EARN DESIGN SERVICES LIMITED

💤Zombieactive
SC095871 · ltd · incorporated 1985-11-07
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.
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Dec 2024
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
78/100
Strong
🔔
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What this business does
Primary activity: Development of building projects
Sector: Construction
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 74-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 78/100 (strong), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (68/100, director aged 74). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Broaden director team. Sole director creates succession risk and reduces buyer comfort. Appoint a second director or strong #2. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (73/100).

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
Confirmed no charges registered
85
Directors & officers
6 officers (1 active, 6 linked, 2 with DOB)
77
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
2 connected companies via shared directors
51
Filing history
98 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
78/100Strong
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
90
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£0Dec 2023Dec 2024

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2024-12-312023-12-31
Average employees100100

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

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. 2025-08-01
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-08-07
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  3. 2024-01-03
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  4. 2023-07-20
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  5. 2023-02-02
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  6. 2022-05-03
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  7. 2021-03-15
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  8. 2020-06-02
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  9. 2019-04-17
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  10. 2018-03-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  11. 2017-02-06
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  12. 2016-05-06
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  13. 2016-01-11
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  14. 2015-01-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  15. 2015-01-06
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  16. 2012-02-06
    ➖
    UPTON, Christine resigned
    secretary
  17. 2012-02-06
    ➖
    UPTON, Christine resigned
    director
  18. 1991-12-11
    ➕
    UPTON, Christine appointed
    secretary
  19. 1991-12-11
    ➖
    UPTON, Isobel Margaret resigned
    secretary
  20. 1991-12-11
    ➕
    UPTON, Christine appointed
    director
  21. 1991-12-11
    ➖
    UPTON, Edward Julian resigned
    director
  22. 1991-12-11
    ➖
    UPTON, Isobel Margaret resigned
    director
  23. 1985-11-07
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As EARN DESIGN SERVICES 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 74 — 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 74 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 40 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 Edward Michael Upton
Individual · British · DOB 04/1952 · age 74
75–100%
—75-100% shares06/04/2016

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

🔒Co-director network graph

Radial SVG graph showing every company connected via shared directors, colour-coded by status.

Available from the Pro tier upwards.

See pricing →

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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
Incorporated1985-11-07
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC41100 — Development of building projects

Registered office

Unit 3, Old Mill Park Old Mill Park
Bridge Of Earn
Perth
PH2 9SX
Scotland

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-09-30
Last made up to: 2024-12-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-01-11
Last: 2025-12-28

Officers (1 active · 5 resigned)

UPTON, Edward Michael→
director · ~74y
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
UPTON, Christine→
secretary · appointed 1991-12-11 · resigned 2012-02-06
Resigned
UPTON, Isobel Margaret→
secretary · resigned 1991-12-11
Resigned
UPTON, Christine→
director · ~73y · appointed 1991-12-11 · resigned 2012-02-06
Resigned
UPTON, Edward Julian→
director · resigned 1991-12-11
Resigned
UPTON, Isobel Margaret→
director · resigned 1991-12-11
Resigned

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

Recent filings (98 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-01-01
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-08-01
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-01-04
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-08-07
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-01-03
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2024-01-03
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-07-20
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2023-02-02
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-12-29
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-05-03
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-01-10
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-03-15
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-01-09
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2020-06-02
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-12-28