COILA CONSULTING LIMITED

🌳Matureactive
SC244206 · ltd · incorporated 2003-02-19
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 17.8y old — refinance window within 12 months
🔒Estimated value
Upgrade to see
Turnover
year to Mar 2025
Net worth
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
🔔
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What this business does
Primary activity: Specialised design activities
Sector: Professional, scientific & technical
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 69-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 85/100. Strong seller-intent signal (73/100, director aged 69). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

2 live charges · oldest 17.8y

85/100
ready

Refinance conversation should be productive — structure clean and timing right.

  • · Oldest live charge is 17.8 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
  • · Legal-friction score 15/100 — clean.

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
75
Lenders & charges
2 charges (2/2 with lender, 2/2 with type)
90
Directors & officers
7 officers (4 active, 7 linked, 5 with DOB)
84
Ownership & PSC
2 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
75 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.

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
Net Worth
Current Assets
Current Liabilities
£0£6k£13k£19k£26k£32kMar 2024Mar 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102
Metric2025-03-312024-03-31
Total assets£16.6k
Current assets£32.5k
Cash£2.2k
Debtors£30.3k
Net assets£3.0k
Average employees2

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 confirmation-statement
Last 180 days
1
filing
  • 1 confirmation-statement
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (33 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-10-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-12-19
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  3. 2023-12-22
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  4. 2022-12-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  5. 2021-12-21
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  6. 2021-08-13
    📄
    mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
    mortgage · MR04
  7. 2021-08-13
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #2
  8. 2021-07-03
    📄
    mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
    mortgage · MR04
  9. 2021-07-03
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #1
  10. 2020-12-18
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  11. 2020-11-02
    📄
    second-filing-of-confirmation-statement-with-made-up-date
    confirmation-statement · RP04CS01
  12. 2020-11-02
    📄
    second-filing-capital-allotment-shares
    capital · RP04SH01
  13. 2020-01-26
    📄
    capital-allotment-shares
    capital · SH01
  14. 2020-01-26
    📄
    notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
  15. 2019-12-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  16. 2019-05-15
    📄
    change-person-secretary-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH03
  17. 2019-05-15
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  18. 2019-05-15
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  19. 2019-05-15
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  20. 2019-05-15
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  21. 2018-02-22
    MCGILLIVRAY, Ian Andrew appointed
    director
  22. 2016-07-01
    MCGILLIVRAY, Ian Andrew resigned
    director
  23. 2016-01-10
    MCGILLIVRAY, Anne Isabel, Professor appointed
    director
  24. 2009-10-10
    MCGILLIVRAY, Anne Isabel, Professor resigned
    director
  25. 2009-10-10
    MCGILLIVRAY, Ian Andrew appointed
    director
  26. 2008-08-06
    🔒
    Charge registered #2
    Lender: Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
  27. 2008-07-21
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
  28. 2003-02-19
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As COILA CONSULTING LIMITED
  29. 2003-02-19
    MCGILLIVRAY, James appointed
    secretary
  30. 2003-02-19
    MCGILLIVRAY, James appointed
    director
  31. 2003-02-19
    OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED appointed
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  32. 2003-02-19
    OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED resigned
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  33. 2003-02-19
    MCGILLIVRAY, Anne Isabel, Professor appointed
    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
  • +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 23 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 69 — succession pressure is live.
  • +Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

Succession & seller-readiness

80/100
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 69. Approaching typical UK retirement age — succession thinking likely.
  • 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

2 active beneficial owners · dominant holder ≥75%
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr James Mcgillivray
Individual · British · DOB 06/1957 · age 69
75100%
75-100% shares25/01/2020
Professor Anne Isabel Mcgillivray
Individual · United Kingdom · DOB 03/1959 · age 67
sig. influencesignificant influence30/10/2016

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
Incorporated2003-02-19
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC74100 — Specialised design activities

Registered office

Coila, 16 Douglas Avenue
Prestwick
Ayrshire
KA9 1SB

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2027-01-05
Last made up to: 2025-03-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-03-05
Last: 2026-02-19

Officers (4 active · 3 resigned)

MCGILLIVRAY, James
secretary · appointed 2003-02-19
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
MCGILLIVRAY, Anne Isabel, Professor
director · ~67y · appointed 2016-01-10
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
MCGILLIVRAY, Ian Andrew
director · ~40y · appointed 2018-02-22
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
MCGILLIVRAY, James
director · ~69y · appointed 2003-02-19
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED
corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 2003-02-19 · resigned 2003-02-19
Resigned
MCGILLIVRAY, Anne Isabel, Professor
director · ~67y · appointed 2003-02-19 · resigned 2009-10-10
Resigned
MCGILLIVRAY, Ian Andrew
director · ~40y · appointed 2009-10-10 · resigned 2016-07-01
Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

2
Total charges
0
Outstanding
0
Active lenders
Status:Lender:2 of 2 shown
TypeProperties
satisfied
Lloyds Banking Group
Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
Standard security1 property06/08/200813/08/2021
satisfied
Lloyds Banking Group
Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
Bond & floating charge1 property21/07/200803/07/2021

Recent filings (75 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-03-03
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-10-23
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-02-19
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-12-19
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-02-22
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-12-22
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-03-03
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-12-23
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-02-19
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-12-21
mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
mortgage · MR04
2021-08-13
mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
mortgage · MR04
2021-07-03
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-02-19
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-12-18
second-filing-of-confirmation-statement-with-made-up-date
confirmation-statement · RP04CS01
2020-11-02