OILFIELD CHEMICAL ADDITIVES LIMITED

💤Zombieactive
SC165229 · ltd · incorporated 1996-04-26
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 Apr 2025
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 20590
Sector: Manufacturing
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 70-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 70). 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 (73/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

2 live charges · oldest 26.9y

45/100
under pressure

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

  • · Oldest live charge is 26.9 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
  • · Distress signals active — lender appetite narrows.

Data confidence

Overall: medium (79/100)

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
2 charges (2/2 with lender, 2/2 with type)
90
Directors & officers
5 officers (1 active, 5 linked, 2 with DOB)
78
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
3 connected companies via shared directors
54
Filing history
80 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.

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
—
Net Worth
—
Current Assets
—
Current Liabilities
—
£0£0£0£0£0£0Apr 2024Apr 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2025-04-302024-04-30

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

Recent activity

Last 30 days
1
filing
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
Last 90 days
1
filing
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
Last 180 days
4
filings
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
  • • 1 accounts
  • • 1 persons-with-significant-control
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (28 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-01-05
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  2. 2025-11-18
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  3. 2025-11-17
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  4. 2025-02-20
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  5. 2024-01-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  6. 2023-01-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  7. 2022-01-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  8. 2021-04-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  9. 2020-02-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  10. 2020-01-17
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  11. 2019-01-22
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  12. 2018-11-28
    📄
    termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM01
  13. 2018-11-28
    📄
    termination-secretary-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM02
  14. 2018-11-27
    ➖
    WILSON, Joanne Elizabeth resigned
    secretary
  15. 2018-11-27
    ➖
    WILSON, Joanne Elizabeth resigned
    director
  16. 2018-04-11
    📄
    change-account-reference-date-company-current-extended
    accounts · AA01
  17. 2017-07-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  18. 2015-01-16
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #2
  19. 2013-06-13
    🔒
    Charge registered #2
    Lender: The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
  20. 1999-06-11
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
  21. 1996-05-09
    ➕
    BRANKLING, David appointed
    director
  22. 1996-05-09
    ➕
    WILSON, Joanne Elizabeth appointed
    secretary
  23. 1996-05-09
    ➖
    OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED resigned
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  24. 1996-05-09
    ➕
    WILSON, Joanne Elizabeth appointed
    director
  25. 1996-05-09
    ➖
    JORDANS (SCOTLAND) LIMITED resigned
    corporate-nominee-director
  26. 1996-04-26
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As OILFIELD CHEMICAL ADDITIVES LIMITED
  27. 1996-04-26
    ➕
    OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED appointed
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  28. 1996-04-26
    ➕
    JORDANS (SCOTLAND) LIMITED appointed
    corporate-nominee-director

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
  • +Sole director: Only one active director — all governance concentrated on one person.
  • +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 30 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 70 — succession pressure is live.

Succession & seller-readiness

100/100
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 70 years old. Natural succession window is now.
  • primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
  • primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 30 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 30 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 · dominant holder ≥75%
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr David Brankling
Individual · British · DOB 08/1956 · age 70
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
Incorporated1996-04-26
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC20590 — SIC 20590

Registered office

5 South Charlotte Street
South Charlotte Street
Edinburgh
EH2 4AN
Scotland

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2027-01-31
Last made up to: 2025-04-30
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-05-10
Last: 2026-04-26

Officers (1 active · 4 resigned)

BRANKLING, David→
director · ~70y · appointed 1996-05-09
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
WILSON, Joanne Elizabeth→
secretary · appointed 1996-05-09 · resigned 2018-11-27
Resigned
OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED→
corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 1996-04-26 · resigned 1996-05-09
Resigned
WILSON, Joanne Elizabeth→
director · ~62y · appointed 1996-05-09 · resigned 2018-11-27
Resigned
JORDANS (SCOTLAND) LIMITED→
corporate-nominee-director · appointed 1996-04-26 · resigned 1996-05-09
Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

2
Total charges
1
Outstanding
1
Active lenders
Status:Lender:2 of 2 shown
TypeProperties
satisfied
Lloyds Banking Group
The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
A registered charge1 property13/06/201316/01/2015
outstanding
Lloyds Banking Group
The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
Bond & floating charge1 property11/06/1999—
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (80 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-04-28
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2026-01-05
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2025-11-18
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2025-11-17
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-06-07
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2025-02-20
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-05-07
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-01-29
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-06-24
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-01-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-05-30
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-01-30
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-06-02
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-04-23
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-05-04