026-11-30

Last made up to: 2025-02-28

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2027-03-13

Last: 2026-02-27

Officers (3 active · 1 resigned)

DENHOLM, Bryan→

secretary · appointed 2001-02-28

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

DENHOLM, Bryan→

director · ~64y · appointed 2001-02-28

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

MCPHAIL, Alexander→

director · ~52y · appointed 2001-02-28

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

DOCKRELL, Maureen Mary→

director · ~69y · appointed 2001-02-28 · resigned 2013-10-04

Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

Total charges

Outstanding

Active lenders

Status:Lender:1 of 1 shown

			Type	Properties
	outstanding	Lloyds Banking Group The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC	Bond & floating charge	1 property	04/05/2001	—

Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.