MACDUFF DIESELS LTD.

🌳Matureactive

SC177616 · ltd · incorporated 1997-07-31

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.

Why now

Window steady · low confidence

Steady and tidy — no seller pressure yet. Approach only if an angle opens.

Opportunity decay

approaching window · 12-months

Approaching a transaction window — refinance or sale event plausible in the next 12 months.

· Oldest live charge 24.2y old — refinance window within 12 months

What changed my view

Last 30 days

No material changes in the last 30 days.

Last 90 days

No material changes in the last 90 days.

Last 180 days

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

🔒Estimated value

—

Upgrade to see

Turnover

—

year to Sept 2025

Net worth

£909.3k

book net assets

Opportunity

83/100

Exceptional

🔒Generate AI memo →🔒Outreach pack →🔒Corporate story →📑 Reports →Sign in to watch

What this business does

Primary activity: SIC 45200

Sector: Wholesale & retail

ALSO REGISTERED FOR

52219SIC 52219

Investor take

Pursue

Active trading company with a 70-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 83/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (63/100, director aged 70). 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 (65/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

1 live charge · oldest 24.2y

65/100

clean up first

Refinance viable after a tidy-up — address the highlighted items first.

· Oldest live charge is 24.2 years old — likely at or near maturity.
· Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
· Legal-friction score 30/100 — workable, but lender will want more DD.

Data confidence

Overall: high (81/100)

Strong data coverage across all sections. AI outputs should be trusted with minimal caveats.

Company profile

address, 2 SIC codes, incorporation date

100

Financials

2 years of iXBRL accounts extracted (YoY deltas available) + narrative notes parsed

Lenders & charges

1 charges (1/1 with lender, 1/1 with type)

Directors & officers

15 officers (7 active, 15 linked, 11 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

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

Director network

5 connected companies via shared directors

Filing history

102 filings on record

Gazette notices

No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)

Opportunity Score

83/100Exceptional

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

100

Good data coverage for analysis.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · accounting standard not declared

Positive net assets

Net assets £909,285

Cash YoY

+20%

Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts

Cash

£289k

↑ 20% YoY

Net Worth

£909k

↑ 1.0% YoY

Current Assets

£985k

~ YoY

Current Liabilities

—

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown

Metric	2025-09-30	2024-09-30
Total assets	£914.0k	£910.3k
Current assets	£985.3k	£977.0k
Cash	£289.4k	£240.3k
Debtors	£327.4k	£310.4k
Net assets	£909.3k	£900.1k

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

filings

• 1 confirmation-statement
• 1 accounts

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (43 events)Click to expand

2026-02-19
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-06-27
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-03-12
📄
notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC02
2025-03-11
📄
cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
2024-11-20
📄
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2024-11-20
📄
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2024-11-20
📄
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2024-11-19
📄
memorandum-articles
incorporation · MA
2024-11-19
📄
resolution
resolution · RESOLUTIONS
2024-11-07
➕
MCBAIN, Jamie Alistair appointed
director
2024-11-07
➕
MCCANN, Rory appointed
director
2024-11-07
➕
SHARP, Allan Kenneth appointed
director
2024-08-05
📄
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2024-06-13
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-04-30
📄
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2024-04-29
➖
BARRACK, William Fred resigned
director
2024-01-16
➖
THAIN, Colin George resigned
director
2023-06-21
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-02-09
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-01-11
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2021-06-29
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-04-28
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-12-11
➕
LC SECRETARIES LIMITED appointed
corporate-secretary
2019-12-11
➖
LEDINGHAM CHALMERS LLP resigned
corporate-secretary
2019-12-11
📄
termination-secretary-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM02
2012-07-05
➖
FARQUHAR, William resigned
director
2006-07-10
➕
BARRACK, William Fred appointed
director
2006-07-10
➖
BLACKHALL, Eric resigned
director
2006-04-01
➕
LEDINGHAM CHALMERS LLP appointed
corporate-secretary
2006-04-01
➖
LEDINGHAM CHALMERS LLP resigned
corporate-secretary
2002-06-06
🔒
Charge registered #1
Lender: Clydesdale Bank Public Limited Company
1998-04-15
➕
MACLEOD, Roderick appointed
director
1998-04-15
➕
RITCHIE, Clifford Lawrence appointed
director
1998-04-15
➕
BLACKHALL, Eric appointed
director
1998-04-15
➕
FARQUHAR, William appointed
director
1998-04-15
➕
THAIN, Colin George appointed
director
1997-08-20
➕
WATT, John appointed
director
1997-08-20
➕
LEDINGHAM CHALMERS LLP appointed
corporate-secretary
1997-07-31
🏢
Company incorporated
As MACDUFF DIESELS LTD.
1997-07-31
➕
REID, Brian appointed
nominee-secretary
1997-07-31
➖
REID, Brian resigned
nominee-secretary
1997-07-31
➕
MABBOTT, Stephen appointed
nominee-director
1997-07-31
➖
MABBOTT, Stephen resigned
nominee-director

Owner dependency

65/100

High — earn-out structure required

Material founder dependency. Consider a 2-3 year earn-out and build in a handover plan before completion.

FACTORS

-6 active directors: Broader management team in place — suggests transferable governance.
+Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 29 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
+Founder age: Director aged approximately 70 — succession pressure is live.

Succession & seller-readiness

80/100

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 70 years old. Natural succession window is now.
primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 29 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
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.)

Group structure

Macduff Shipyards Limited holds 25-50% — a significant corporate investor but not a controlling parent.

🏛️

Macduff Shipyards Limited

Corporate parent · holds 25-50% shares

significant stake

⬇

MACDUFF DIESELS LTD.

This company · SC177616

Parent relationships inferred from Persons with Significant Control filings. Full subsidiary tree requires reverse-lookup (coming).

Shareholders & ownership

1 active beneficial owner

Name	Shares	Voting rights	Nature of control	Notified
Macduff Shipyards Limited Corporate entity	25–50%	25–50%	25-50% shares · 25-50% voting	03/10/2024

1 historic (ceased) PSC

Mr Colin George Thainceased 03/10/2024· 25-50% shares · 25-50% voting

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 →

Similar companies

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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

Incorporated1997-07-31

Jurisdictionscotland

Primary SIC45200 — SIC 45200

Registered office

Johnstone House

52-54 Rose Street

Aberdeen

AB10 1HA

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2027-06-30

Last made up to: 2025-09-30

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2027-03-26

Last: 2026-03-12