ORKNEY SCIENCE FESTIVAL

🌳Matureactive
SC133038 · private-limited-guarant-nsc-limited-exemption · incorporated 1991-07-24
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 29.4y old — refinance window within 12 months
🔒Estimated value
Upgrade to see
Turnover
year to Mar 2025
Net worth
£13.4k
book net assets
Opportunity
83/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: Other education n.e.c.
Sector: Education
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 84-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 83/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (63/100, director aged 84). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Discharge stale live charges. 1 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

1 live charge · oldest 29.4y

65/100
clean up first

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

  • · Oldest live charge is 29.4 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: medium (72/100)

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
1 charges (1/1 with lender, 1/1 with type)
90
Directors & officers
13 officers (10 active, 13 linked, 12 with DOB)
88
Ownership & PSC
No PSCs filed (unusual — worth investigating)
35
Director network
2 connected companies via shared directors
51
Filing history
84 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
83/100Exceptional
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
85
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 £13,373
Cash YoY
-1%
Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
£11k
~ YoY
Net Worth
£13k
↑ 15% YoY
Current Assets
£20k
↑ 12% YoY
Current Liabilities
£0£4k£8k£12k£16k£20kMar 2024Mar 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2025-03-312024-03-31
Total assets£13.4k£11.6k
Current assets£20.3k£18.1k
Cash£10.9k£11.0k
Debtors£9.4k£7.2k
Net assets£13.4k£11.6k

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 accounts
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (33 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-12-19
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-12-12
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  3. 2023-12-11
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  4. 2022-12-20
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  5. 2021-12-13
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  6. 2021-02-25
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  7. 2020-06-08
    📄
    appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
    officers · AP01
  8. 2020-05-30
    LEITH, John Leask appointed
    director
  9. 2019-12-20
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  10. 2018-12-06
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  11. 2018-04-27
    📄
    appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
    officers · AP01
  12. 2018-04-27
    📄
    appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
    officers · AP01
  13. 2018-04-19
    BEWS, Irene appointed
    director
  14. 2018-04-19
    MACKIE, Joan Harcus appointed
    director
  15. 2017-12-14
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  16. 2016-12-20
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  17. 2016-01-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  18. 2015-08-19
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-no-member-list
    annual-return · AR01
  19. 2013-06-05
    SCOTT, Eoin Flett resigned
    director
  20. 2013-04-06
    BROWN, Phyllis Work appointed
    director
  21. 2011-10-28
    ANNAL, William Andrew appointed
    director
  22. 2011-10-28
    BICHAN, Graham Frank Matches appointed
    director
  23. 2008-09-03
    DREVER, Michael James Flett resigned
    director
  24. 1996-12-09
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: Clydesdale Bank Public Limited Company
  25. 1992-11-18
    FLETT, Roy John resigned
    director
  26. 1991-07-24
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As ORKNEY SCIENCE FESTIVAL
  27. 1991-07-24
    FIRTH, Howard Nicol appointed
    secretary
  28. 1991-07-24
    FIRTH, Howard Nicol appointed
    director
  29. 1991-07-24
    GOURLAY, Joshua John Omand Anderson appointed
    director
  30. 1991-07-24
    WILSON, Bryce Sutherland appointed
    director
  31. 1991-07-24
    DREVER, Michael James Flett appointed
    director
  32. 1991-07-24
    FLETT, Roy John appointed
    director
  33. 1991-07-24
    SCOTT, Eoin Flett appointed
    director

Owner dependency

65/100
High — earn-out structure required

Material founder dependency. Consider a 2-3 year earn-out and build in a handover plan before completion.

FACTORS
  • -9 active directors: Broader management team in place — suggests transferable governance.
  • +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 35 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 84 — succession pressure is live.

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 84 years old. Natural succession window is now.
  • primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 35 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 35 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.)
🔒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
Typeprivate-limited-guarant-nsc-limited-exemption
Incorporated1991-07-24
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC85590 — Other education n.e.c.

Registered office

Oakbank, 1 Linksfield Court
Elgin
Moray
IV30 5JB

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-12-31
Last made up to: 2025-03-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-08-07
Last: 2025-07-24

Officers (10 active · 3 resigned)

FIRTH, Howard Nicol
secretary · appointed 1991-07-24
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
ANNAL, William Andrew
director · ~41y · appointed 2011-10-28
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
BEWS, Irene
director · ~45y · appointed 2018-04-19
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
BICHAN, Graham Frank Matches
director · ~50y · appointed 2011-10-28
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
BROWN, Phyllis Work
director · ~80y · appointed 2013-04-06
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
FIRTH, Howard Nicol
director · ~81y · appointed 1991-07-24
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
GOURLAY, Joshua John Omand Anderson
director · ~76y · appointed 1991-07-24
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
LEITH, John Leask
director · ~64y · appointed 2020-05-30
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
MACKIE, Joan Harcus
director · ~72y · appointed 2018-04-19
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
WILSON, Bryce Sutherland
director · ~84y · appointed 1991-07-24
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
DREVER, Michael James Flett
director · ~85y · appointed 1991-07-24 · resigned 2008-09-03
Resigned
FLETT, Roy John
director · ~61y · appointed 1991-07-24 · resigned 1992-11-18
Resigned
SCOTT, Eoin Flett
director · ~84y · appointed 1991-07-24 · resigned 2013-06-05
Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

1
Total charges
1
Outstanding
1
Active lenders
Status:Lender:1 of 1 shown
TypeProperties
outstanding
Virgin Money
Clydesdale Bank Public Limited Company
Floating charge1 property09/12/1996
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (84 total)

accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-12-19
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-07-24
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-12-12
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-08-08
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-12-11
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-07-29
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-12-20
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-08-23
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-12-13
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-08-10
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-02-25
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-07-24
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2020-06-08
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-12-20
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-07-24