D & K LAFFERTY & COMPANY LIMITED

🌳Matureactive

SC243279 · ltd · incorporated 2003-02-03

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.

Why now

Window steady · low confidence

Steady and tidy — no seller pressure yet. Approach only if an angle opens.

Opportunity decay

approaching window · 12-months

Approaching a transaction window — refinance or sale event plausible in the next 12 months.

· Oldest live charge 16.4y old — refinance window within 12 months

What changed my view

Last 30 days

No material changes in the last 30 days.

Last 90 days

No snapshot from 90 days ago — start tracking from today.

Last 180 days

No snapshot from 180 days ago — start tracking from today.

🔒Estimated value

—

Upgrade to see

Turnover

—

year to Apr 2025

Net worth

—

book net assets

Opportunity

82/100

Exceptional

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What this business does

Primary activity: SIC 42910

Sector: Construction

Investor take

Pursue

Active trading company with a 64-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (70/100, director aged 64). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Discharge stale live charges. 2 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

2 live charges · oldest 16.4y

65/100

clean up first

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

· Oldest live charge is 16.4 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, 1 SIC codes, incorporation date

100

Financials

2 years of iXBRL accounts extracted (YoY deltas available) + narrative notes parsed

Lenders & charges

2 charges (2/2 with lender, 2/2 with type)

Directors & officers

6 officers (3 active, 6 linked, 3 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

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

Director network

Network not yet resolved

Filing history

60 filings on record

Gazette notices

No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)

Opportunity Score

82/100Exceptional

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

100

Good data coverage for analysis.

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts

Cash

—

Net Worth

—

Current Assets

—

Current Liabilities

—

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102

Metric	2025-04-05	2024-04-05
Total assets	—	£1.51M
Current assets	—	£805.5k
Cash	—	£611.8k
Debtors	—	£118.6k
Net assets	—	£1.41M
Average employees	13	—

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

🔒Filing-note intelligence

2 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

filings

Last 90 days

filings

Last 180 days

filing

• 1 confirmation-statement

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (27 events)Click to expand

2025-12-03
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-12-19
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-11-23
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-08-10
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-10-27
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-09-15
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-12-13
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-12-05
➕
LAFFERTY, Kathleen Macintyre appointed
director
2019-12-05
📄
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2018-12-18
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2017-11-30
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2016-07-12
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2016-02-09
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2015-05-18
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2015-02-09
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2014-05-07
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2010-03-30
🔒
Charge registered #2
Lender: Clydesdale Bank PLC
2010-01-26
🔒
Charge registered #1
Lender: Clydesdale Bank PLC
2006-04-10
➕
LAFFERTY, Kathleen Macintyre appointed
secretary
2006-03-21
➖
LAFFERTY, Isobel resigned
secretary
2006-03-21
➖
LAFFERTY, Isobel resigned
director
2003-02-03
🏢
Company incorporated
As D & K LAFFERTY & COMPANY LIMITED
2003-02-03
➕
LAFFERTY, David appointed
director
2003-02-03
➕
LAFFERTY, Isobel appointed
secretary
2003-02-03
➕
OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED appointed
corporate-nominee-secretary
2003-02-03
➖
OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED resigned
corporate-nominee-secretary
2003-02-03
➕
LAFFERTY, Isobel appointed
director

Owner dependency

99/100

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.
+Founder name in company name: Company name contains director surname "LAFFERTY" — 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.
+Senior director age: Director aged approximately 64 — approaching natural succession window.
+Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

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 64. 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 · dominant holder ≥75%

Name	Shares	Voting rights	Nature of control	Notified
Mr David Lafferty Individual · British · DOB 07/1962 · age 64	75–100%	—	75-100% shares	06/04/2016

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

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

Incorporated2003-02-03

Jurisdictionscotland

Primary SIC42910 — SIC 42910

Registered office

6 Knipoch Place

Oban

Argyll

PA34 4ED

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2027-01-05

Last made up to: 2025-04-05

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2027-02-17

Last: 2026-02-03

Officers (3 active · 3 resigned)

LAFFERTY, Kathleen Macintyre→

secretary · appointed 2006-04-10

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

LAFFERTY, David→

director · ~64y · appointed 2003-02-03

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

LAFFERTY, Kathleen Macintyre→

director · ~58y · appointed 2019-12-05

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

LAFFERTY, Isobel→

secretary · appointed 2003-02-03 · resigned 2006-03-21

Resigned

OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED→

corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 2003-02-03 · resigned 2003-02-03

Resigned

LAFFERTY, Isobel→

director · ~93y · appointed 2003-02-03 · resigned 2006-03-21

Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

Total charges

Outstanding

Active lenders

Status:Lender:2 of 2 shown

			Type	Properties
	outstanding	Virgin Money Clydesdale Bank PLC	Standard security	1 property	30/03/2010	—
	outstanding	Virgin Money Clydesdale Bank PLC	Floating charge	1 property	26/01/2010	—

Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.