POLARE RESEARCH LIMITED

🌳Matureactive
SC217600 · ltd · incorporated 2001-03-30
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.
Opportunity decay
approaching window · 12-months
Approaching a transaction window — refinance or sale event plausible in the next 12 months.
  • · Oldest live charge 18.0y old — refinance window within 12 months
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to May 2024
Net worth
£-38.2k
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: Business and domestic software development
Sector: Information & communication
Investor take
Pass (distressed without resilience)
Distressed active trading company — structural issues outweigh the discount.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 80). 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: strategic trade sale (73/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

1 live charge · oldest 18.0y

65/100
clean up first

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

  • · Oldest live charge is 18.0 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
  • · Legal-friction score 25/100 — workable, but lender will want more DD.

Data confidence

Overall: medium (72/100)

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
1 year of iXBRL accounts extracted (no YoY comparison) + narrative notes parsed
50
Lenders & charges
1 charges (1/1 with lender, 1/1 with type)
90
Directors & officers
10 officers (3 active, 10 linked, 5 with DOB)
80
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
4 connected companies via shared directors
57
Filing history
92 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.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · FRS 102
Negative net assets
Liabilities exceed assets by £38,185

Key financials

1 year extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
£12k
Net Worth
-£38k
Current Assets
£27k
Current Liabilities
—

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102
Metric2024-05-31
Total assets£-38.1k
Current assets£27.5k
Cash£12.0k
Debtors£15.5k
Net assets£-38.2k

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
0
filings
Last 90 days
2
filings
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
  • • 1 accounts
Last 180 days
2
filings
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
  • • 1 accounts
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (37 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-02-21
    📄
    change-account-reference-date-company-previous-shortened
    accounts · AA01
  2. 2025-02-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  3. 2024-02-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  4. 2023-02-17
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  5. 2022-12-12
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  6. 2022-10-24
    ➕
    RYAN, Sean appointed
    director
  7. 2022-10-24
    ✏️
    certificate-change-of-name-company
    change-of-name · CERTNM
  8. 2022-10-24
    📄
    appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
    officers · AP01
  9. 2022-08-02
    📄
    termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM01
  10. 2022-07-29
    ➖
    ALLAN, Caroline Ann resigned
    director
  11. 2022-07-28
    ➕
    HUGHES, Gordon Alexander, Professor appointed
    secretary
  12. 2022-07-28
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  13. 2022-07-28
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  14. 2022-07-28
    📄
    appoint-person-secretary-company-with-name-date
    officers · AP03
  15. 2022-07-28
    📄
    termination-secretary-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM02
  16. 2022-07-25
    ➖
    DICKSON, Ana Lachlan Rowan resigned
    secretary
  17. 2022-07-25
    📄
    legacy
    restoration · AC93
  18. 2021-07-13
    📄
    gazette-dissolved-voluntary
    gazette · GAZ2(A)
  19. 2021-04-27
    📄
    gazette-notice-voluntary
    gazette · GAZ1(A)
  20. 2021-04-20
    📄
    dissolution-application-strike-off-company
    dissolution · DS01
  21. 2020-12-21
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  22. 2019-10-11
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  23. 2008-05-20
    ➕
    HUGHES, Gordon Alexander, Professor appointed
    director
  24. 2008-05-20
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: Economic and Statistical Services (Edinburgh) Limited
  25. 2006-03-28
    ➖
    MURRAY, Andrew Scott resigned
    director
  26. 2004-01-08
    ➖
    GUY, Noel James resigned
    director
  27. 2001-08-27
    ➕
    DICKSON, Ana Lachlan Rowan appointed
    secretary
  28. 2001-08-27
    ➖
    QUEENSFERRY SECRETARIES LIMITED resigned
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  29. 2001-07-16
    ➕
    ALLAN, Caroline Ann appointed
    director
  30. 2001-07-16
    ➕
    GUY, Noel James appointed
    director
  31. 2001-07-16
    ➕
    MURRAY, Andrew Scott appointed
    director
  32. 2001-07-16
    ➖
    QUEENSFERRY FORMATIONS LIMITED resigned
    corporate-nominee-director
  33. 2001-07-16
    ➖
    QUEENSFERRY REGISTRATIONS LIMITED resigned
    corporate-nominee-director
  34. 2001-03-30
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As POLARE RESEARCH LIMITED
  35. 2001-03-30
    ➕
    QUEENSFERRY SECRETARIES LIMITED appointed
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  36. 2001-03-30
    ➕
    QUEENSFERRY FORMATIONS LIMITED appointed
    corporate-nominee-director
  37. 2001-03-30
    ➕
    QUEENSFERRY REGISTRATIONS LIMITED appointed
    corporate-nominee-director

Owner dependency

83/100
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 18 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 80 — succession pressure is live.

Succession & seller-readiness

89/100
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 80 years old. Natural succession window is now.
  • secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
  • secondary12+ year tenure: Director in role 18 years.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 25 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%
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr Gordon Alexander Hughes
Individual · British · DOB 05/1946 · age 80
75–100%
—75-100% shares · firm interest06/04/2016

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
Incorporated2001-03-30
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC62012 — Business and domestic software development

Registered office

Highfield
Stobo
Peebles
EH45 8NX
Scotland

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-05-21
Last made up to: 2024-05-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-04-13
Last: 2026-03-30

Officers (3 active · 7 resigned)

HUGHES, Gordon Alexander, Professor→
secretary · appointed 2022-07-28
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
HUGHES, Gordon Alexander, Professor→
director · ~80y · appointed 2008-05-20
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
RYAN, Sean→
director · ~47y · appointed 2022-10-24
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
DICKSON, Ana Lachlan Rowan→
secretary · appointed 2001-08-27 · resigned 2022-07-25
Resigned
QUEENSFERRY SECRETARIES LIMITED→
corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 2001-03-30 · resigned 2001-08-27
Resigned
ALLAN, Caroline Ann→
director · ~62y · appointed 2001-07-16 · resigned 2022-07-29
Resigned
GUY, Noel James→
director · ~51y · appointed 2001-07-16 · resigned 2004-01-08
Resigned
MURRAY, Andrew Scott→
director · ~81y · appointed 2001-07-16 · resigned 2006-03-28
Resigned
QUEENSFERRY FORMATIONS LIMITED→
corporate-nominee-director · appointed 2001-03-30 · resigned 2001-07-16
Resigned
QUEENSFERRY REGISTRATIONS LIMITED→
corporate-nominee-director · appointed 2001-03-30 · resigned 2001-07-16
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
Economic and Statistical Services (Edinburgh)
Economic and Statistical Services (Edinburgh) Limited
Floating charge1 property20/05/2008—
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (92 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-04-01
change-account-reference-date-company-previous-shortened
accounts · AA01
2026-02-21
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-03-31
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-02-27
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-04-07
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-02-26
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-03-30
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-02-17
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-12-12
certificate-change-of-name-company
change-of-name · CERTNM
2022-10-24
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2022-10-24
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-08-09
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2022-08-02
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2022-07-28
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2022-07-28