JOHN MCDOWELL CIVIL ENGINEERING LIMITED

💤Zombieactive
NI032368 · ltd · incorporated 1997-05-13
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
—
book net assets
Opportunity
80/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: Construction of domestic buildings
Sector: Construction
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 77-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 80/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 77). 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: medium (76/100)

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
3 officers (1 active, 3 linked, 2 with DOB)
83
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
71 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
80/100Exceptional
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional 

Strong composite across quality, acquirability, and risk. High-priority target — progress to serious diligence.

Business quality
70
Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.
Acquirability
80
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£0Dec 2023Dec 2024

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102
Metric2024-12-312023-12-31
Average employees00

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
0
filings
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (22 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-04-04
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-09-24
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  3. 2024-06-25
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  4. 2024-05-13
    📄
    cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
  5. 2023-12-20
    📄
    second-filing-of-confirmation-statement-with-made-up-date
    confirmation-statement · RP04CS01
  6. 2023-09-22
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  7. 2022-09-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  8. 2022-05-17
    📄
    termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM01
  9. 2022-05-17
    📄
    termination-secretary-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM02
  10. 2021-12-16
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  11. 2021-09-24
    📄
    change-account-reference-date-company-previous-shortened
    accounts · AA01
  12. 2021-09-02
    ➖
    MCDOWELL, John Beresford resigned
    secretary
  13. 2021-09-02
    ➖
    MCDOWELL, John Beresford resigned
    director
  14. 2020-09-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  15. 2019-09-13
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  16. 2018-09-13
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  17. 2017-09-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  18. 2016-09-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  19. 1997-05-13
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As JOHN MCDOWELL CIVIL ENGINEERING LIMITED
  20. 1997-05-13
    ➕
    MCDOWELL, Isabel appointed
    director
  21. 1997-05-13
    ➕
    MCDOWELL, John Beresford appointed
    secretary
  22. 1997-05-13
    ➕
    MCDOWELL, John Beresford appointed
    director

Owner dependency

100/100
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 name in company name: Company name contains director surname "MCDOWELL" — strong identity link between founder and business.
  • +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 29 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 77 — succession pressure is live.

Succession & seller-readiness

100/100
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 77 years old. Natural succession window is now.
  • primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
  • primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 29 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 29 years old and no new directors in the last 3 years — succession not yet being planned internally.
  • 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 Isabel Mcdowell
Individual · British · DOB 10/1949 · age 77
75–100%
75–100%75-100% shares · 75-100% voting06/04/2016
1 historic (ceased) PSC
  • Mr John Mcdowellceased 02/09/2021· 25-50% shares

From Companies House Persons with Significant Control filings. Share ranges are banded per the public PSC regime.

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£4.00M
£2.86M–£5.15M
£11.40M—110015y10079y
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
Incorporated1997-05-13
Jurisdictionnorthern-ireland
Primary SIC41202 — Construction of domestic buildings

Registered office

The Beeches
7 Villawood Road
Dromore
Co Down
BT25 1LF

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-09-30
Last made up to: 2024-12-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-05-27
Last: 2025-05-13

Officers (1 active · 2 resigned)

MCDOWELL, Isabel→
director · ~77y · appointed 1997-05-13
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
MCDOWELL, John Beresford→
secretary · appointed 1997-05-13 · resigned 2021-09-02
Resigned
MCDOWELL, John Beresford→
director · ~79y · appointed 1997-05-13 · resigned 2021-09-02
Resigned

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

Recent filings (71 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-05-17
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-04-04
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-09-24
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2024-06-25
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-05-13
cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
2024-05-13
second-filing-of-confirmation-statement-with-made-up-date
confirmation-statement · RP04CS01
2023-12-20
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-09-22
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-05-16
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-09-26
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-05-18
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2022-05-17
termination-secretary-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM02
2022-05-17
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-12-16
change-account-reference-date-company-previous-shortened
accounts · AA01
2021-09-24