ANDERSON BALLANTINE LIMITED

💤Zombieactive
SC338733 · ltd · incorporated 2008-03-01
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 Aug 2025
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: Accounting and auditing activities
Sector: Professional, scientific & technical
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 70-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 70). 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 (73/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

1 live charge · oldest 18.0y

45/100
under pressure

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

  • · Oldest live charge is 18.0 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
  • · Distress signals active — lender appetite narrows.

Data confidence

Overall: medium (79/100)

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
2 officers (2 active, 2 linked, 1 with DOB)
80
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
3 connected companies via shared directors
54
Filing history
44 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.

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
—
Net Worth
—
Current Assets
—
Current Liabilities
—
£0£0£0£0£0£0Aug 2024Aug 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2025-08-312024-08-31

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

Recent activity

Last 30 days
0
filings
Last 90 days
1
filing
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
Last 180 days
3
filings
  • • 2 confirmation-statement
  • • 1 accounts
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (19 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-02-02
    📄
    replacement-filing-of-confirmation-statement-with-made-up-date
    confirmation-statement · RP01CS01
  2. 2026-01-08
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  3. 2025-05-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  4. 2024-05-08
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  5. 2023-05-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  6. 2022-05-24
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  7. 2021-04-23
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  8. 2021-03-24
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  9. 2020-04-14
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  10. 2019-05-09
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  11. 2018-09-27
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  12. 2018-02-22
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  13. 2017-03-16
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  14. 2016-03-16
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  15. 2016-03-03
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  16. 2008-05-01
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
  17. 2008-03-01
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As ANDERSON BALLANTINE LIMITED
  18. 2008-03-01
    ➕
    WILLIAMSON, Anne Margaret appointed
    secretary
  19. 2008-03-01
    ➕
    BALLANTINE, John Francis Russell 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.
  • +Founder name in company name: Company name contains director surname "BALLANTINE" — strong identity link between founder and business.
  • +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 18 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 70 — succession pressure is live.
  • +No director turnover: Company is 18 years old with no director changes — suggests a very tight-knit founder team never broadened.

Succession & seller-readiness

98/100
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 70 years old. Natural succession window is now.
  • primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
  • secondary12+ year tenure: Director in role 18 years.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 18 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 John Francis Russell Ballantine
Individual · British · DOB 12/1956 · age 70
75–100%
75–100%board control75-100% shares · 75-100% voting · board control · firm interest06/04/2016

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
Incorporated2008-03-01
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC69201 — Accounting and auditing activities

Registered office

5 Hartree Square
Biggar
ML12 6JJ
Scotland

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2027-05-31
Last made up to: 2025-08-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-03-15
Last: 2026-03-01

Officers (2 active · 0 resigned)

WILLIAMSON, Anne Margaret→
secretary · appointed 2008-03-01
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
BALLANTINE, John Francis Russell→
director · ~70y · appointed 2008-03-01
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
1
Outstanding
1
Active lenders
Status:Lender:1 of 1 shown
TypeProperties
outstanding
Lloyds Banking Group
Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
Bond & floating charge1 property01/05/2008—
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (44 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-03-05
replacement-filing-of-confirmation-statement-with-made-up-date
confirmation-statement · RP01CS01
2026-02-02
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2026-01-08
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2025-05-23
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-03-05
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-05-08
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-03-11
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-05-23
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-03-02
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-05-24
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-03-07
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2021-04-23
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-04-15
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-03-24
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-04-14