DOCMATE SERVICES LIMITED

🌳Matureactive

SC200921 · ltd · incorporated 1999-10-21

Investment thesis

Established operating company — standard diligence applies, no dominant angle.

Why interesting: Live, filing, normal profile.

Why risky: No standout signals in either direction.

🔒Estimated value

—

Upgrade to see

Turnover

—

year to Dec 2025

Net worth

£-15.5k

book net assets

Opportunity

80/100

Exceptional

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What this business does

Primary activity: Other publishing activities

Sector: Information & communication

ALSO REGISTERED FOR

58290Other software publishing
63990Other information service activities n.e.c.
74909Other professional, scientific and technical activities n.e.c.

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 70). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: strategic trade sale (73/100).

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, 4 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

7 officers (3 active, 7 linked, 4 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

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

Director network

Network not yet resolved

Filing history

72 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 · FRS 105 (micro)

Negative net assets

Liabilities exceed assets by £15,460

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts

Cash

—

Net Worth

-£15k

↓ 212% YoY

Current Assets

£6k

↓ 63% YoY

Current Liabilities

—

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 105 (micro)

Metric	2025-12-31	2024-12-31
Total assets	£-14.6k	£-4.1k
Current assets	£5.6k	£15.3k
Net assets	£-15.5k	£-4.9k

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

filing

• 1 accounts

Last 90 days

filing

• 1 accounts

Last 180 days

filing

• 1 accounts

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (26 events)Click to expand

2026-04-07
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-09-22
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-09-04
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-09-26
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-09-14
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-01-27
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2020-10-18
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2019-07-04
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2018-09-05
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2017-08-10
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2016-09-04
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2015-10-20
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2015-09-28
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2014-10-13
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2006-02-20
➖
KNOWLES, James resigned
director
2006-02-13
➕
KNOWLES, Elaine appointed
director
2001-06-18
➕
KNOWLES, James appointed
director
2001-06-08
➕
KNOWLES, Christopher Roderick appointed
secretary
2001-06-05
➖
ALEXANDER, James resigned
secretary
2001-06-05
➖
ALEXANDER, James resigned
director
1999-10-21
🏢
Company incorporated
As DOCMATE SERVICES LIMITED
1999-10-21
➕
KNOWLES, Christopher Roderick appointed
director
1999-10-21
➕
ALEXANDER, James appointed
secretary
1999-10-21
➕
OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED appointed
corporate-nominee-secretary
1999-10-21
➖
OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED resigned
corporate-nominee-secretary
1999-10-21
➕
ALEXANDER, James appointed
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 27 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
+Founder age: Director aged approximately 70 — succession pressure is live.
+Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

Succession & seller-readiness

96/100

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.
secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 27 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 27 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 · dominant holder ≥75%

Name	Shares	Voting rights	Nature of control	Notified
Mr Christopher Roderick Knowles Individual · British · DOB 08/1961 · age 65	75–100%	—	75-100% shares	01/10/2016

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

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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

Incorporated1999-10-21

Jurisdictionscotland

Primary SIC58190 — Other publishing activities

Registered office

18 Alder Tree Road

Banchory

Aberdeenshire

AB31 4FW

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2027-09-30

Last made up to: 2025-12-31

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2026-10-30

Last: 2025-10-16

Officers (3 active · 4 resigned)

KNOWLES, Christopher Roderick→

secretary · appointed 2001-06-08

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

KNOWLES, Christopher Roderick→

director · ~65y · appointed 1999-10-21

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

KNOWLES, Elaine→

director · ~70y · appointed 2006-02-13

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

ALEXANDER, James→

secretary · appointed 1999-10-21 · resigned 2001-06-05

Resigned

OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED→

corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 1999-10-21 · resigned 1999-10-21

Resigned

ALEXANDER, James→

director · ~87y · appointed 1999-10-21 · resigned 2001-06-05

Resigned

KNOWLES, James→

director · ~99y · appointed 2001-06-18 · resigned 2006-02-20

Resigned

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