DALRY 183 LTD

💤Zombieactive
SC224473 · ltd · incorporated 2001-10-23
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 Oct 2024
Net worth
£13.1k
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
🔔
Follow this company (free)
Email alerts on filings, charges, director changes, gazette notices. No account needed.

Unsubscribe any time from any email. GDPR-respectful.

🔒Generate AI memo →🔒Outreach pack →🔒Corporate story →📑 Reports →Sign in to watch
What this business does
Primary activity: Cultural education
Sector: Education
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 68-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 68). 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 23.3y

45/100
under pressure

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

  • · Oldest live charge is 23.3 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
  • · Distress signals active — lender appetite narrows.

Data confidence

Overall: medium (78/100)

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
5 officers (1 active, 5 linked, 1 with DOB)
74
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
2 connected companies via shared directors
51
Filing history
65 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 · accounting standard not declared
Positive net assets
Net assets £13,059

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
—
Net Worth
£13k
↑ 74% YoY
Current Assets
£23k
↑ 29% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
£0£5k£9k£14k£19k£23kOct 2023Oct 2024

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2024-10-312023-10-31
Total assets£13.1k£7.5k
Current assets£23.4k£18.2k
Net assets£13.1k£7.5k

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

Recent activity

Last 30 days
0
filings
Last 90 days
0
filings
Last 180 days
0
filings
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (26 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-07-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-07-25
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  3. 2023-07-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  4. 2022-07-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  5. 2021-07-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  6. 2021-02-09
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  7. 2020-12-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  8. 2019-12-24
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  9. 2019-12-24
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  10. 2019-11-09
    📄
    gazette-filings-brought-up-to-date
    gazette · DISS40
  11. 2019-10-01
    📄
    gazette-notice-compulsory
    gazette · GAZ1
  12. 2018-07-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  13. 2017-11-09
    ✏️
    certificate-change-of-name-company
    change-of-name · CERTNM
  14. 2017-11-09
    📄
    resolution
    resolution · RESOLUTIONS
  15. 2017-07-07
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  16. 2008-03-31
    ➖
    MACKAY, Catherine Stewart resigned
    secretary
  17. 2003-02-10
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
  18. 2001-10-23
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As DALRY 183 LTD
  19. 2001-10-23
    ➕
    SHAW, Iain St. Clair appointed
    director
  20. 2001-10-23
    ➕
    MACKAY, Catherine Stewart appointed
    secretary
  21. 2001-10-23
    ➕
    PETER TRAINER COMPANY SECRETARIES LTD. appointed
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  22. 2001-10-23
    ➖
    PETER TRAINER COMPANY SECRETARIES LTD. resigned
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  23. 2001-10-23
    ➕
    PETER TRAINER COMPANY SECRETARIES LTD. appointed
    corporate-nominee-director
  24. 2001-10-23
    ➖
    PETER TRAINER COMPANY SECRETARIES LTD. resigned
    corporate-nominee-director
  25. 2001-10-23
    ➕
    PETER TRAINER COMPANY SERVICES LTD. appointed
    corporate-nominee-director
  26. 2001-10-23
    ➖
    PETER TRAINER COMPANY SERVICES LTD. 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 25 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 68 — succession pressure is live.

Succession & seller-readiness

95/100
Likely off-market candidate

Strong acquirability signals converging. Worth approaching directly — this is how off-market deals start.

SIGNALS
  • primaryFounder aged 63+: Senior director is approximately 68. Approaching typical UK retirement age — succession thinking likely.
  • primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
  • primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 25 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
  • 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 Iain St. Clair Shaw
Individual · British · DOB 08/1958 · age 68
75–100%
75–100%board control75-100% shares · 75-100% voting · board control · firm interest09/12/2016

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 →

Similar companies

Active · Education & training · EH postcode area
CompanyEst. valueTurnoverNet worthStaffAgeOppDirector
ARGYLE BRIDGE LIMITED→
SC277898 · est 2005
——£73.6k—21y8367y
C.T.T.S. (MANAGEMENT) LIMITED→
SC273935 · est 2004
———90021y8364y
COLINTON NURSERIES LIMITED→
SC245941 · est 2003
———210023y8375y
EARLY DAYS NURSERY LIMITED→
SC199638 · est 1999
——£123.3k—26y8379y
LITTLE MONKEYS LIMITED→
SC219838 · est 2001
———11324y8361y
THE LEITH SCHOOL OF ART→
SC111089 · est 1988 · no financials extracted
————37y8376y
TRAINING FOR CARE→
SC100529 · est 1986
———939y8377y
CABER ENTERPRISES LIMITED→
SC207157 · est 2000
———225y8259y
CALEDONIAN BUSINESS CENTRES LTD.→
SC150783 · est 1994
——£461.8k—31y8270y
FIRST ADVENTURES LIMITED→
SC260386 · est 2003
——£1.20M—22y8274y
HEADSTART NURSERY SCHOOLS LIMITED→
SC319219 · est 2007
————19y8261y
LEAPS & BOUNDS NURSERY LIMITED→
SC294605 · est 2005
———430020y8260y
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.

See pricing →

Company details

Statusactive
Typeltd
Incorporated2001-10-23
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC85520 — Cultural education

Registered office

183 Dalry Road
Edinburgh
EH11 2EB

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-07-31
Last made up to: 2024-10-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-11-11
Last: 2025-10-28

Officers (1 active · 4 resigned)

SHAW, Iain St. Clair→
director · ~68y · appointed 2001-10-23
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
MACKAY, Catherine Stewart→
secretary · appointed 2001-10-23 · resigned 2008-03-31
Resigned
PETER TRAINER COMPANY SECRETARIES LTD.→
corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 2001-10-23 · resigned 2001-10-23
Resigned
PETER TRAINER COMPANY SECRETARIES LTD.→
corporate-nominee-director · appointed 2001-10-23 · resigned 2001-10-23
Resigned
PETER TRAINER COMPANY SERVICES LTD.→
corporate-nominee-director · appointed 2001-10-23 · resigned 2001-10-23
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 property10/02/2003—
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (65 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-11-11
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-07-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-11-06
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-07-25
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-11-08
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-07-27
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-10-28
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-07-29
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-10-28
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-07-30
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2021-02-09
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-02-09
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2020-12-28
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2019-12-24
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-12-24