ASTEM LTD

💤Zombieactive
SC513545 · ltd · incorporated 2015-08-20
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 2024
Net worth
book net assets
Opportunity
73/100
Strong
🔔
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What this business does
Primary activity: Renting and leasing of trucks and other heavy vehicles
Sector: Administrative & support services
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
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
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£0Aug 2023Aug 2024

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102
Metric2024-08-312023-08-31

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

Recent activity

Last 30 days
1
filing
  • 1 address
Last 90 days
1
filing
  • 1 address
Last 180 days
1
filing
  • 1 address
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (15 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-04-05
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  2. 2025-06-04
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  3. 2024-05-08
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  4. 2023-03-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  5. 2022-03-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  6. 2021-05-13
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  7. 2020-05-20
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  8. 2019-08-30
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  9. 2019-08-27
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  10. 2019-06-02
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  11. 2018-05-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  12. 2017-04-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  13. 2015-08-20
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As ASTEM LTD
  14. 2015-08-20
    MCBRIDE, Mark appointed
    director
  15. 2015-08-20
    📄
    incorporation-company
    incorporation · NEWINC

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 11 years old with no director changes — suggests a very tight-knit founder team never broadened.

Succession & seller-readiness

50/100
Moderate signal

Some succession indicators present. Worth watching; approach if sector/strategy fits.

SIGNALS
  • primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
  • 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 Mark Mcbride
Individual · British · DOB 09/1986 · age 40
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.

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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.

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Company details

Statusactive
Typeltd
Incorporated2015-08-20
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC77120 — Renting and leasing of trucks and other heavy vehicles

Registered office

48 West George Street
Clyde Offices, 2nd Floor
Glasgow
G2 1BP
Scotland

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-05-31
Last made up to: 2024-08-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-09-02
Last: 2025-08-19

Officers (1 active · 0 resigned)

MCBRIDE, Mark
director · ~40y · appointed 2015-08-20
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)

change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2026-04-05
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-08-19
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2025-06-04
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-08-28
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2024-05-08
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-08-27
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2023-03-23
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-08-22
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2022-03-29
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-08-19
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2021-05-13
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-08-31
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2020-05-20
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2019-08-30
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-08-30