ABACUS BUSINESS CONSULTANCY (SCOTLAND) LIMITED

💤Zombieactive
SC475207 · ltd · incorporated 2014-04-14
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 Apr 2025
Net worth
£-3.4k
book net assets
Opportunity
78/100
Strong
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What this business does
Primary activity: Other service activities n.e.c.
Sector: Other service activities
Investor take
Pass (distressed without resilience)
Distressed active trading company — structural issues outweigh the discount.

Opportunity 78/100 (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 (73/100).

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
2 connected companies via shared directors
51
Filing history
23 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
78/100Strong
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional 

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

Business quality
70
Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.
Acquirability
70
Strong succession / seller-readiness signals.
Risk profile
85
Few red flags.
Signal strength
90
Good data coverage for analysis.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · FRS 105 (micro)
Negative net assets
Liabilities exceed assets by £3,393

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
—
Net Worth
-£3k
↓ 371% YoY
Current Assets
£3k
↓ 30% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
-£3k-£2k-£182£1k£3k£5kApr 2024Apr 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 105 (micro)
Metric2025-04-302024-04-30
Total assets£-3.4k£-720
Current assets£3.3k£4.6k
Net assets£-3.4k£-720

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

🔒Filing-note intelligence

1 signal 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
1
filing
  • • 1 accounts
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (16 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-01-20
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  2. 2025-01-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  3. 2024-01-10
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  4. 2023-01-19
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  5. 2022-01-14
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  6. 2021-01-12
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  7. 2020-01-24
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  8. 2019-01-25
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  9. 2017-12-14
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  10. 2017-01-20
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  11. 2016-05-16
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  12. 2015-12-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  13. 2015-04-28
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  14. 2014-04-14
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As ABACUS BUSINESS CONSULTANCY (SCOTLAND) LIMITED
  15. 2014-04-14
    ➕
    RAFFERTY, Helen Lorraine appointed
    director
  16. 2014-04-14
    📄
    incorporation-company
    incorporation · NEWINC

Owner dependency

88/100
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.
  • +Senior director age: Director aged approximately 63 — approaching natural succession window.
  • +No director turnover: Company is 12 years old with no director changes — suggests a very tight-knit founder team never broadened.

Succession & seller-readiness

78/100
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 63. 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 12 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
Mrs Helen Lorraine Rafferty
Individual · Scottish · DOB 10/1963 · age 63
75–100%
75–100%board controlsig. influence75-100% shares · 75-100% voting · board control · significant influence · 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

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
Incorporated2014-04-14
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC96090 — Other service activities n.e.c.

Registered office

26b Bellside Road Cleland
Motherwell
ML1 5NP

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2027-01-31
Last made up to: 2025-04-30
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-04-28
Last: 2025-04-14

Officers (1 active · 0 resigned)

RAFFERTY, Helen Lorraine→
director · ~63y · appointed 2014-04-14
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active

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

Recent filings (23 total)

accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2026-01-20
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-05-12
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-01-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-05-10
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-01-10
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-04-27
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-01-19
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-05-26
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-01-14
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-05-20
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-01-12
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-06-08
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2020-01-24
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-04-30
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2019-01-25