DEANS ACCOUNTANTS AND BUSINESS ADVISORS LTD.

💤Zombieactive
SC185950 · ltd · incorporated 1998-05-20
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 Mar 2025
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
🔔
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What this business does
Primary activity: Accounting and auditing activities
Sector: Professional, scientific & technical
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 62-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (70/100, director aged 62). 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 20.1y

45/100
under pressure

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

  • · Oldest live charge is 20.1 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
1 charges (1/1 with lender, 1/1 with type)
90
Directors & officers
6 officers (2 active, 6 linked, 4 with DOB)
83
Ownership & PSC
2 active PSC(s) of 5 total, 5 with control declared
90
Director network
2 connected companies via shared directors
51
Filing history
81 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£0Mar 2024Mar 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2025-03-312024-03-31
Average employees18001700

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

🔒Filing-note intelligence

3 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
1
filing
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
Last 90 days
1
filing
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
Last 180 days
3
filings
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
  • • 1 persons-with-significant-control
  • • 1 accounts
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (28 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-01-12
    📄
    cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
  2. 2025-12-04
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  3. 2024-12-03
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  4. 2023-12-10
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  5. 2022-12-15
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  6. 2021-12-15
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  7. 2021-04-30
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  8. 2021-01-15
    📄
    cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
  9. 2021-01-15
    📄
    notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC02
  10. 2021-01-14
    📄
    cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
  11. 2021-01-05
    📄
    termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM01
  12. 2020-12-31
    ➖
    GARDEN, Neil John resigned
    director
  13. 2020-12-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  14. 2019-12-18
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  15. 2018-12-17
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  16. 2018-04-27
    📄
    notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
  17. 2018-04-27
    📄
    notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
  18. 2007-03-31
    ➖
    DEANS, Derek Thomas resigned
    director
  19. 2006-04-01
    ➕
    DEANS, Derek Thomas appointed
    director
  20. 2006-03-08
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
  21. 1998-05-20
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As DEANS ACCOUNTANTS AND BUSINESS ADVISORS LTD.
  22. 1998-05-20
    ➕
    CAMPBELL, David Alasdair appointed
    secretary
  23. 1998-05-20
    ➕
    CAMPBELL, David Alasdair appointed
    director
  24. 1998-05-20
    ➕
    REID, Brian appointed
    nominee-secretary
  25. 1998-05-20
    ➖
    REID, Brian resigned
    nominee-secretary
  26. 1998-05-20
    ➕
    GARDEN, Neil John appointed
    director
  27. 1998-05-20
    ➕
    MABBOTT, Stephen appointed
    nominee-director
  28. 1998-05-20
    ➖
    MABBOTT, Stephen resigned
    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 28 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Senior director age: Director aged approximately 62 — 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 62. 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 28 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 28 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.)

Group structure

Dac 1964 Holdings Ltd is the ultimate parent — holding 75%+ shares. This company sits inside their group.

🏛️
Dac 1964 Holdings Ltd
Corporate parent · holds 75-100% shares
ultimate parent
⬇
DEANS ACCOUNTANTS AND BUSINESS ADVISORS LTD.
This company · SC185950

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

Shareholders & ownership

2 active beneficial owners · dominant holder ≥75%
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Dac 1964 Holdings Ltd
Corporate entity
75–100%
—75-100% shares31/12/2020
Mr David Alasdair Campbell
Individual · British · DOB 12/1964 · age 62
——sig. influencesignificant influence08/06/2016
3 historic (ceased) PSCs
  • Mr Neil John Gardenceased 31/12/2020· 25-50% shares
  • Mr David Alasdair Campbellceased 31/12/2020· 25-50% shares
  • Mr Neil John Gardenceased 31/12/2020· 25-50% shares

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

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
Incorporated1998-05-20
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC69201 — Accounting and auditing activities

Registered office

27 North Bridge Street
Hawick
Borders
TD9 9BD
Scotland

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-12-31
Last made up to: 2025-03-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-05-11
Last: 2026-04-27

Officers (2 active · 4 resigned)

CAMPBELL, David Alasdair→
secretary · appointed 1998-05-20
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
CAMPBELL, David Alasdair→
director · ~62y · appointed 1998-05-20
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
REID, Brian→
nominee-secretary · appointed 1998-05-20 · resigned 1998-05-20
Resigned
DEANS, Derek Thomas→
director · ~81y · appointed 2006-04-01 · resigned 2007-03-31
Resigned
GARDEN, Neil John→
director · ~56y · appointed 1998-05-20 · resigned 2020-12-31
Resigned
MABBOTT, Stephen→
nominee-director · ~76y · appointed 1998-05-20 · resigned 1998-05-20
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
Lloyds Banking Group
The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
Bond & floating charge1 property08/03/2006—
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (81 total)

confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-04-28
cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
2026-01-12
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-12-04
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-04-28
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-12-03
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-04-29
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-12-10
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-04-27
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-12-15
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-04-27
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-12-15
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2021-04-30
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-04-30
cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
2021-01-15
notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC02
2021-01-15