R WATSON (PROPERTIES) LIMITED

💤Zombieactive
NI000375 · ltd · incorporated 1926-12-28
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 Dec 2024
Net worth
£421.5k
book net assets
Opportunity
77/100
Strong
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What this business does
Primary activity: Development of building projects
Sector: Construction
ALSO REGISTERED FOR
  • 68209Other letting and operating of own or leased real estate
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 75-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 77/100 (strong), bankability 67/100. Strong seller-intent signal (78/100, director aged 75). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Consolidate lender relationships. 3 distinct lenders creates friction — refinance into single-lender structure for cleaner diligence. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (73/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

3 live charges · 3 lenders · oldest 53.0y

15/100
under pressure

Refinance would be pressure-driven, not opportunity-driven. Expect tighter margins and covenant scrutiny.

  • · Oldest live charge is 53.0 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · 3 lenders named — inter-creditor friction likely.
  • · Distress signals active — lender appetite narrows.

Data confidence

Overall: high (80/100)

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

Company profile
address, 2 SIC codes, incorporation date
100
Financials
2 years of iXBRL accounts extracted (YoY deltas available) + narrative notes parsed
75
Lenders & charges
3 charges (3/3 with lender, 3/3 with type)
90
Directors & officers
5 officers (1 active, 5 linked, 4 with DOB)
86
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
191 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
77/100Strong
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
77
Few red flags.
Signal strength
100
Good data coverage for analysis.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · accounting standard not declared
Positive net assets
Net assets £421,475
Net assets shrinking
Down £92,607 YoY

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
—
Net Worth
£421k
↓ 18% YoY
Current Assets
£135k
↓ 17% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
£0£103k£206k£308k£411k£514kDec 2023Dec 2024

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2024-12-312023-12-31
Total assets£521.0k£601.8k
Current assets£135.2k£162.4k
Net assets£421.5k£514.1k

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
1
filing
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
Last 180 days
2
filings
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
  • • 1 address
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (26 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-02-10
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  2. 2025-04-01
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  3. 2024-01-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  4. 2023-08-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  5. 2023-06-15
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  6. 2022-10-02
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  7. 2022-02-21
    📄
    termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM01
  8. 2022-02-21
    📄
    termination-secretary-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM02
  9. 2022-02-18
    ➖
    BLANE, Helen Patricia resigned
    secretary
  10. 2022-02-18
    ➖
    BLANE, Helen Patricia resigned
    director
  11. 2021-03-10
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  12. 2020-09-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  13. 2019-10-15
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  14. 2018-09-08
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  15. 2017-02-17
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  16. 2017-02-08
    📄
    capital-alter-shares-subdivision
    capital · SH02
  17. 2008-07-03
    🔒
    Charge registered #3
    Lender: The Governor and Company of the Bank of Ireland
  18. 2008-04-15
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #2
  19. 2007-12-31
    ➕
    BLANE, Helen Patricia appointed
    director
  20. 2005-01-02
    ➖
    BLANE, Maureen E resigned
    director
  21. 2002-12-05
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #1
  22. 2002-10-28
    🔒
    Charge registered #2
    Lender: Aib Group (UK) PLC
  23. 2002-06-21
    ➕
    BLANE, Helen Patricia appointed
    secretary
  24. 2002-06-21
    ➖
    BLANE, John M resigned
    director
  25. 1973-05-11
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: Northern Bank LTD
  26. 1926-12-28
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As R WATSON (PROPERTIES) LIMITED

Owner dependency

90/100
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.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 75 — succession pressure is live.

Succession & seller-readiness

85/100
Likely off-market candidate

Strong acquirability signals converging. Worth approaching directly — this is how off-market deals start.

SIGNALS
  • primaryFounder aged 70+: Senior director is approximately 75 years old. Natural succession window is now.
  • primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 99 years old and no new directors in the last 3 years — succession not yet being planned internally.

Red flags

1 med ·
Charge satisfaction-then-recreation pattern
medium

Multiple instances where a charge was satisfied and a new charge created within 6 months. Suggests active refinancing cycle.

Shareholders & ownership

1 active beneficial owner
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr James Blane
Individual · British · DOB 06/1951 · age 75
——sig. influencesignificant influence06/04/2016

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

8 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
Incorporated1926-12-28
Jurisdictionnorthern-ireland
Primary SIC41100 — Development of building projects

Registered office

14 Carnreagh Road
Hillsborough
BT26 6LH
Northern Ireland

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-09-30
Last made up to: 2024-12-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-04-08
Last: 2026-03-25

Officers (1 active · 4 resigned)

BLANE, James→
director · ~75y
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
BLANE, Helen Patricia→
secretary · appointed 2002-06-21 · resigned 2022-02-18
Resigned
BLANE, Helen Patricia→
director · ~72y · appointed 2007-12-31 · resigned 2022-02-18
Resigned
BLANE, John M→
director · ~110y · resigned 2002-06-21
Resigned
BLANE, Maureen E→
director · ~105y · resigned 2005-01-02
Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

3
Total charges
1
Outstanding
1
Active lenders
Status:Lender:3 of 3 shown
TypeProperties
outstanding
The Governor and Company of the Bank of Ireland
Debenture2 properties03/07/2008—
satisfied
Aib Group (UK)
Aib Group (UK) PLC
Mortgage or charge1 property28/10/200215/04/2008
satisfied
Northern Bank
Northern Bank LTD
Mortgage or charge2 properties11/05/197305/12/2002
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (191 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-03-25
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2026-02-10
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-06-10
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-04-01
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-05-15
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-01-30
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-08-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-06-15
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2023-06-15
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-10-02
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-05-25
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2022-02-21
termination-secretary-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM02
2022-02-21
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-05-17
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-03-10