INSPECTAHIRE INSTRUMENT CO. LIMITED

🌳Matureactive
SC040040 · ltd · incorporated 1964-03-13
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
hardening · 12-months
Already tight — no obvious softening catalysts on the horizon.
  • · Thesis: well-run, low negotiation leverage
🔒Estimated value
—
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Turnover
—
year to Jan 2025
Net worth
£3.07M
book net assets
Opportunity
81/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: Other professional, scientific and technical activities n.e.c.
Sector: Professional, scientific & technical
Investor take
Pursue
Asset-holding vehicle with a 64-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 81/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (70/100, director aged 64). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (73/100).

Data confidence

Overall: medium (77/100)

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
5 officers (2 active, 5 linked, 4 with DOB)
86
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
102 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
81/100Exceptional
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
85
Strong succession / seller-readiness signals.
Risk profile
85
Few red flags.
Signal strength
90
Good data coverage for analysis.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · accounting standard not declared
Positive net assets
Net assets £3,065,738
Cash YoY
+4%
Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
£1.6m
↑ 4.0% YoY
Net Worth
£3.1m
↑ 3.9% YoY
Current Assets
£2.5m
↑ 11% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
£0£613k£1.2m£1.8m£2.5m£3.1mJan 2024Jan 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2025-01-312024-01-31
Total assets£3.08M£2.97M
Current assets£2.49M£2.25M
Cash£1.62M£1.56M
Debtors£859.0k£668.8k
Net assets£3.07M£2.95M

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 confirmation-statement
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (20 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-10-21
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-10-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  3. 2023-10-12
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  4. 2023-10-11
    ➖
    FORRESTER, Catriona resigned
    secretary
  5. 2023-10-11
    ➖
    FORRESTER, Catriona resigned
    director
  6. 2023-10-11
    📄
    termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM01
  7. 2023-10-11
    📄
    termination-secretary-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM02
  8. 2022-10-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  9. 2021-09-22
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  10. 2021-08-24
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  11. 2020-09-16
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  12. 2019-10-18
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  13. 2019-09-03
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  14. 2018-10-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  15. 2017-10-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  16. 2017-08-01
    📄
    termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM01
  17. 2016-12-25
    ➖
    FORRESTER, Charles Gordon resigned
    director
  18. 2004-12-09
    ➕
    RENNIE, John Charles Alexander appointed
    director
  19. 2001-04-06
    ➕
    FORRESTER, Cailean appointed
    director
  20. 1964-03-13
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As INSPECTAHIRE INSTRUMENT CO. LIMITED

Owner dependency

76/100
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.
  • +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 25 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Senior director age: Director aged approximately 64 — approaching natural succession window.

Succession & seller-readiness

86/100
Likely off-market candidate

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

SIGNALS
  • primaryFounder aged 63+: Senior director is approximately 64. Approaching typical UK retirement age — succession thinking likely.
  • secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
  • primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 25 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 62 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 Cailean Forrester
Individual · British · DOB 10/1962 · age 64
75–100%
75–100%75-100% shares · 75-100% voting06/04/2016
1 historic (ceased) PSC
  • Mr Charles Gordon Forresterceased 25/12/2016· 25-50% shares · 25-50% voting

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.

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Company details

Statusactive
Typeltd
Incorporated1964-03-13
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC74909 — Other professional, scientific and technical activities n.e.c.

Registered office

1 Ferniegair Avenue
Helensburgh
G84 8HB

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-10-31
Last made up to: 2025-01-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-02-18
Last: 2026-02-04

Officers (2 active · 3 resigned)

FORRESTER, Cailean→
director · ~64y · appointed 2001-04-06
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
RENNIE, John Charles Alexander→
director · ~62y · appointed 2004-12-09
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
FORRESTER, Catriona→
secretary · resigned 2023-10-11
Resigned
FORRESTER, Catriona→
director · ~95y · resigned 2023-10-11
Resigned
FORRESTER, Charles Gordon→
director · ~100y · resigned 2016-12-25
Resigned

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

Recent filings (102 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-02-19
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-10-21
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-02-13
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-10-29
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-02-15
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-10-12
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2023-10-11
termination-secretary-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM02
2023-10-11
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-02-16
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-10-26
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-02-10
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-09-22
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2021-08-24
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-02-04
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-09-16