THE DESIGN STUDIO (AYR) LIMITED

💤Zombieactive
SC172320 · ltd · incorporated 1997-02-13
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 Feb 2025
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: Retail sale of furniture, lighting, and similar (not musical instruments or scores) in specialised stores
Sector: Wholesale & retail
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 61-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (70/100, director aged 61). 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

1 live charge · oldest 29.0y

45/100
under pressure

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

  • · Oldest live charge is 29.0 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
  • · 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
75
Lenders & charges
1 charges (1/1 with lender, 1/1 with type)
90
Directors & officers
5 officers (2 active, 5 linked, 2 with DOB)
78
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
74 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£0Feb 2024Feb 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102
Metric2025-02-282024-02-29
Average employees12001200

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
1
filing
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (25 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-11-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-11-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  3. 2023-11-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  4. 2022-11-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  5. 2021-12-20
    ➖
    TRAINER, Edward resigned
    director
  6. 2021-12-20
    📄
    termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM01
  7. 2021-11-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  8. 2021-02-18
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  9. 2019-11-18
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  10. 2018-11-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  11. 2017-12-05
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  12. 2016-11-24
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  13. 2016-02-26
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  14. 2015-11-25
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  15. 2015-02-20
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  16. 2014-11-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  17. 1997-06-16
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: Clydesdale Bank Public Limited Company
  18. 1997-02-24
    ➕
    DURKIN, James Philip appointed
    secretary
  19. 1997-02-24
    ➕
    DURKIN, James Philip appointed
    director
  20. 1997-02-24
    ➖
    OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED resigned
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  21. 1997-02-24
    ➕
    TRAINER, Edward appointed
    director
  22. 1997-02-24
    ➖
    JORDANS (SCOTLAND) LIMITED resigned
    corporate-nominee-director
  23. 1997-02-13
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As THE DESIGN STUDIO (AYR) LIMITED
  24. 1997-02-13
    ➕
    OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED appointed
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  25. 1997-02-13
    ➕
    JORDANS (SCOTLAND) LIMITED appointed
    corporate-nominee-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 29 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Senior director age: Director aged approximately 61 — approaching natural succession window.

Succession & seller-readiness

85/100
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 61. Early succession window.
  • primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
  • 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

1 active beneficial owner
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr Philip James Durkin
Individual · British · DOB 12/1965 · age 61
50–75%
—50-75% shares01/11/2016

From Companies House Persons with Significant Control filings. Share ranges are banded per the public PSC regime.

Similar companies

Active · Retail · KA postcode area
CompanyEst. valueTurnoverNet worthStaffAgeOppDirector
WILLIAM YOUNG (KILMARNOCK) LIMITED→
SC032275 · est 1957
£2.75M
£2.06M–£3.44M
——5369y8272y
J & W CARPETS LIMITED→
SC362931 · est 2009
£258.4k
£193.8k–£322.9k
——6716y8348y
KIRKMICHAEL VILLAGE RENAISSANCE→
SC376521 · est 2010
——£46.6k—16y8380y
MC STORES LIMITED→
SC387053 · est 2010
——£678.2k—15y8374y
QUEST FARM SUPPLIES LIMITED→
SC362924 · est 2009
——£2.06M—16y8359y
A.L. PAINT AND SUPPLIES LIMITED→
SC173153 · est 1997
——£973.9k—29y8274y
AGRI-INPUT DIRECT LIMITED→
SC207700 · est 2000
——£315.0k—25y8259y
AM SERVICE STATIONS LIMITED→
SC211245 · est 2000
———1325y8259y
ANDREW HUGHES CHEMISTS LIMITED→
SC205281 · est 2000
————26y8263y
BDC FUELS LIMITED→
SC229389 · est 2002
———210024y8267y
C MCCALLUM LIMITED→
SC264993 · est 2004
———3322y8263y
CARPET CLEARANCE LIMITED→
SC244523 · est 2003
——£120.8k—23y8261y
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
Incorporated1997-02-13
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC47599 — Retail sale of furniture, lighting, and similar (not musical instruments or scores) in specialised stores

Registered office

20 Cathcart Street
Ayr
KA7 1BJ

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-11-30
Last made up to: 2025-02-28
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-01-26
Last: 2026-01-12

Officers (2 active · 3 resigned)

DURKIN, James Philip→
secretary · appointed 1997-02-24
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
DURKIN, James Philip→
director · ~61y · appointed 1997-02-24
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED→
corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 1997-02-13 · resigned 1997-02-24
Resigned
TRAINER, Edward→
director · ~62y · appointed 1997-02-24 · resigned 2021-12-20
Resigned
JORDANS (SCOTLAND) LIMITED→
corporate-nominee-director · appointed 1997-02-13 · resigned 1997-02-24
Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

1
Total charges
1
Outstanding
1
Active lenders
Status:Lender:1 of 1 shown
TypeProperties
outstanding
Virgin Money
Clydesdale Bank Public Limited Company
Floating charge1 property16/06/1997—
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (74 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-02-25
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-11-27
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-01-14
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-11-27
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-01-12
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-11-29
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-02-09
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-11-23
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-01-14
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2021-12-20
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-11-30
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-02-18
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-01-14
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-01-24
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-11-18