KIRKHILL AUTO SERVICES LTD.

💤Zombieactive
SC170280 · ltd · incorporated 1996-11-29
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.
Why now
Window steady · low confidence
Steady and stalled — no momentum either way. Needs an approach trigger.
What changed my view
Last 30 days

No material changes in the last 30 days.

Last 90 days

No snapshot from 90 days ago — start tracking from today.

Last 180 days

No snapshot from 180 days ago — start tracking from today.

🔒Estimated value
Upgrade to see
Turnover
year to Nov 2024
Net worth
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
🔔
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What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 45200
Sector: Wholesale & retail
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 65-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 85/100. Strong seller-intent signal (93/100, director aged 65). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Broaden director team. Sole director creates succession risk and reduces buyer comfort. Appoint a second director or strong #2. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (73/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

2 live charges · oldest 25.7y

45/100
under pressure

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

  • · Oldest live charge is 25.7 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
7 officers (1 active, 7 linked, 3 with DOB)
79
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
85 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£0Nov 2023Nov 2024

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2024-11-302023-11-30

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

🔒Filing-note intelligence

2 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
0
filings
Last 180 days
0
filings
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (34 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-12-22
    📄
    mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
    mortgage · MR04
  2. 2025-12-22
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #1
  3. 2025-11-25
    📄
    mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
    mortgage · MR04
  4. 2025-11-25
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #2
  5. 2025-08-22
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  6. 2024-08-01
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  7. 2023-08-24
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  8. 2022-11-24
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  9. 2022-03-22
    📄
    capital-allotment-shares
    capital · SH01
  10. 2022-02-21
    📄
    memorandum-articles
    incorporation · MA
  11. 2022-02-21
    📄
    resolution
    resolution · RESOLUTIONS
  12. 2021-09-08
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  13. 2020-03-13
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  14. 2019-07-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  15. 2018-11-12
    📍
    change-sail-address-company-with-old-address-new-address
    address · AD02
  16. 2018-08-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  17. 2017-09-04
    📄
    capital-cancellation-shares
    capital · SH06
  18. 2017-09-04
    📄
    capital-return-purchase-own-shares
    capital · SH03
  19. 2014-12-05
    BOTHWELL, Robert William resigned
    secretary
  20. 2014-09-26
    HENDERSON, Lorna resigned
    secretary
  21. 2006-02-01
    HENDERSON, Lorna appointed
    secretary
  22. 2005-11-02
    🔒
    Charge registered #2
    Lender: The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
  23. 2002-11-20
    BOTHWELL, Robert William appointed
    secretary
  24. 2002-10-25
    HENDERSON, Lorna Conn resigned
    secretary
  25. 2000-11-17
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
  26. 1996-12-02
    WHEELER, John Leslie appointed
    director
  27. 1996-12-02
    HENDERSON, Lorna Conn appointed
    secretary
  28. 1996-11-29
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As KIRKHILL AUTO SERVICES LTD.
  29. 1996-11-29
    FOOT, Leigh appointed
    nominee-secretary
  30. 1996-11-29
    FOOT, Leigh resigned
    nominee-secretary
  31. 1996-11-29
    MCINTOSH, Susan appointed
    nominee-director
  32. 1996-11-29
    MCINTOSH, Susan resigned
    nominee-director
  33. 1996-11-29
    TRAINER, Peter appointed
    nominee-director
  34. 1996-11-29
    TRAINER, Peter resigned
    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 65 — succession pressure is live.

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 65. 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 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 John Leslie Wheeler
Individual · British · DOB 06/1961 · age 65
75100%
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
Incorporated1996-11-29
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC45200 — SIC 45200

Registered office

17 Kirkhill Place
Kirkhill Industrial Estate
Dyce
Aberdeen
AB21 0GU

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-08-31
Last made up to: 2024-11-30
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-11-07
Last: 2025-10-24

Officers (1 active · 6 resigned)

WHEELER, John Leslie
director · ~65y · appointed 1996-12-02
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
BOTHWELL, Robert William
secretary · appointed 2002-11-20 · resigned 2014-12-05
Resigned
FOOT, Leigh
nominee-secretary · appointed 1996-11-29 · resigned 1996-11-29
Resigned
HENDERSON, Lorna
secretary · appointed 2006-02-01 · resigned 2014-09-26
Resigned
HENDERSON, Lorna Conn
secretary · appointed 1996-12-02 · resigned 2002-10-25
Resigned
MCINTOSH, Susan
nominee-director · ~56y · appointed 1996-11-29 · resigned 1996-11-29
Resigned
TRAINER, Peter
nominee-director · ~74y · appointed 1996-11-29 · resigned 1996-11-29
Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

2
Total charges
0
Outstanding
0
Active lenders
Status:Lender:2 of 2 shown
TypeProperties
satisfied
Lloyds Banking Group
The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
Bond & floating charge1 property02/11/200525/11/2025
satisfied
Lloyds Banking Group
The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
Standard security1 property17/11/200022/12/2025

Recent filings (85 total)

mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
mortgage · MR04
2025-12-22
mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
mortgage · MR04
2025-11-25
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-10-30
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-08-22
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-10-24
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-08-01
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-11-24
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-08-24
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-11-25
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-11-24
capital-allotment-shares
capital · SH01
2022-03-22
memorandum-articles
incorporation · MA
2022-02-21
resolution
resolution · RESOLUTIONS
2022-02-21
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-11-17
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-09-08