DEALFINDER LIMITED

🌳Matureactive
SC075226 · ltd · incorporated 1981-06-12
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 Aug 2025
Net worth
£56.4k
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 45112
Sector: Wholesale & retail
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 71-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 71). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Cash flow review and working-capital discipline. Cash down -52% YoY — forensic review of receivables, stock turns, and creditor days. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

2 live charges · oldest 38.6y

45/100
under pressure

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

  • · Oldest live charge is 38.6 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
  • · Cashflow trend is negative — lender view likely cautious.

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
2 charges (2/2 with lender, 2/2 with type)
90
Directors & officers
5 officers (3 active, 5 linked, 3 with DOB)
82
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
99 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
82/100Exceptional
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
100
Good data coverage for analysis.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · FRS 102
Positive net assets
Net assets £56,405
Cash draining
Cash down 52% YoY
Cash YoY
-52%
Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
£2k
↓ 52% YoY
Net Worth
£56k
↑ 4.1% YoY
Current Assets
£8k
↓ 18% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
£0£11k£23k£34k£45k£56kAug 2024Aug 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102
Metric2025-08-312024-08-31
Total assets£56.4k£54.2k
Current assets£7.8k£9.5k
Cash£1.5k£3.2k
Net assets£56.4k£54.2k

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 (23 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-10-22
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2025-06-23
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  3. 2025-06-23
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  4. 2025-02-10
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  5. 2023-10-25
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  6. 2022-11-10
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  7. 2021-11-04
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  8. 2020-12-08
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  9. 2019-11-19
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  10. 2019-04-09
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  11. 2018-10-18
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  12. 2018-03-14
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  13. 2016-11-10
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  14. 2016-03-17
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  15. 2016-01-11
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  16. 2007-11-17
    ➕
    CARLIN, Shona appointed
    director
  17. 2007-11-17
    ➖
    CARLIN, Edward Tosh resigned
    director
  18. 1995-02-20
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #1
  19. 1990-11-01
    ➕
    CARLIN, Edward Tosh appointed
    secretary
  20. 1990-11-01
    ➖
    CARLIN, Scott resigned
    secretary
  21. 1989-01-26
    🔒
    Charge registered #2
    Lender: The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
  22. 1987-10-16
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
  23. 1981-06-12
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As DEALFINDER LIMITED

Owner dependency

83/100
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
  • +Two-director setup: Only two active directors — typical of owner-managed SMEs but limits succession.
  • +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 18 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 71 — succession pressure is live.

Succession & seller-readiness

89/100
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 71 years old. Natural succession window is now.
  • secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
  • secondary12+ year tenure: Director in role 18 years.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 45 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
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mrs Shona Carlin
Individual · British · DOB 08/1963 · age 63
50–75%
—50-75% 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

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
Incorporated1981-06-12
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC45112 — SIC 45112

Registered office

Unit 33a Arklay Street
Dundee
DD3 7PP
Scotland

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2027-05-31
Last made up to: 2025-08-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-01-11
Last: 2025-12-28

Officers (3 active · 2 resigned)

CARLIN, Edward Tosh→
secretary · appointed 1990-11-01
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
CARLIN, Shona→
director · ~63y · appointed 2007-11-17
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
CLEGHORN, Martin→
director · ~71y
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
CARLIN, Scott→
secretary · resigned 1990-11-01
Resigned
CARLIN, Edward Tosh→
director · ~80y · resigned 2007-11-17
Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

2
Total charges
1
Outstanding
1
Active lenders
Status:Lender:2 of 2 shown
TypeProperties
outstanding
Lloyds Banking Group
The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
Standard security2 properties26/01/1989—
satisfied
Lloyds Banking Group
The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
Bond & floating charge1 property16/10/198720/02/1995
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (99 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-01-05
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-10-22
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2025-06-23
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2025-06-23
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-02-10
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-01-03
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-12-28
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-10-25
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-12-28
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-11-10
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-01-10
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-11-04
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-02-15
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-12-08
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-01-13