SEAWARD MARINE ENGINEERING COMPANY (ABERDEEN) LIMITED

🌳Matureactive
SC119642 · ltd · incorporated 1989-08-21
Investment thesis
Established operating company — standard diligence applies, no dominant angle.
Why interesting: Live, filing, normal profile.
Why risky: No standout signals in either direction.
Opportunity decay
approaching window · 12-months
Approaching a transaction window — refinance or sale event plausible in the next 12 months.
  • · Oldest live charge 36.2y old — refinance window within 12 months
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Aug 2025
Net worth
£754.3k
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: Other transportation support activities
Sector: Transportation & storage
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 83-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (63/100, director aged 83). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Discharge stale live charges. 2 live charge(s) created 15+ years ago — likely paid but undischarged. Clean register. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

2 live charges · oldest 36.2y

65/100
clean up first

Refinance viable after a tidy-up — address the highlighted items first.

  • · Oldest live charge is 36.2 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
  • · Legal-friction score 25/100 — workable, but lender will want more DD.

Data confidence

Overall: high (80/100)

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

Company profile
address, 1 SIC codes, incorporation date
100
Financials
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
8 officers (3 active, 8 linked, 5 with DOB)
83
Ownership & PSC
2 active PSC(s) of 3 total, 3 with control declared
90
Director network
3 connected companies via shared directors
54
Filing history
115 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 £754,321
Cash YoY
+19%
Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
£340k
↑ 19% YoY
Net Worth
£754k
↑ 17% YoY
Current Assets
—
Current Liabilities
—
£0£151k£302k£453k£603k£754kAug 2024Aug 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2025-08-312024-08-31
Cash£340.4k£287.0k
Net assets£754.3k£643.2k

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
0
filings
Last 90 days
1
filing
  • • 1 accounts
Last 180 days
1
filing
  • • 1 accounts
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (33 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-03-02
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2025-02-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  3. 2024-04-08
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  4. 2023-07-12
    📄
    termination-secretary-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM02
  5. 2023-06-02
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  6. 2022-08-03
    ➖
    STRONACHS SECRETARIES LIMITED resigned
    corporate-secretary
  7. 2022-06-10
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  8. 2022-03-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  9. 2021-08-09
    📄
    change-account-reference-date-company-current-extended
    accounts · AA01
  10. 2021-04-09
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  11. 2020-06-18
    📄
    cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
  12. 2020-06-10
    📄
    notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
  13. 2020-06-10
    📄
    notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
  14. 2020-01-08
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  15. 2019-01-07
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  16. 2018-02-12
    📄
    change-corporate-secretary-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH04
  17. 2018-01-07
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  18. 2017-10-17
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  19. 2011-08-20
    ➖
    MURRAY, Graeme Alexander resigned
    director
  20. 2010-07-20
    ➖
    LEES, Norma Mckenzie resigned
    director
  21. 2010-07-20
    ➕
    MURRAY, Graeme Alexander appointed
    director
  22. 2008-05-07
    ➖
    STRONACHS resigned
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  23. 2008-05-07
    ➕
    STRONACHS SECRETARIES LIMITED appointed
    corporate-secretary
  24. 2008-04-04
    ➕
    LEES, Ian appointed
    director
  25. 2006-12-14
    🔒
    Charge registered #2
    Lender: The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland
  26. 1992-08-21
    ➕
    LEES, Gary appointed
    director
  27. 1992-08-21
    ➕
    LEES, Mervyn Terence appointed
    director
  28. 1992-08-07
    ➖
    ROBERTSON, James Matheson resigned
    nominee-director
  29. 1991-03-14
    ➕
    LEES, Norma Mckenzie appointed
    director
  30. 1990-02-20
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland
  31. 1989-08-21
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As SEAWARD MARINE ENGINEERING COMPANY (ABERDEEN) LIMITED
  32. 1989-08-21
    ➕
    STRONACHS appointed
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  33. 1989-08-21
    ➕
    ROBERTSON, James Matheson appointed
    nominee-director

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
  • +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 34 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 83 — succession pressure is live.
  • +Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

Succession & seller-readiness

90/100
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 83 years old. Natural succession window is now.
  • primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 34 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 37 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

2 active beneficial owners
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr Gary Lees
Individual · British · DOB 08/1968 · age 58
25–50%
25–50%25-50% shares · 25-50% voting14/05/2020
Mr Ian Lees
Individual · British · DOB 03/1970 · age 56
25–50%
25–50%25-50% shares · 25-50% voting14/05/2020
1 historic (ceased) PSC
  • Mr Mervyn Terence Leesceased 14/05/2020· 50-75% shares · 50-75% voting

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

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
Incorporated1989-08-21
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC52290 — Other transportation support activities

Registered office

Marine Base
Crombie Road
Aberdeen
AB11 9QQ
Scotland

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2027-05-31
Last made up to: 2025-08-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-07-07
Last: 2025-06-23

Officers (3 active · 5 resigned)

LEES, Gary→
director · ~58y · appointed 1992-08-21
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
LEES, Ian→
director · ~56y · appointed 2008-04-04
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
LEES, Mervyn Terence→
director · ~83y · appointed 1992-08-21
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
STRONACHS→
corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 1989-08-21 · resigned 2008-05-07
Resigned
STRONACHS SECRETARIES LIMITED→
corporate-secretary · appointed 2008-05-07 · resigned 2022-08-03
Resigned
LEES, Norma Mckenzie→
director · ~82y · appointed 1991-03-14 · resigned 2010-07-20
Resigned
MURRAY, Graeme Alexander→
director · ~70y · appointed 2010-07-20 · resigned 2011-08-20
Resigned
ROBERTSON, James Matheson→
nominee-director · appointed 1989-08-21 · resigned 1992-08-07
Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

2
Total charges
2
Outstanding
1
Active lenders
Status:Lender:2 of 2 shown
TypeProperties
outstanding
Lloyds Banking Group
The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland
Standard security1 property14/12/2006—
outstanding
Lloyds Banking Group
The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland
Standard security1 property20/02/1990—
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (115 total)

accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2026-03-02
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-06-23
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-02-28
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-07-03
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-04-08
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-08-07
termination-secretary-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM02
2023-07-12
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-06-02
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-07-01
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2022-06-10
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-03-29
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-09-01
change-account-reference-date-company-current-extended
accounts · AA01
2021-08-09
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-04-09
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-08-25