ENGINEERING SPREADSHEETS LTD.

💤Zombieactive
SC302290 · ltd · incorporated 2006-05-12
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.
Why now
Window steady · low confidence
Steady and stalled — no momentum either way. Needs an approach trigger.
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 Mar 2025
Net worth
£620.6k
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: Other letting and operating of own or leased real estate
Sector: Real estate
ALSO REGISTERED FOR
  • 71121Engineering design activities for industrial process and production
Investor take
Pursue
Property-backed borrower with a 66-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 66). 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

1 live charge · oldest 13.2y

45/100
under pressure

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

  • · Oldest live charge is 13.2 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
  • · Distress signals active — lender appetite narrows.

Data confidence

Overall: medium (76/100)

Adequate coverage. AI outputs are reliable for the sections scored high; verify the rest in diligence.

Company profile
address, 2 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
4 officers (2 active, 4 linked, 1 with DOB)
75
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
49 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
🔒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
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 · accounting standard not declared
Positive net assets
Net assets £620,625

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
—
Net Worth
£621k
↑ 2.7% YoY
Current Assets
£205k
↑ 7.5% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
£0£124k£248k£372k£497k£621kMar 2024Mar 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2025-03-312024-03-31
Total assets£620.6k£604.4k
Current assets£205.2k£190.8k
Net assets£620.6k£604.4k

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

Recent activity

Last 30 days
1
filing
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
Last 90 days
1
filing
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
Last 180 days
2
filings
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
  • • 1 accounts
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (23 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-12-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  2. 2025-03-11
    📄
    capital-allotment-shares
    capital · SH01
  3. 2024-11-18
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  4. 2023-12-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  5. 2022-10-11
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  6. 2021-12-22
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  7. 2021-01-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  8. 2019-12-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  9. 2018-12-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  10. 2017-07-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  11. 2016-12-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  12. 2016-05-19
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  13. 2015-12-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  14. 2015-05-22
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  15. 2014-09-16
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  16. 2013-03-27
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: Clydesdale Bank PLC
  17. 2006-05-12
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As ENGINEERING SPREADSHEETS LTD.
  18. 2006-05-12
    ➕
    JONES, Moira Catherine Florence appointed
    secretary
  19. 2006-05-12
    ➕
    NICOLSON, Robert Davidson appointed
    director
  20. 2006-05-12
    ➕
    BRIAN REID LTD. appointed
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  21. 2006-05-12
    ➖
    BRIAN REID LTD. resigned
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  22. 2006-05-12
    ➕
    STEPHEN MABBOTT LTD. appointed
    corporate-nominee-director
  23. 2006-05-12
    ➖
    STEPHEN MABBOTT LTD. resigned
    corporate-nominee-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 20 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 66 — succession pressure is live.

Succession & seller-readiness

95/100
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 66. Approaching typical UK retirement age — succession thinking likely.
  • primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
  • primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 20 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 20 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
Mr Robert Davidson Nicolson
Individual · British · DOB 04/1960 · age 66
75–100%
—75-100% shares12/05/2017

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

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
Incorporated2006-05-12
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC68209 — Other letting and operating of own or leased real estate

Registered office

550 Brook Street
Broughty Ferry
Dundee
DD5 2EB

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-12-31
Last made up to: 2025-03-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-05-26
Last: 2026-05-12

Officers (2 active · 2 resigned)

JONES, Moira Catherine Florence→
secretary · appointed 2006-05-12
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
NICOLSON, Robert Davidson→
director · ~66y · appointed 2006-05-12
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
BRIAN REID LTD.→
corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 2006-05-12 · resigned 2006-05-12
Resigned
STEPHEN MABBOTT LTD.→
corporate-nominee-director · appointed 2006-05-12 · resigned 2006-05-12
Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

1
Total charges
1
Outstanding
1
Active lenders
Status:Lender:1 of 1 shown
TypeProperties
outstanding
Virgin Money
Clydesdale Bank PLC
Account pledge1 property27/03/2013—
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (49 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-05-26
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-12-30
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-05-21
capital-allotment-shares
capital · SH01
2025-03-11
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-11-18
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-06-17
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-12-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-06-17
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-10-11
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-07-09
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-12-22
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-06-16
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-01-29
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-05-24
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2019-12-31