ENSCO 178 LIMITED

🌳Matureactive
SC332433 · ltd · incorporated 2007-10-16
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 18.3y old — refinance window within 12 months
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Jun 2025
Net worth
£-161.9k
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: Activities of production holding companies
Sector: Financial & insurance
Investor take
Pass (distressed without resilience)
Distressed asset-holding vehicle — structural issues outweigh the discount.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 74). 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 18.3y

65/100
clean up first

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

  • · Oldest live charge is 18.3 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: 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
1 year of iXBRL accounts extracted (no YoY comparison) + narrative notes parsed
50
Lenders & charges
1 charges (1/1 with lender, 1/1 with type)
90
Directors & officers
5 officers (3 active, 5 linked, 2 with DOB)
78
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
10 connected companies via shared directors
75
Filing history
54 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 · accounting standard not declared
Negative net assets
Liabilities exceed assets by £161,854

Key financials

1 year extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
—
Net Worth
-£162k
Current Assets
—
Current Liabilities
—

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2025-06-30
Total assets£-161.9k
Debtors£100
Net assets£-161.9k

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
2
filings
  • • 2 accounts
Last 180 days
2
filings
  • • 2 accounts
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (26 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-03-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2026-03-16
    📄
    change-account-reference-date-company-previous-extended
    accounts · AA01
  3. 2025-09-04
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  4. 2025-04-25
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  5. 2025-03-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  6. 2024-03-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  7. 2023-07-06
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  8. 2023-07-06
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  9. 2023-07-06
    📄
    change-person-secretary-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH03
  10. 2023-07-06
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  11. 2023-03-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  12. 2022-03-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  13. 2021-06-24
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  14. 2020-06-25
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  15. 2019-06-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  16. 2019-03-28
    📄
    change-account-reference-date-company-previous-shortened
    accounts · AA01
  17. 2018-09-27
    📄
    change-account-reference-date-company-previous-extended
    accounts · AA01
  18. 2008-01-18
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
  19. 2008-01-17
    ➕
    WATT, Graeme Lawrie appointed
    secretary
  20. 2008-01-17
    ➕
    WATT, Graeme Lawrie appointed
    director
  21. 2008-01-17
    ➖
    HBJGW SECRETARIAL LIMITED resigned
    corporate-secretary
  22. 2007-11-08
    ➕
    STIRRAT, David Kerr appointed
    director
  23. 2007-11-08
    ➖
    HBJGW LIMITED resigned
    corporate-director
  24. 2007-10-16
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As ENSCO 178 LIMITED
  25. 2007-10-16
    ➕
    HBJGW SECRETARIAL LIMITED appointed
    corporate-secretary
  26. 2007-10-16
    ➕
    HBJGW LIMITED appointed
    corporate-director

Owner dependency

83/100
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 19 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 74 — succession pressure is live.

Succession & seller-readiness

89/100
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 74 years old. Natural succession window is now.
  • secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
  • secondary12+ year tenure: Director in role 19 years.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 19 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
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr David Kerr Stirrat
Individual · British · DOB 06/1952 · age 74
——sig. influencesignificant influence06/04/2016

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

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
Incorporated2007-10-16
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC64202 — Activities of production holding companies

Registered office

121 Barfillan Drive
Glasgow
G52 1BH
Scotland

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2027-03-31
Last made up to: 2025-06-30
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-10-30
Last: 2025-10-16

Officers (3 active · 2 resigned)

WATT, Graeme Lawrie→
secretary · appointed 2008-01-17
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
STIRRAT, David Kerr→
director · ~74y · appointed 2007-11-08
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
WATT, Graeme Lawrie→
director · ~74y · appointed 2008-01-17
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
HBJGW SECRETARIAL LIMITED→
corporate-secretary · appointed 2007-10-16 · resigned 2008-01-17
Resigned
HBJGW LIMITED→
corporate-director · appointed 2007-10-16 · resigned 2007-11-08
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
Lloyds Banking Group
The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
Floating charge1 property18/01/2008—
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (54 total)

accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2026-03-27
change-account-reference-date-company-previous-extended
accounts · AA01
2026-03-16
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-10-17
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2025-09-04
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2025-04-25
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-03-26
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-10-17
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-03-27
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-10-18
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2023-07-06
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2023-07-06
change-person-secretary-company-with-change-date
officers · CH03
2023-07-06
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2023-07-06
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-03-29
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-10-17