CENTREPIN QUALITY SERVICES LIMITED

💤Zombieactive

SC177106 · ltd · incorporated 1997-07-09

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 Jul 2024

Net worth

£-1.2k

book net assets

Opportunity

80/100

Exceptional

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What this business does

Primary activity: Other engineering activities

Sector: Professional, scientific & technical

Investor take

Pass (distressed without resilience)

Distressed active trading company — structural issues outweigh the discount.

Opportunity 80/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 72). 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).

Data confidence

Overall: medium (75/100)

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 (2 active, 5 linked, 1 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

2 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared

Director network

Network not yet resolved

Filing history

64 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 · accounting standard not declared

Negative net assets

Liabilities exceed assets by £1,190

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts

Cash

—

Net Worth

-£1k

Current Assets

£18k

Current Liabilities

—

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown

Metric	2024-07-31	2023-07-31
Total assets	£12.4k	—
Current assets	£18.0k	—
Net assets	£-1.2k	—

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

Recent activity

Last 30 days

filings

Last 90 days

filings

Last 180 days

filings

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (24 events)Click to expand

2025-04-29
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-02-27
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-04-21
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-03-18
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2020-11-12
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2019-12-03
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2019-02-04
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2017-10-24
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2017-04-24
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2016-04-27
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2015-07-09
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2015-04-30
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2014-08-20
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2014-04-30
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2013-07-19
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
1997-07-17
➕
MCLEAN, Deborah Ruth appointed
secretary
1997-07-17
➕
MCLEAN, Gordon Lindsay appointed
director
1997-07-09
🏢
Company incorporated
As CENTREPIN QUALITY SERVICES LIMITED
1997-07-09
➕
COSEC LIMITED appointed
corporate-nominee-secretary
1997-07-09
➖
COSEC LIMITED resigned
corporate-nominee-secretary
1997-07-09
➕
CODIR LIMITED appointed
corporate-nominee-director
1997-07-09
➖
CODIR LIMITED resigned
corporate-nominee-director
1997-07-09
➕
COSEC LIMITED appointed
corporate-nominee-director
1997-07-09
➖
COSEC LIMITED resigned
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 29 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
+Founder age: Director aged approximately 72 — 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 72 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 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

Name	Shares	Voting rights	Nature of control	Notified
Mrs Deborah Ruth Mclean Individual · British · DOB 02/1960 · age 66	25–50%	25–50%	25-50% shares · 25-50% voting	09/07/2016
Mr Gordon Lindsay Mclean Individual · British · DOB 07/1954 · age 72	25–50%	25–50%	25-50% shares · 25-50% voting	09/07/2016

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

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COSTAIN UPSTREAM LIMITED→ SC336371 · est 2008 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	18y	—	—
COUNTAX SERVICES LIMITED→ SC556566 · est 2017 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	9y	—	—
CRAIGIAN LIMITED→ SC161694 · est 1995 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	30y	—	—
CROSSAXLE DESIGN LIMITED→ SC318498 · est 2007 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	19y	—	—
CRS HELICOPTERS LTD→ SC844258 · est 2025 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	1y	—	—
CRUCIAL ENGINEERING CONTRACTING LIMITED→ SC781447 · est 2023 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	2y	—	—
CRUX CONSULTANCY LTD→ SC655352 · est 2020 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	6y	—	—
CSM INSPECTIONS LTD→ SC857333 · est 2025 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	—	—	—

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.

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Company details

Statusactive

Typeltd

Incorporated1997-07-09

Jurisdictionscotland

Primary SIC71129 — Other engineering activities

Registered office

11 Malcolms Mount West

Stonehaven

Kincardineshire

AB39 2TF

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2026-04-30

Last made up to: 2024-07-31

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2026-07-23

Last: 2025-07-09

Officers (2 active · 3 resigned)

MCLEAN, Deborah Ruth→

secretary · appointed 1997-07-17

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

MCLEAN, Gordon Lindsay→

director · ~72y · appointed 1997-07-17

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

COSEC LIMITED→

corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 1997-07-09 · resigned 1997-07-09

Resigned

CODIR LIMITED→

corporate-nominee-director · appointed 1997-07-09 · resigned 1997-07-09

Resigned

COSEC LIMITED→

corporate-nominee-director · appointed 1997-07-09 · resigned 1997-07-09

Resigned

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