SD BUSINESS SOLUTIONS LTD

🌳Matureactive
SC172177 · ltd · incorporated 1997-02-10
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
—
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Turnover
—
year to Feb 2025
Net worth
£53.9k
book net assets
Opportunity
80/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: Other activities auxiliary to financial services, except insurance and pension funding
Sector: Financial & insurance
Investor take
Pursue
Asset-holding vehicle with a 68-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 80/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 68). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Cash flow review and working-capital discipline. Cash down -31% YoY — forensic review of receivables, stock turns, and creditor days. Most likely exit: strategic trade sale (73/100).

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
Confirmed no charges registered
85
Directors & officers
5 officers (3 active, 5 linked, 3 with DOB)
82
Ownership & PSC
2 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared
90
Director network
4 connected companies via shared directors
57
Filing history
74 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
80/100Exceptional
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
90
Good data coverage for analysis.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · accounting standard not declared
Positive net assets
Net assets £53,933
Cash YoY
-31%
Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
£18k
↓ 31% YoY
Net Worth
£54k
↑ 24% YoY
Current Assets
£69k
↑ 25% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
£0£14k£28k£42k£55k£69kFeb 2024Feb 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2025-02-282024-02-29
Total assets£55.1k£44.8k
Current assets£69.2k£55.3k
Cash£17.8k£25.6k
Debtors£51.4k£29.7k
Net assets£53.9k£43.4k

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
2
filings
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
  • • 1 accounts
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (23 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-12-15
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  2. 2025-09-15
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  3. 2025-09-15
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  4. 2025-07-03
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  5. 2024-08-12
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  6. 2023-11-19
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  7. 2022-10-25
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  8. 2021-09-20
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  9. 2020-11-16
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  10. 2019-07-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  11. 2018-11-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  12. 2017-11-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  13. 2016-11-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  14. 2016-02-19
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  15. 2015-11-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  16. 1997-02-10
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As SD BUSINESS SOLUTIONS LTD
  17. 1997-02-10
    ➕
    DOCHERTY, Sheila appointed
    secretary
  18. 1997-02-10
    ➕
    DOCHERTY, Sheila appointed
    director
  19. 1997-02-10
    ➕
    DOCHERTY, Stephen appointed
    director
  20. 1997-02-10
    ➕
    REID, Brian appointed
    nominee-secretary
  21. 1997-02-10
    ➖
    REID, Brian resigned
    nominee-secretary
  22. 1997-02-10
    ➕
    MABBOTT, Stephen appointed
    nominee-director
  23. 1997-02-10
    ➖
    MABBOTT, Stephen resigned
    nominee-director

Owner dependency

91/100
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 29 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 68 — succession pressure is live.
  • +Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

Succession & seller-readiness

86/100
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 68. Approaching typical UK retirement age — succession thinking likely.
  • secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
  • primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 29 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 29 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

2 active beneficial owners
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr Stephen Docherty
Individual · British · DOB 09/1958 · age 68
25–50%
25–50%board control25-50% shares · 25-50% voting · board control06/04/2016
Mrs Sheila Docherty
Individual · British · DOB 01/1958 · age 68
25–50%
25–50%board control25-50% shares · 25-50% voting · board control06/04/2016

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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@SIPP LIMITED→
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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
Incorporated1997-02-10
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC66190 — Other activities auxiliary to financial services, except insurance and pension funding

Registered office

4/5 Turnberry House 175 West George Street
Glasgow
G2 2LB
Scotland

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-11-30
Last made up to: 2025-02-28
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-01-29
Last: 2026-01-15

Officers (3 active · 2 resigned)

DOCHERTY, Sheila→
secretary · appointed 1997-02-10
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
DOCHERTY, Sheila→
director · ~68y · appointed 1997-02-10
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
DOCHERTY, Stephen→
director · ~68y · appointed 1997-02-10
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
REID, Brian→
nominee-secretary · appointed 1997-02-10 · resigned 1997-02-10
Resigned
MABBOTT, Stephen→
nominee-director · ~76y · appointed 1997-02-10 · resigned 1997-02-10
Resigned

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

Recent filings (74 total)

confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-02-09
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2025-12-15
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2025-09-15
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2025-09-15
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2025-07-03
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-02-03
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2024-08-12
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-01-26
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2023-11-19
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-01-17
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2022-10-25
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-01-18
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2021-09-20
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-01-19
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2020-11-16