AB ENGINEERING SUPPORT LTD

💤Zombieactive
SC668272 · ltd · incorporated 2020-07-22
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 Jan 2025
Net worth
£-28.6k
book net assets
Opportunity
71/100
Strong
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What this business does
Primary activity: Engineering related scientific and technical consulting activities
Sector: Professional, scientific & technical
Investor take
Pass (distressed without resilience)
Distressed active trading company — structural issues outweigh the discount.

Opportunity 71/100 (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: distressed disposal / insolvency (65/100).

Data confidence

Overall: medium (79/100)

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
1 connected companies via shared directors
48
Filing history
16 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
71/100Strong
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional 

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

Business quality
65
Adequate — check latest filings for context.
Acquirability
50
Some acquirability indicators.
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 £28,556

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
Net Worth
-£29k
↑ 38% YoY
Current Assets
£14k
↑ 15% YoY
Current Liabilities
-£46k-£34k-£22k-£10k£2k£14kJan 2024Jan 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 105 (micro)
Metric2025-01-312024-01-31
Total assets£-28.6k£-45.7k
Current assets£14.3k£12.5k
Net assets£-28.6k£-45.7k

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 (13 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-01-05
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-10-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  3. 2024-10-03
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  4. 2024-10-03
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  5. 2024-10-03
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  6. 2024-04-30
    📄
    change-account-reference-date-company-previous-extended
    accounts · AA01
  7. 2023-10-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  8. 2023-08-30
    📄
    gazette-filings-brought-up-to-date
    gazette · DISS40
  9. 2023-06-27
    📄
    gazette-notice-compulsory
    gazette · GAZ1
  10. 2022-04-22
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  11. 2020-07-22
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As AB ENGINEERING SUPPORT LTD
  12. 2020-07-22
    BELL, Alexander appointed
    director
  13. 2020-07-22
    📄
    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 6 years old with no director changes — suggests a very tight-knit founder team never broadened.

Succession & seller-readiness

45/100
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.

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 Alexander Bell
Individual · British · DOB 07/1995 · age 31
75100%
75–100%board control75-100% shares · 75-100% voting · board control22/07/2020

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
Incorporated2020-07-22
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC71122 — Engineering related scientific and technical consulting activities

Registered office

12 Pankhurst Place
East Kilbride
Glasgow
G74 4BH
Scotland

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-10-31
Last made up to: 2025-01-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-08-03
Last: 2025-07-20

Officers (1 active · 0 resigned)

BELL, Alexander
director · ~31y · appointed 2020-07-22
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active

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

Recent filings (16 total)

accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2026-01-05
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-09-16
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-10-31
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2024-10-03
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2024-10-03
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2024-10-03
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-07-29
change-account-reference-date-company-previous-extended
accounts · AA01
2024-04-30
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-10-30
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-09-04
gazette-filings-brought-up-to-date
gazette · DISS40
2023-08-30
gazette-notice-compulsory
gazette · GAZ1
2023-06-27
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-07-27
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-04-22
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-08-02