SCHOOLHILL HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING COMPANY LIMITED

💤Zombieactive
SC077775 · ltd · incorporated 1982-03-08
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.
Why now
Window steady · low confidence
Steady and stalled — no momentum either way. Needs an approach trigger.
What changed my view
Last 30 days

No material changes in the last 30 days.

Last 90 days

No snapshot from 90 days ago — start tracking from today.

Last 180 days

No snapshot from 180 days ago — start tracking from today.

🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Oct 2024
Net worth
£940.1k
book net assets
Opportunity
79/100
Strong
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What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 28990
Sector: Manufacturing
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 76-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 79/100 (strong), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (68/100, director aged 76). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Cash flow review and working-capital discipline. Cash down -55% YoY — forensic review of receivables, stock turns, and creditor days. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (73/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

2 live charges · 2 lenders · oldest 22.6y

30/100
under pressure

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

  • · Oldest live charge is 22.6 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Two lenders — manageable, but coordination required.
  • · Distress signals active — lender appetite narrows.

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
4 officers (1 active, 4 linked, 2 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
95 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
79/100Strong
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional 

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

Business quality
70
Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.
Acquirability
70
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 · accounting standard not declared
Positive net assets
Net assets £940,061
Cash draining
Cash down 55% YoY
Cash YoY
-55%
Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
£5k
↓ 55% YoY
Net Worth
£940k
↑ 8.5% YoY
Current Assets
—
Current Liabilities
—
£0£188k£376k£564k£752k£940kOct 2023Oct 2024

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2024-10-312023-10-31
Cash£4.7k£10.3k
Net assets£940.1k£866.6k

Amounts extracted automatically from iXBRL. Fields left blank were not reported or not mapped. Values in GBP unless stated.

🔒Filing-note intelligence

3 signals 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
1
filing
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (21 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-06-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-07-11
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  3. 2023-07-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  4. 2022-05-25
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  5. 2022-05-18
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  6. 2021-07-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  7. 2020-07-20
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  8. 2019-07-25
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  9. 2018-07-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  10. 2017-06-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  11. 2017-04-15
    📄
    mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
    mortgage · MR04
  12. 2017-04-15
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #1
  13. 2017-03-17
    📄
    mortgage-create-with-deed-with-charge-number-charge-creation-date
    mortgage · MR01
  14. 2017-03-16
    🔒
    Charge registered #2
    Lender: Clydesdale Bank PLC (Trading as Both Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank) (Company Number SC001111)
  15. 2016-07-19
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  16. 2015-11-10
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  17. 2012-02-24
    ➖
    WHYTE, Jean resigned
    director
  18. 2008-11-30
    ➖
    WHYTE, Jean resigned
    secretary
  19. 2003-12-29
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
  20. 1990-12-31
    ➖
    WHYTE, Robert Norris resigned
    director
  21. 1982-03-08
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As SCHOOLHILL HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING COMPANY LIMITED

Owner dependency

90/100
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 age: Director aged approximately 76 — succession pressure is live.

Succession & seller-readiness

85/100
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 76 years old. Natural succession window is now.
  • primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 44 years old and no new directors in the last 3 years — succession not yet being planned internally.

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 Ronald Norris Whyte
Individual · British · DOB 06/1950 · age 76
75–100%
75–100%board control75-100% shares · 75-100% voting · board control06/04/2016

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

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——023y8370y
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
Incorporated1982-03-08
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC28990 — SIC 28990

Registered office

4 Greenbank Place
Tullos
Aberdeen
AB12 3RJ

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-07-31
Last made up to: 2024-10-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-07-14
Last: 2026-06-30

Officers (1 active · 3 resigned)

WHYTE, Ronald Norris→
director · ~76y
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
WHYTE, Jean→
secretary · resigned 2008-11-30
Resigned
WHYTE, Jean→
director · ~101y · resigned 2012-02-24
Resigned
WHYTE, Robert Norris→
director · resigned 1990-12-31
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
Virgin Money
Clydesdale Bank PLC (Trading as Both Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank) (Company Number SC001111)
A registered charge—16/03/2017—
satisfied
Lloyds Banking Group
The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
Bond & floating charge1 property29/12/200315/04/2017
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (95 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-07-07
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-07-03
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-06-23
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-07-11
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-07-01
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-07-31
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-07-11
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-07-12
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2022-05-25
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2022-05-18
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2021-07-31
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-07-14
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2020-07-20
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-07-14
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2019-07-25