JOHN MCCREESH PLANT HIRE & GROUND WORKS LTD

💤Zombieactive
NI046077 · ltd · incorporated 2003-04-04
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 Apr 2025
Net worth
£-27.1k
book net assets
Opportunity
75/100
Strong
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What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 42220
Sector: Construction
ALSO REGISTERED FOR
  • 42910SIC 42910
  • 42990Construction of other civil engineering projects n.e.c.
Investor take
Pass (distressed without resilience)
Distressed active trading company — structural issues outweigh the discount.

Opportunity 75/100 (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 (76/100)

Adequate coverage. AI outputs are reliable for the sections scored high; verify the rest in diligence.

Company profile
address, 3 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
2 officers (2 active, 2 linked, 1 with DOB)
80
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
52 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
75/100Strong
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional 

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

Business quality
70
Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.
Acquirability
60
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 £27,051

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
—
Net Worth
-£27k
↑ 10% YoY
Current Assets
£9k
↓ 79% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
-£30k-£16k-£2k£13k£27k£41kApr 2024Apr 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 105 (micro)
Metric2025-04-302024-04-30
Current assets£8.5k£41.0k
Net assets£-27.1k£-30.1k

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
1
filing
  • • 1 accounts
Last 90 days
2
filings
  • • 1 accounts
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
Last 180 days
2
filings
  • • 1 accounts
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (18 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-04-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  2. 2025-04-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  3. 2024-04-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  4. 2023-02-24
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  5. 2022-04-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  6. 2021-04-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  7. 2020-01-17
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  8. 2019-01-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  9. 2018-01-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  10. 2017-01-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  11. 2016-05-16
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  12. 2016-01-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  13. 2015-04-29
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  14. 2015-04-29
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  15. 2015-04-29
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  16. 2003-04-04
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As JOHN MCCREESH PLANT HIRE & GROUND WORKS LTD
  17. 2003-04-04
    ➕
    DUFFY, Caroline appointed
    secretary
  18. 2003-04-04
    ➕
    MCCREESH, John 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 "MCCREESH" — strong identity link between founder and business.
  • +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 23 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +No director turnover: Company is 23 years old with no director changes — suggests a very tight-knit founder team never broadened.

Succession & seller-readiness

75/100
Likely off-market candidate

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

SIGNALS
  • primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
  • primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 23 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 23 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
Mr John Mccreesh
Individual · Northern Irish · DOB 01/1979 · age 47
75–100%
—75-100% shares06/04/2016

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

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———70022y8782y
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
Incorporated2003-04-04
Jurisdictionnorthern-ireland
Primary SIC42220 — SIC 42220

Registered office

22 Garveys Road
Cullyhanna
Newry
County Down
BT35 0QF

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2027-01-31
Last made up to: 2025-04-30
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-04-18
Last: 2026-04-04

Officers (2 active · 0 resigned)

DUFFY, Caroline→
secretary · appointed 2003-04-04
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
MCCREESH, John→
director · ~47y · appointed 2003-04-04
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active

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

Recent filings (52 total)

accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2026-04-30
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-04-20
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-04-30
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-04-16
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-04-30
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-04-24
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-04-17
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-02-24
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-05-13
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-04-29
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-04-30
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-04-14
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-05-08
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2020-01-17
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-04-16