D. M. CLARKSON LTD

💤Zombieactive
SC244556 · ltd · incorporated 2003-02-25
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 Mar 2025
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
74/100
Strong
🔔
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What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 45200
Sector: Wholesale & retail
ALSO REGISTERED FOR
  • 52103SIC 52103
  • 68209Other letting and operating of own or leased real estate
Investor take
Pursue
Strong opportunity: active trading company with strong profile and bankable structure.

Opportunity 74/100 (strong), bankability 85/100. High owner-dependency — earn-out structure likely required for clean transition. Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Broaden director team. Sole director creates succession risk and reduces buyer comfort. Appoint a second director or strong #2. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (58/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

1 live charge · oldest 23.0y

45/100
under pressure

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

  • · Oldest live charge is 23.0 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, 3 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 2 total, 2 with control declared
90
Director network
1 connected companies via shared directors
48
Filing history
66 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
74/100Strong
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional 

Solid opportunity signal. Worth a dedicated memo and management meeting.

Business quality
70
Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.
Acquirability
50
Some acquirability indicators.
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£178k£357k£535k£714k£892kMar 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—£893.7k
Current assets—£763.6k
Cash—£753.7k
Debtors—£8.9k
Net assets—£892.1k
Average employees2—

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
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 (27 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-10-21
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-10-12
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  3. 2023-11-19
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  4. 2022-10-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  5. 2021-10-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  6. 2020-12-01
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  7. 2019-12-13
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  8. 2019-09-14
    ➖
    CLARKSON, Alexander Noble resigned
    director
  9. 2019-09-14
    📄
    termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM01
  10. 2019-03-05
    📄
    notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
  11. 2019-03-05
    📄
    cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
  12. 2019-01-23
    📄
    appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
    officers · AP01
  13. 2018-12-06
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  14. 2018-08-19
    📄
    mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
    mortgage · MR04
  15. 2018-08-19
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #1
  16. 2018-07-17
    📄
    resolution
    resolution · RESOLUTIONS
  17. 2018-07-11
    📄
    resolution
    resolution · RESOLUTIONS
  18. 2018-07-10
    ➕
    CLARKSON, David Kerr appointed
    director
  19. 2017-11-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  20. 2003-05-02
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
  21. 2003-03-04
    ➕
    CLARKSON, Janet appointed
    secretary
  22. 2003-03-04
    ➖
    @UKPLC CLIENT SECRETARY LTD resigned
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  23. 2003-03-04
    ➕
    CLARKSON, Alexander Noble appointed
    director
  24. 2003-03-04
    ➖
    @UKPLC CLIENT DIRECTOR LTD resigned
    corporate-nominee-director
  25. 2003-02-25
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As D. M. CLARKSON LTD
  26. 2003-02-25
    ➕
    @UKPLC CLIENT SECRETARY LTD appointed
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  27. 2003-02-25
    ➕
    @UKPLC CLIENT DIRECTOR LTD appointed
    corporate-nominee-director

Owner dependency

90/100
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.
  • +Founder name in company name: Company name contains director surname "CLARKSON" — strong identity link between founder and business.

Succession & seller-readiness

55/100
Strong succession signal

Multiple signals suggest succession is on the horizon. Candidate for proactive outreach.

SIGNALS
  • primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 23 years old and no new directors in the last 3 years — succession not yet being planned internally.

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 David Kerr Clarkson
Individual · British · DOB 09/1977 · age 49
75–100%
—75-100% shares30/06/2018
1 historic (ceased) PSC
  • Mr Alexander Noble Clarksonceased 30/06/2018· 75-100% shares · 75-100% voting

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 →

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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
Incorporated2003-02-25
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC45200 — SIC 45200

Registered office

Borderline Garage, Hartree Road
Biggar
Lanarkshire
ML12 6JJ

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-12-31
Last made up to: 2025-03-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-03-11
Last: 2026-02-25

Officers (2 active · 3 resigned)

CLARKSON, Janet→
secretary · appointed 2003-03-04
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
CLARKSON, David Kerr→
director · ~49y · appointed 2018-07-10
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
@UKPLC CLIENT SECRETARY LTD→
corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 2003-02-25 · resigned 2003-03-04
Resigned
CLARKSON, Alexander Noble→
director · ~76y · appointed 2003-03-04 · resigned 2019-09-14
Resigned
@UKPLC CLIENT DIRECTOR LTD→
corporate-nominee-director · appointed 2003-02-25 · resigned 2003-03-04
Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

1
Total charges
0
Outstanding
0
Active lenders
Status:Lender:1 of 1 shown
TypeProperties
satisfied
Lloyds Banking Group
The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
Bond & floating charge1 property02/05/200319/08/2018

Recent filings (66 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-02-25
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-10-21
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-02-27
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2024-10-12
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-02-26
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2023-11-19
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-02-26
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2022-10-30
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-02-26
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2021-10-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-03-01
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-12-01
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-03-06
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2019-12-13
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2019-09-14