ACUMEN BUSINESS SOLUTIONS LIMITED

💤Zombieactive
SC370042 · ltd · incorporated 2009-12-11
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
—
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Turnover
—
year to Dec 2024
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
80/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: Information technology consultancy activities
Sector: Information & communication
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 65-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 80/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 65). 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).

Data confidence

Overall: medium (78/100)

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
Confirmed no charges registered
85
Directors & officers
1 officers (1 active, 1 linked, 1 with DOB)
90
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
32 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
80/100Exceptional
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
90
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£0Dec 2023Dec 2024

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2024-12-312023-12-31

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
0
filings
Last 180 days
1
filing
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (17 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-09-17
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-08-21
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  3. 2023-01-03
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  4. 2022-02-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  5. 2021-01-24
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  6. 2020-11-16
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  7. 2019-09-10
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  8. 2018-01-20
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  9. 2017-09-02
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  10. 2016-03-05
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  11. 2016-01-02
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  12. 2015-04-01
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  13. 2014-12-30
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  14. 2014-04-13
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  15. 2014-01-07
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  16. 2009-12-11
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As ACUMEN BUSINESS SOLUTIONS LIMITED
  17. 2009-12-11
    ➕
    WILSON, Stewart Anthony Duncan 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.
  • +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 16 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 65 — succession pressure is live.
  • +No director turnover: Company is 16 years old with no director changes — suggests a very tight-knit founder team never broadened.

Succession & seller-readiness

88/100
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 65. Approaching typical UK retirement age — succession thinking likely.
  • primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
  • secondary12+ year tenure: Director in role 16 years.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 16 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 Stewart Anthony Duncan Wilson
Individual · British · DOB 10/1961 · age 65
——sig. influencesignificant influence11/12/2016

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

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.

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Company details

Statusactive
Typeltd
Incorporated2009-12-11
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC62020 — Information technology consultancy activities

Registered office

32 Woodfield Avenue, Colinton,
Midlothian
Edinburgh
EH13 0HX

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-09-30
Last made up to: 2024-12-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-12-26
Last: 2025-12-12

Officers (1 active · 0 resigned)

WILSON, Stewart Anthony Duncan→
director · ~65y · appointed 2009-12-11
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active

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

Recent filings (32 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-12-14
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2025-09-17
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-12-25
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2024-08-21
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-12-17
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-01-18
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2023-01-03
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2022-02-26
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-12-13
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2021-01-24
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-12-20
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2020-11-16
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-12-22
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2019-09-10
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2018-12-12