IAN MITCHELL ENGINEERING DESIGN LIMITED

🌳Matureactive
SC087064 · ltd · incorporated 1984-03-12
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.
Why now
Window opening · medium confidence
More negotiable than before — 1 signals weakening over the last 30 days.
  • · Refinance opportunity: clean_up_first → under_pressure
Opportunity decay
hardening · 12-months
Already tight — no obvious softening catalysts on the horizon.
  • · Thesis: well-run, low negotiation leverage
What changed my view
Last 30 days

Picture worsened over the last 30 days — 1 negative signal vs 0 positive.

  • ↓Refinance opportunity: clean_up_first → under_pressure
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 Aug 2025
Net worth
£102.5k
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: Engineering related scientific and technical consulting activities
Sector: Professional, scientific & technical
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 66-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 66). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Cash flow review and working-capital discipline. Cash down -56% YoY — forensic review of receivables, stock turns, and creditor days. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

3 live charges · oldest 19.7y

45/100
under pressure

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

  • · Oldest live charge is 19.7 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
  • · Cashflow trend is negative — lender view likely cautious.

Data confidence

Overall: high (83/100)

Strong data coverage across all sections. AI outputs should be trusted with minimal caveats.

Company profile
address, 1 SIC codes, incorporation date
100
Financials
3 years of iXBRL accounts extracted + narrative notes parsed
95
Lenders & charges
3 charges (3/3 with lender, 3/3 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
100 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 · accounting standard not declared
Positive net assets
Net assets £102,462
Net assets shrinking
Down £13,041 YoY
Cash draining
Cash down 56% YoY
Cash YoY
-56%
Year on year

Key financials

3 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
£4k
↓ 56% YoY
Net Worth
£102k
↓ 11% YoY
Current Assets
—
Current Liabilities
—
£0£25k£49k£74k£98k£123kAug 2023Aug 2024Aug 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2025-08-312024-08-312023-08-31
Total assets£102.5k£115.5k£122.9k
Cash£3.6k£8.1k£1.0k
Net assets£102.5k£115.5k£122.9k

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
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 (23 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-05-18
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2025-04-10
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  3. 2025-04-03
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  4. 2025-04-03
    📄
    change-person-secretary-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH03
  5. 2024-05-24
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  6. 2024-01-19
    📄
    administrative-restoration-company
    restoration · RT01
  7. 2023-10-03
    📄
    gazette-dissolved-compulsory
    gazette · GAZ2
  8. 2023-07-18
    📄
    gazette-notice-compulsory
    gazette · GAZ1
  9. 2023-05-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  10. 2022-05-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  11. 2021-05-18
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  12. 2020-05-21
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  13. 2019-05-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  14. 2018-05-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  15. 2017-05-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  16. 2007-09-25
    🔒
    Charge registered #3
    Lender: Clydesdale Bank Public Limited Company
  17. 2007-01-12
    🔒
    Charge registered #2
    Lender: Clydesdale Bank Public Limited Company
  18. 2006-11-07
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: Clydesdale Bank Public Limited Company
  19. 2006-09-01
    ➕
    MITCHELL, Dawn Elizabeth appointed
    director
  20. 1996-08-02
    ➕
    LAMONT, Ruth appointed
    secretary
  21. 1996-08-02
    ➖
    MITCHELL, Donna E J resigned
    secretary
  22. 1996-08-02
    ➖
    MITCHELL, Donna E J resigned
    director
  23. 1984-03-12
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As IAN MITCHELL ENGINEERING DESIGN LIMITED

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
  • +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 "MITCHELL" — strong identity link between founder and business.
  • +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 20 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 66 — succession pressure is live.
  • +Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

Succession & seller-readiness

79/100
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 66. Approaching typical UK retirement age — succession thinking likely.
  • secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
  • secondary12+ year tenure: Director in role 20 years.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 42 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
Mr Ian Mitchell
Individual · United Kingdom · DOB 03/1960 · age 66
25–50%
—25-50% shares24/04/2016

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

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
Incorporated1984-03-12
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC71122 — Engineering related scientific and technical consulting activities

Registered office

12 Hilton Place
Aberdeen
AB24 4QY
Scotland

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2027-05-31
Last made up to: 2025-08-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-04-30
Last: 2026-04-16

Officers (3 active · 2 resigned)

LAMONT, Ruth→
secretary · appointed 1996-08-02
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
MITCHELL, Dawn Elizabeth→
director · ~64y · appointed 2006-09-01
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
MITCHELL, Ian→
director · ~66y
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
MITCHELL, Donna E J→
secretary · resigned 1996-08-02
Resigned
MITCHELL, Donna E J→
director · ~62y · resigned 1996-08-02
Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

3
Total charges
3
Outstanding
1
Active lenders
Status:Lender:3 of 3 shown
TypeProperties
outstanding
Virgin Money
Clydesdale Bank Public Limited Company
Standard security1 property25/09/2007—
outstanding
Virgin Money
Clydesdale Bank Public Limited Company
Standard security1 property12/01/2007—
outstanding
Virgin Money
Clydesdale Bank Public Limited Company
Floating charge1 property07/11/2006—
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (100 total)

accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2026-05-18
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-04-22
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-04-20
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-04-10
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2025-04-03
change-person-secretary-company-with-change-date
officers · CH03
2025-04-03
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-05-24
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-04-16
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-01-19
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-01-19
administrative-restoration-company
restoration · RT01
2024-01-19
gazette-dissolved-compulsory
gazette · GAZ2
2023-10-03
gazette-notice-compulsory
gazette · GAZ1
2023-07-18
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-05-26
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-05-27