ABERDEEN STEP BY STEP NURSERY LIMITED

🌳Matureactive
SC291171 · ltd · incorporated 2005-10-03
Investment thesis
Established operating company — standard diligence applies, no dominant angle.
Why interesting: Live, filing, normal profile.
Why risky: No standout signals in either direction.
Opportunity decay
approaching window · 12-months
Approaching a transaction window — refinance or sale event plausible in the next 12 months.
  • · Oldest live charge 20.0y old — refinance window within 12 months
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Mar 2025
Net worth
£120.1k
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: Pre-primary education
Sector: Education
Investor take
Pursue
Asset-holding vehicle with a 63-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 85/100. Strong seller-intent signal (70/100, director aged 63). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

1 live charge · oldest 20.0y

85/100
ready

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

  • · Oldest live charge is 20.0 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
  • · Legal-friction score 15/100 — clean.

Data confidence

Overall: medium (77/100)

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
1 charges (1/1 with lender, 1/1 with type)
90
Directors & officers
3 officers (3 active, 3 linked, 2 with DOB)
83
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
48 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
82/100Exceptional
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional 

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

Business quality
70
Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.
Acquirability
80
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 · FRS 102
Positive net assets
Net assets £120,081
Net assets shrinking
Down £25,950 YoY
Cash YoY
-8%
Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
£120k
↓ 7.7% YoY
Net Worth
£120k
↓ 18% YoY
Current Assets
£120k
↓ 8.4% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
£0£29k£58k£88k£117k£146kMar 2024Mar 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102
Metric2025-03-312024-03-31
Total assets£121.1k£146.7k
Current assets£119.8k£130.7k
Cash£119.8k£129.7k
Debtors—£985
Net assets£120.1k£146.0k

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
0
filings
Last 90 days
0
filings
Last 180 days
0
filings
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (21 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-06-03
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-07-01
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  3. 2024-05-16
    📄
    mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
    mortgage · MR04
  4. 2024-05-16
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #1
  5. 2023-05-24
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  6. 2022-05-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  7. 2021-06-17
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  8. 2020-10-07
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  9. 2020-06-09
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  10. 2019-06-13
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  11. 2018-10-09
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  12. 2017-08-24
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  13. 2016-06-08
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  14. 2015-11-05
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  15. 2015-06-11
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  16. 2014-10-17
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  17. 2006-04-17
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
  18. 2006-03-22
    ➕
    BRANDS, Michael Alexander David appointed
    director
  19. 2005-10-03
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As ABERDEEN STEP BY STEP NURSERY LIMITED
  20. 2005-10-03
    ➕
    MCMILLAN, Kim appointed
    secretary
  21. 2005-10-03
    ➕
    BRANDS, Lynn appointed
    director

Owner dependency

84/100
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
  • +Two-director setup: Only two active directors — typical of owner-managed SMEs but limits succession.
  • +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 21 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Senior director age: Director aged approximately 63 — approaching natural succession window.
  • +Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

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 63. 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 21 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 21 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.)

Shareholders & ownership

1 active beneficial owner · dominant holder ≥75%
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mrs Lynn Brands
Individual · British · DOB 04/1963 · age 63
75–100%
—75-100% shares06/04/2016

From Companies House Persons with Significant Control filings. Share ranges are banded per the public PSC regime.

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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
Incorporated2005-10-03
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC85100 — Pre-primary education

Registered office

Step By Step, Fairview Street
Danestone
Aberdeen
AB22 8ZP

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-12-31
Last made up to: 2025-03-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-10-21
Last: 2025-10-07

Officers (3 active · 0 resigned)

MCMILLAN, Kim→
secretary · appointed 2005-10-03
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
BRANDS, Lynn→
director · ~63y · appointed 2005-10-03
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
BRANDS, Michael Alexander David→
director · ~63y · appointed 2006-03-22
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active

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

Mortgages & charges

1
Total charges
0
Outstanding
0
Active lenders
Status:Lender:1 of 1 shown
TypeProperties
satisfied
Lloyds Banking Group
The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
Bond & floating charge1 property17/04/200616/05/2024

Recent filings (48 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-10-20
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-06-03
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-10-18
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-07-01
mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
mortgage · MR04
2024-05-16
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-11-16
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2023-05-24
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-11-02
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2022-05-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-11-16
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2021-06-17
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-10-07
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2020-10-07
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2020-06-09
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-10-11