DNL ENGINEERING LIMITED

🌳Matureactive

SC167317 · ltd · incorporated 1996-07-29

Investment thesis

Well-run mature business — low negotiation leverage; premium likely.

Why interesting: Textbook target; clean filings, stable trading.

Why risky: No pressure on seller; any deal likely at full price.

Opportunity decay

hardening · 12-months

Already tight — no obvious softening catalysts on the horizon.

· Thesis: well-run, low negotiation leverage

🔒Estimated value

—

Upgrade to see

Turnover

—

year to Aug 2025

Net worth

£19.7k

book net assets

Opportunity

80/100

Exceptional

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What this business does

Primary activity: Engineering related scientific and technical consulting activities

Sector: Professional, scientific & technical

Investor take

Pursue

Asset-holding vehicle with a 60-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 80/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (70/100, director aged 60). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

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

Lenders & charges

Confirmed no charges registered

Directors & officers

5 officers (3 active, 5 linked, 3 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

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

Director network

1 connected companies via shared directors

Filing history

67 filings on record

Gazette notices

No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)

Opportunity Score

80/100Exceptional

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

Good data coverage for analysis.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · FRS 105 (micro)

Positive net assets

Net assets £19,656

Net assets shrinking

Down £22,931 YoY

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts

Cash

—

Net Worth

£20k

↓ 54% YoY

Current Assets

£73k

↓ 21% YoY

Current Liabilities

—

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 105 (micro)

Metric	2025-08-31	2024-08-31
Total assets	£19.7k	£42.6k
Current assets	£72.8k	£92.5k
Net assets	£19.7k	£42.6k

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

filings

Last 90 days

filings

Last 180 days

filing

• 1 accounts

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (23 events)Click to expand

2025-11-20
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-03-03
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-02-29
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-02-24
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-02-24
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-02-16
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2020-01-30
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2019-04-24
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2018-06-15
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2017-05-31
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2016-05-27
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2015-08-25
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2015-05-29
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2014-08-18
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2014-02-26
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2004-06-01
➕
LEAKE, Nicola appointed
director
1996-07-29
🏢
Company incorporated
As DNL ENGINEERING LIMITED
1996-07-29
➕
LEAKE, Nicola appointed
secretary
1996-07-29
➕
LEAKE, David Wallace appointed
director
1996-07-29
➕
REID, Brian appointed
nominee-secretary
1996-07-29
➖
REID, Brian resigned
nominee-secretary
1996-07-29
➕
MABBOTT, Stephen appointed
nominee-director
1996-07-29
➖
MABBOTT, Stephen resigned
nominee-director

Owner dependency

84/100

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

+Two-director setup: Only two active directors — typical of owner-managed SMEs but limits succession.
+Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 30 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
+Senior director age: Director aged approximately 60 — approaching natural succession window.
+Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

Succession & seller-readiness

76/100

Likely off-market candidate

Strong acquirability signals converging. Worth approaching directly — this is how off-market deals start.

SIGNALS

secondaryFounder aged 58+: Senior director is approximately 60. Early succession window.
secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
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

Name	Shares	Voting rights	Nature of control	Notified
Mr David Wallace Leake Individual · United Kingdom · DOB 09/1966 · age 60	50–75%	—	50-75% shares	06/04/2016

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.

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Similar companies

Active · Professional services · AB postcode area

Company	Est. value	Turnover	Net worth	Staff	Age	Opp	Director
FEEGIEMAIN CONSULTANCY LTD→ SC810111 · est 2024 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	1y	—	—
FERGUS STEWART INTEGRITY LTD→ SC858282 · est 2025 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
FERGUSON GEOTECHNICAL LIMITED→ SC567675 · est 2017 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	8y	—	—
FINANCE GAP SOLUTIONS LIMITED→ SC474221 · est 2014 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	12y	—	—
FIND TOTALS LTD→ SC844843 · est 2025 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	1y	—	—
FLETT SERVICES LTD→ SC749957 · est 2022 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	3y	—	—
FLORIN ENGINEERING DESIGN LTD→ SC444600 · est 2013 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	13y	—	—
FORCHAN LTD→ SC421444 · est 2012 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	14y	—	—
FORTH INSPECTION GROUP LTD→ SC626646 · est 2019 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	7y	—	—
FORTITUDE - ACTION BEYOND COMPLIANCE LTD→ SC651000 · est 2020 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	6y	—	—
FORWARD RESOURCES LTD→ SC741992 · est 2022 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	3y	—	—
FOSTERTECHS PVT. LTD→ SC559515 · est 2017 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	9y	—	—

Peers ranked by estimated value, then turnover, then opportunity score.See all →

🔒Tailored diligence questions

6 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

Incorporated1996-07-29

Jurisdictionscotland

Primary SIC71122 — Engineering related scientific and technical consulting activities

Registered office

3 Cairnseat

Inverurie

Aberdeenshire

AB51 5JH

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2027-05-31

Last made up to: 2025-08-31

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2026-08-12

Last: 2025-07-29

Officers (3 active · 2 resigned)

LEAKE, Nicola→

secretary · appointed 1996-07-29

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

LEAKE, David Wallace→

director · ~60y · appointed 1996-07-29

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

LEAKE, Nicola→

director · ~58y · appointed 2004-06-01

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

REID, Brian→

nominee-secretary · appointed 1996-07-29 · resigned 1996-07-29

Resigned

MABBOTT, Stephen→

nominee-director · ~76y · appointed 1996-07-29 · resigned 1996-07-29

Resigned

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