KSL TRADING AND MARKETING LIMITED

💤Zombieactive

SC159770 · ltd · incorporated 1995-08-14

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 Mar 2025

Net worth

£29.6k

book net assets

Opportunity

82/100

Exceptional

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What this business does

Primary activity: Other retail sale not in stores, stalls or markets

Sector: Wholesale & retail

Investor take

Pursue

Active trading company with a 64-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (70/100, director aged 64). 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 (73/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

2 live charges · 2 lenders · oldest 30.2y

30/100

under pressure

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

· Oldest live charge is 30.2 years old — likely at or near maturity.
· Two lenders — manageable, but coordination required.
· Distress signals active — lender appetite narrows.

Data confidence

Overall: medium (76/100)

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

Lenders & charges

2 charges (2/2 with lender, 2/2 with type)

Directors & officers

5 officers (2 active, 5 linked, 2 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared

Director network

Network not yet resolved

Filing history

89 filings on record

Gazette notices

No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)

Opportunity Score

82/100Exceptional

PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional

Strong composite across quality, acquirability, and risk. High-priority target — progress to serious diligence.

Business quality

Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.

Acquirability

Strong succession / seller-readiness signals.

Risk profile

Few red flags.

Signal strength

100

Good data coverage for analysis.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · FRS 105 (micro)

Positive net assets

Net assets £29,617

Net assets shrinking

Down £8,397 YoY

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts

Cash

—

Net Worth

£30k

↓ 22% YoY

Current Assets

£42k

↓ 60% YoY

Current Liabilities

—

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 105 (micro)

Metric	2025-03-31	2024-03-31
Total assets	£29.6k	£38.0k
Current assets	£42.0k	£104.5k
Net assets	£29.6k	£38.0k

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

filings

Last 90 days

filings

Last 180 days

filings

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (26 events)Click to expand

2025-10-16
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-10-31
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-10-18
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accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-10-26
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-12-01
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-08-18
📄
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2021-08-18
📄
change-person-secretary-company-with-change-date
officers · CH03
2021-08-18
📄
change-person-secretary-company-with-change-date
officers · CH03
2021-08-18
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2021-08-18
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2021-08-18
📄
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2020-08-17
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2019-11-12
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2018-07-17
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2017-07-17
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2005-07-01
➕
ARBUCKLE, Mark appointed
secretary
2005-07-01
➖
HBJ SECRETARIAL LIMITED resigned
corporate-secretary
1998-07-28
🔒
Charge registered #2
Lender: Midland Bank PLC
1997-08-22
➖
MULVANEY, Gary resigned
director
1996-02-29
🔒
Charge registered #1
Lender: Griffin Factors Limited
1996-01-11
➕
MULVANEY, Gary appointed
director
1995-08-30
➕
SPARKES, Karen appointed
director
1995-08-30
➖
HENDERSON BOYD JACKSON LIMITED resigned
corporate-director
1995-08-14
🏢
Company incorporated
As KSL TRADING AND MARKETING LIMITED
1995-08-14
➕
HBJ SECRETARIAL LIMITED appointed
corporate-secretary
1995-08-14
➕
HENDERSON BOYD JACKSON LIMITED appointed
corporate-director

Owner dependency

93/100

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.
+Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 31 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
+Senior director age: Director aged approximately 64 — approaching natural succession window.

Succession & seller-readiness

95/100

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 64. Approaching typical UK retirement age — succession thinking likely.
primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 31 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 31 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

Name	Shares	Voting rights	Nature of control	Notified
Mrs Karen Sparkes Individual · British · DOB 10/1962 · age 64	25–50%	25–50%	board control25-50% shares · 25-50% voting · board control	14/08/2016

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

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

Incorporated1995-08-14

Jurisdictionscotland

Primary SIC47990 — Other retail sale not in stores, stalls or markets

Registered office

91 Alexander Street

Airdrie

North Lanarkshire

ML6 0BD

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2026-12-31

Last made up to: 2025-03-31

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2026-08-28

Last: 2025-08-14

Officers (2 active · 3 resigned)

ARBUCKLE, Mark→

secretary · appointed 2005-07-01

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

SPARKES, Karen→

director · ~64y · appointed 1995-08-30

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

HBJ SECRETARIAL LIMITED→

corporate-secretary · appointed 1995-08-14 · resigned 2005-07-01

Resigned

MULVANEY, Gary→

director · ~58y · appointed 1996-01-11 · resigned 1997-08-22

Resigned

HENDERSON BOYD JACKSON LIMITED→

corporate-director · appointed 1995-08-14 · resigned 1995-08-30

Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

Total charges

Outstanding

Active lenders

Status:Lender:2 of 2 shown

			Type	Properties
	outstanding	Midland Bank Midland Bank PLC	Floating charge	1 property	28/07/1998	—
	outstanding	Griffin Factors Griffin Factors Limited	Floating charge	1 property	29/02/1996	—

Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.