ABERDEEN CIVIL ENGINEERING LTD

💤Zombieactive
SC550572 · ltd · incorporated 2016-11-17
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 Nov 2024
Net worth
book net assets
Opportunity
76/100
Strong
🔔
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What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 42130
Sector: Construction
ALSO REGISTERED FOR
  • 42910SIC 42910
  • 42990Construction of other civil engineering projects n.e.c.
  • 43999Other specialised construction activities n.e.c.
Investor take
Pursue
Strong opportunity: active trading company with strong profile and bankable structure.

Opportunity 76/100 (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 (81/100)

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

Company profile
address, 4 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
6 connected companies via shared directors
63
Filing history
21 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
76/100Strong
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional 

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

Business quality
65
Adequate — check latest filings for context.
Acquirability
70
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£0Nov 2023Nov 2024

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102
Metric2024-11-302023-11-30

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 (14 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-07-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-07-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  3. 2022-12-08
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  4. 2022-07-22
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  5. 2021-07-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  6. 2020-10-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  7. 2019-08-07
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  8. 2018-11-20
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC05
  9. 2018-11-20
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control-without-name-date
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC05
  10. 2018-11-20
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC05
  11. 2018-07-18
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  12. 2016-11-17
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As ABERDEEN CIVIL ENGINEERING LTD
  13. 2016-11-17
    FREW, John Arthur appointed
    director
  14. 2016-11-17
    📄
    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 9 years old with no director changes — suggests a very tight-knit founder team never broadened.

Succession & seller-readiness

65/100
Strong succession signal

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

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.

Red flags

clean
No red flags detected from available public data. (This is not a clean bill of health — detailed accounts review still recommended.)

Group structure

Aberdeen Marine Ltd is the ultimate parent — holding 75%+ shares. This company sits inside their group.

🏛️
Aberdeen Marine Ltd
Corporate parent · holds 75-100% shares · board control
ultimate parent
ABERDEEN CIVIL ENGINEERING LTD
This company · SC550572

Parent relationships inferred from Persons with Significant Control filings. Full subsidiary tree requires reverse-lookup (coming).

Shareholders & ownership

1 active beneficial owner · dominant holder ≥75%
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Aberdeen Marine Ltd
Corporate entity
75100%
board control75-100% shares · board control17/11/2016

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
Incorporated2016-11-17
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC42130 — SIC 42130

Registered office

2 Glen Orchy Place
Kilmarnock
KA2 0LU
Scotland

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-08-31
Last made up to: 2024-11-30
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-11-14
Last: 2025-10-31

Officers (1 active · 0 resigned)

FREW, John Arthur
director · ~63y · appointed 2016-11-17
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active

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

Recent filings (21 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-10-31
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2025-07-28
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-11-19
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2024-07-23
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-11-20
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2022-12-08
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-11-16
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2022-07-22
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-11-16
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2021-07-23
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-11-30
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2020-10-28
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-11-19
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2019-08-07
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC05
2018-11-20