AUTO-TEC (SCOTLAND) LIMITED

🌳Matureactive
SC239846 · ltd · incorporated 2002-11-19
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.
Opportunity decay
approaching window · 12-months
Approaching a transaction window — refinance or sale event plausible in the next 12 months.
  • · Oldest live charge 23.0y old — refinance window within 12 months
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Nov 2024
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
83/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 45200
Sector: Wholesale & retail
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 63-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 83/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (70/100, director aged 63). 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 23.0y

65/100
clean up first

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

  • · Oldest live charge is 23.0 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 (76/100)

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 (2 active, 5 linked, 2 with DOB)
78
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
66 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
83/100Exceptional
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
85
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£0Nov 2023Nov 2024

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2024-11-302023-11-30
Average employees1400-1400

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
0
filings
Last 90 days
0
filings
Last 180 days
1
filing
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (26 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-10-21
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2025-05-21
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  3. 2025-05-20
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  4. 2024-11-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  5. 2024-04-23
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  6. 2024-01-26
    📄
    accounts-amended-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AAMD
  7. 2023-11-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  8. 2023-09-19
    📄
    termination-secretary-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM02
  9. 2023-08-19
    ➖
    PATON, Sandra Adam resigned
    secretary
  10. 2023-05-25
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  11. 2023-05-25
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  12. 2022-11-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  13. 2022-04-29
    📄
    appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
    officers · AP01
  14. 2022-04-19
    ➕
    MCDOUGALL, Nicholas appointed
    director
  15. 2021-11-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  16. 2021-09-17
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  17. 2020-03-02
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  18. 2019-03-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  19. 2003-04-28
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: Clydesdale Bank Public Limited Company
  20. 2002-11-19
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As AUTO-TEC (SCOTLAND) LIMITED
  21. 2002-11-19
    ➕
    MCKENZIE, Robert appointed
    director
  22. 2002-11-19
    ➕
    PATON, Sandra Adam appointed
    secretary
  23. 2002-11-19
    ➕
    BRIAN REID LTD. appointed
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  24. 2002-11-19
    ➖
    BRIAN REID LTD. resigned
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  25. 2002-11-19
    ➕
    STEPHEN MABBOTT LTD. appointed
    corporate-nominee-director
  26. 2002-11-19
    ➖
    STEPHEN MABBOTT LTD. resigned
    corporate-nominee-director

Owner dependency

76/100
High — earn-out structure required

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

FACTORS
  • +Two-director setup: Only two active directors — typical of owner-managed SMEs but limits succession.
  • +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 23 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Senior director age: Director aged approximately 63 — approaching natural succession window.

Succession & seller-readiness

86/100
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 63. Approaching typical UK retirement age — succession thinking likely.
  • secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
  • primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 23 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 23 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
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr Robert Mackenzie
Individual · British · DOB 02/1963 · age 63
——sig. influencesignificant influence01/07/2016

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

6 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
Incorporated2002-11-19
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC45200 — SIC 45200

Registered office

C/O Horizon Ca
5 La Belle Place
Glasgow
G3 7LH
Scotland

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-08-31
Last made up to: 2024-11-30
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-02-18
Last: 2026-02-04

Officers (2 active · 3 resigned)

MCDOUGALL, Nicholas→
director · ~43y · appointed 2022-04-19
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
MCKENZIE, Robert→
director · ~63y · appointed 2002-11-19
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
PATON, Sandra Adam→
secretary · appointed 2002-11-19 · resigned 2023-08-19
Resigned
BRIAN REID LTD.→
corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 2002-11-19 · resigned 2002-11-19
Resigned
STEPHEN MABBOTT LTD.→
corporate-nominee-director · appointed 2002-11-19 · resigned 2002-11-19
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
Virgin Money
Clydesdale Bank Public Limited Company
Floating charge1 property28/04/2003—
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (66 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-02-05
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-10-21
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-10-01
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2025-05-21
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2025-05-20
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-11-29
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-09-19
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2024-04-23
accounts-amended-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AAMD
2024-01-26
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-11-29
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-09-19
termination-secretary-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM02
2023-09-19
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2023-05-25
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2023-05-25
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-11-30