HOUTMAN SCAFFOLDING LIMITED

🌳Matureactive
NI629291 · ltd · incorporated 2015-02-11
Investment thesis
Well-run mature business — low negotiation leverage; premium likely.
Why interesting: Textbook target; clean filings, stable trading.
Why risky: No pressure on seller; any deal likely at full price.
Opportunity decay
approaching window · 12-months
Approaching a transaction window — refinance or sale event plausible in the next 12 months.
  • · Oldest live charge 11.0y old — refinance window within 12 months
🔒Estimated value
Upgrade to see
Turnover
year to Mar 2025
Net worth
book net assets
Opportunity
75/100
Strong
🔔
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What this business does
Primary activity: Scaffold erection
Sector: Construction
Investor take
Pursue
Strong opportunity: active trading company with strong profile and bankable structure.

Opportunity 75/100 (strong), bankability 80/100. High owner-dependency — earn-out structure likely required for clean transition. Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (58/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

1 live charge · oldest 11.0y

85/100
ready

Refinance conversation should be productive — structure clean and timing right.

  • · Oldest live charge is 11.0 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
  • · Legal-friction score 15/100 — clean.

Data confidence

Overall: medium (78/100)

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
1 charges (1/1 with lender, 1/1 with type)
90
Directors & officers
2 officers (2 active, 2 linked, 2 with DOB)
90
Ownership & PSC
2 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
29 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
55
Some acquirability indicators.
Risk profile
85
Few red flags.
Signal strength
100
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£0Mar 2024Mar 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102
Metric2025-03-312024-03-31
Average employees14001600

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 confirmation-statement
Last 90 days
1
filing
  • 1 confirmation-statement
Last 180 days
2
filings
  • 1 confirmation-statement
  • 1 accounts
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (19 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-12-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-12-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  3. 2023-12-22
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  4. 2023-03-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  5. 2022-03-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  6. 2021-03-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  7. 2020-01-03
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  8. 2019-02-24
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  9. 2019-02-01
    📄
    capital-allotment-shares
    capital · SH01
  10. 2019-01-25
    📄
    capital-name-of-class-of-shares
    capital · SH08
  11. 2019-01-02
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  12. 2018-01-04
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  13. 2016-11-05
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  14. 2016-03-09
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  15. 2015-11-03
    📄
    change-account-reference-date-company-current-extended
    accounts · AA01
  16. 2015-06-05
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: Northern Bank Limited
  17. 2015-02-11
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As HOUTMAN SCAFFOLDING LIMITED
  18. 2015-02-11
    HOUTMAN, Jakob Aaron appointed
    director
  19. 2015-02-11
    SMYTH, Andrew Howard appointed
    director

Owner dependency

78/100
High — earn-out structure required

Material founder dependency. Consider a 2-3 year earn-out and build in a handover plan before completion.

FACTORS
  • +Two-director setup: Only two active directors — typical of owner-managed SMEs but limits succession.
  • +Founder name in company name: Company name contains director surname "HOUTMAN" — strong identity link between founder and business.
  • +No director turnover: Company is 11 years old with no director changes — suggests a very tight-knit founder team never broadened.

Succession & seller-readiness

41/100
Moderate signal

Some succession indicators present. Worth watching; approach if sector/strategy fits.

SIGNALS
  • secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
  • 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

2 active beneficial owners
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr Andrew Howard Smyth
Individual · British · DOB 10/1970 · age 56
2550%
25-50% shares06/04/2016
Mr Jakob Aaron Houtman
Individual · British · DOB 07/1983 · age 43
2550%
25-50% shares06/04/2016

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

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Peers ranked by estimated value, then turnover, then opportunity score.See all →
🔒Tailored diligence questions

6 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
Incorporated2015-02-11
Jurisdictionnorthern-ireland
Primary SIC43991 — Scaffold erection

Registered office

26 Sanda Road
Whitehouse
Newtownabbey
Antrim
BT37 9UB
Northern Ireland

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-12-31
Last made up to: 2025-03-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-02-25
Last: 2026-02-11

Officers (2 active · 0 resigned)

HOUTMAN, Jakob Aaron
director · ~43y · appointed 2015-02-11
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
SMYTH, Andrew Howard
director · ~56y · appointed 2015-02-11
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active

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

Mortgages & charges

1
Total charges
1
Outstanding
1
Active lenders
Status:Lender:1 of 1 shown
TypeProperties
outstanding
Northern Bank
Northern Bank Limited
A registered charge1 property05/06/2015
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (29 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-05-08
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-12-23
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-03-19
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-12-23
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-04-10
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-12-22
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-03-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-03-27
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-05-29
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-03-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-05-21
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-03-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-02-25
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-01-03
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2019-02-24