C.D.J. WATSON LIMITED

🌳Matureactive
SC241714 · ltd · incorporated 2002-12-31
Investment thesis
Property vehicle with a workable charge structure — clean refinance potential.
Why interesting: Asset-backed; value largely in underlying property; lender engagement likely possible.
Why risky: Dependent on title and valuation due diligence; standard property risks.
Opportunity decay
approaching window · 12-months
Approaching a transaction window — refinance or sale event plausible in the next 12 months.
  • · Oldest live charge 21.9y old — refinance window within 12 months
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to May 2025
Net worth
£124.4k
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: Construction of commercial buildings
Sector: Construction
ALSO REGISTERED FOR
  • 41202Construction of domestic buildings
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 82-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (63/100, director aged 82). 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 (65/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

1 live charge · oldest 21.9y

65/100
clean up first

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

  • · Oldest live charge is 21.9 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 (77/100)

Adequate coverage. AI outputs are reliable for the sections scored high; verify the rest in diligence.

Company profile
address, 2 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 (4 active, 5 linked, 3 with DOB)
82
Ownership & PSC
3 active PSC(s) of 3 total, 3 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
70 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 105 (micro)
Positive net assets
Net assets £124,359
Net assets shrinking
Down £20,941 YoY

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
—
Net Worth
£124k
↓ 14% YoY
Current Assets
£68k
↓ 41% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
£0£29k£58k£87k£116k£145kMay 2024May 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 105 (micro)
Metric2025-05-312024-05-31
Total assets£125.2k£149.1k
Current assets£68.0k£115.5k
Net assets£124.4k£145.3k

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
1
filing
  • • 1 accounts
Last 180 days
2
filings
  • • 1 accounts
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (23 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-02-24
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  2. 2025-09-19
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  3. 2025-09-19
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  4. 2025-09-19
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  5. 2025-09-19
    📄
    change-person-secretary-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH03
  6. 2025-02-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  7. 2024-02-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  8. 2023-02-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  9. 2022-05-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  10. 2021-05-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  11. 2020-02-21
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  12. 2019-02-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  13. 2018-02-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  14. 2017-02-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  15. 2017-02-16
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  16. 2004-05-31
    ➕
    WATSON, Kenneth David appointed
    director
  17. 2004-05-31
    ➕
    WATSON, Patricia Margaret appointed
    director
  18. 2004-05-27
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland
  19. 2002-12-31
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As C.D.J. WATSON LIMITED
  20. 2002-12-31
    ➕
    WATSON, Patricia Margaret appointed
    secretary
  21. 2002-12-31
    ➕
    WATSON, Cedric David Johnston appointed
    director
  22. 2002-12-31
    ➕
    OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED appointed
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  23. 2002-12-31
    ➖
    OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED resigned
    corporate-nominee-secretary

Owner dependency

98/100
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
  • +Founder name in company name: Company name contains director surname "WATSON" — strong identity link between founder and business.
  • +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 23 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 82 — succession pressure is live.
  • +Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

Succession & seller-readiness

90/100
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 82 years old. Natural succession window is now.
  • 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

3 active beneficial owners
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr Cedric David Johnston Watson
Individual · British · DOB 08/1944 · age 82
25–50%
25–50%25-50% shares · 25-50% voting06/04/2016
Mrs Patricia Margaret Watson
Individual · British · DOB 12/1949 · age 77
25–50%
25–50%25-50% shares · 25-50% voting06/04/2016
Mr Kenneth David Watson
Individual · British · DOB 12/1972 · age 54
25–50%
25–50%25-50% shares · 25-50% voting06/04/2016

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
Incorporated2002-12-31
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC41201 — Construction of commercial buildings

Registered office

21 West Port
Linlithgow
EH49 7AY
Scotland

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2027-02-28
Last made up to: 2025-05-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-01-14
Last: 2025-12-31

Officers (4 active · 1 resigned)

WATSON, Patricia Margaret→
secretary · appointed 2002-12-31
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
WATSON, Cedric David Johnston→
director · ~82y · appointed 2002-12-31
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
WATSON, Kenneth David→
director · ~54y · appointed 2004-05-31
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
WATSON, Patricia Margaret→
director · ~77y · appointed 2004-05-31
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED→
corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 2002-12-31 · resigned 2002-12-31
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 Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland
Bond & floating charge1 property27/05/2004—
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (70 total)

accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2026-02-24
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-12-31
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2025-09-19
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2025-09-19
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2025-09-19
change-person-secretary-company-with-change-date
officers · CH03
2025-09-19
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-02-28
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-12-31
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-02-29
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-01-11
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-02-23
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-01-02
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-05-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-01-12
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-05-31