ARJ BUILDING AND DESIGN SERVICES LIMITED

💤Zombieactive
SC408677 · ltd · incorporated 2011-10-04
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 Oct 2024
Net worth
book net assets
Opportunity
73/100
Strong
🔔
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What this business does
Primary activity: Development of building projects
Sector: Construction
Investor take
Pursue
Strong opportunity: active trading company with strong profile and bankable structure.

Opportunity 73/100 (strong), bankability 75/100. High owner-dependency — earn-out structure likely required for clean transition. 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 (58/100).

Data confidence

Overall: high (80/100)

Strong data coverage across all sections. AI outputs should be trusted with minimal caveats.

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
3 connected companies via shared directors
54
Filing history
32 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
73/100Strong
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional 

Solid opportunity signal. Worth a dedicated memo and management meeting.

Business quality
70
Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.
Acquirability
50
Some acquirability indicators.
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£0Oct 2023Oct 2024

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2024-10-312023-10-31

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
3
filings
  • 2 gazette
  • 1 confirmation-statement
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (17 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-01-13
    📄
    gazette-filings-brought-up-to-date
    gazette · DISS40
  2. 2025-12-23
    📄
    gazette-notice-compulsory
    gazette · GAZ1
  3. 2025-07-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  4. 2024-07-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  5. 2023-08-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  6. 2022-07-25
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  7. 2021-06-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  8. 2020-03-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  9. 2019-07-16
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  10. 2018-07-24
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  11. 2017-02-14
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  12. 2016-07-06
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  13. 2015-10-13
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  14. 2015-07-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  15. 2014-10-08
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  16. 2011-10-04
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As ARJ BUILDING AND DESIGN SERVICES LIMITED
  17. 2011-10-04
    O'DRISCOLL, Shane appointed
    director

Owner dependency

80/100
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.
  • +No director turnover: Company is 15 years old with no director changes — suggests a very tight-knit founder team never broadened.

Succession & seller-readiness

58/100
Strong succession signal

Multiple signals suggest succession is on the horizon. Candidate for proactive outreach.

SIGNALS
  • primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
  • secondary12+ year tenure: Director in role 15 years.
  • 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 Shane O'Driscoll
Individual · British · DOB 12/1972 · age 54
75100%
75-100% shares06/04/2016

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
Incorporated2011-10-04
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC41100 — Development of building projects

Registered office

5 Traprain Terrace
Haddington
East Lothian
EH41 3QD

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-07-31
Last made up to: 2024-10-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-10-18
Last: 2025-10-04

Officers (1 active · 0 resigned)

O'DRISCOLL, Shane
director · ~54y · appointed 2011-10-04
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)

gazette-filings-brought-up-to-date
gazette · DISS40
2026-01-13
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-01-12
gazette-notice-compulsory
gazette · GAZ1
2025-12-23
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-07-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-12-10
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-07-26
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-11-13
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-08-29
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-11-07
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-07-25
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-10-27
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-06-29
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-10-14
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-03-30
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-10-10