CHARLIE ESSON LTD.

💤Zombieactive

SC251514 · ltd · incorporated 2003-06-20

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.

Why now

Window steady · low confidence

Steady and stalled — no momentum either way. Needs an approach trigger.

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 Jun 2025

Net worth

£15.3k

book net assets

Opportunity

82/100

Exceptional

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What this business does

Primary activity: Other business support service activities n.e.c.

Sector: Administrative & support services

Investor take

Pursue

Active trading company with a 69-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 69). 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 (73/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

1 live charge · oldest 14.7y

45/100

under pressure

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

· Oldest live charge is 14.7 years old — likely at or near maturity.
· Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
· Distress signals active — lender appetite narrows.

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

Lenders & charges

1 charges (1/1 with lender, 1/1 with type)

Directors & officers

4 officers (2 active, 4 linked, 1 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

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

Director network

Network not yet resolved

Filing history

57 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.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · accounting standard not declared

Positive net assets

Net assets £15,263

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts

Cash

—

Net Worth

£15k

↑ 1658% YoY

Current Assets

£24k

↑ 3.5% YoY

Current Liabilities

—

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown

Metric	2025-06-30	2024-06-30
Total assets	£24.4k	£20.0k
Current assets	£24.4k	£23.6k
Net assets	£15.3k	£868

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

Recent activity

Last 30 days

filing

• 1 confirmation-statement

Last 90 days

filing

• 1 confirmation-statement

Last 180 days

filing

• 1 confirmation-statement

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (23 events)Click to expand

2025-10-21
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-11-08
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-11-16
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-11-07
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-10-25
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2020-11-20
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2019-10-01
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2018-10-18
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2018-01-05
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2017-06-28
📄
notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
2017-06-05
📍
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2017-02-13
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2016-06-21
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2015-10-29
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2015-06-22
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2011-10-24
🔒
Charge registered #1
Lender: Clydesdale Bank PLC
2003-06-20
🏢
Company incorporated
As CHARLIE ESSON LTD.
2003-06-20
➕
ESSON, Doris Lena appointed
secretary
2003-06-20
➕
ESSON, Charles appointed
director
2003-06-20
➕
BRIAN REID LTD. appointed
corporate-nominee-secretary
2003-06-20
➖
BRIAN REID LTD. resigned
corporate-nominee-secretary
2003-06-20
➕
STEPHEN MABBOTT LTD. appointed
corporate-nominee-director
2003-06-20
➖
STEPHEN MABBOTT LTD. resigned
corporate-nominee-director

Owner dependency

100/100

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 "ESSON" — 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 69 — succession pressure is live.

Succession & seller-readiness

95/100

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.
primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
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 Charles Esson Individual · British · DOB 04/1957 · age 69	75–100%	—	75-100% shares	06/04/2017

From Companies House Persons with Significant Control filings. Share ranges are banded per the public PSC regime.

Similar companies

Active · Trade services · AB postcode area

Company	Est. value	Turnover	Net worth	Staff	Age	Opp	Director
ENPRO SUBSEA LIMITED→ SC398784 · est 2011	£8.95M £6.71M–£11.19M	—	—	34	15y	84	66y
UNITY WELL INTEGRITY UK LIMITED→ SC273906 · est 2004	£5.70M £4.27M–£7.12M	—	—	8200	21y	84	62y
JAMES JAMIESON CONSTRUCTION LIMITED→ SC386496 · est 2010	£2.69M £2.02M–£3.36M	£13.65M	—	3800	15y	84	68y
CASTLETON FRUIT LTD.→ SC369372 · est 2009	£2.18M £1.63M–£2.72M	£15.34M	—	30100	16y	83	52y
MINTRA LTD→ SC362194 · est 2009	£1.21M £909.4k–£1.52M	£11.76M	—	7500	16y	85	62y
ACUMEN FINANCIAL PLANNING LIMITED→ SC215343 · est 2001	—	—	£1.05M	—	25y	83	74y
ANIRAC LIMITED→ SC280789 · est 2005	—	—	£1.67M	—	21y	83	85y
ASHLEY PROPERTIES ABERDEEN LIMITED→ SC315836 · est 2007 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	19y	83	78y
BUILDTALL LIMITED→ SC235986 · est 2002	—	—	£4.39M	—	23y	83	59y
DRUMMUIR & BOTRIPHNIE COMMUNITY TRUST→ SC273043 · est 2004 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	21y	83	67y
ERT CAMELOT LIMITED→ SC301741 · est 2006 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	20y	83	72y
FRASERBURGH ENGINEERING CO. LTD.→ SC208965 · est 2000	—	—	£1.02M	—	26y	83	63y

Peers ranked by estimated value, then turnover, then opportunity score.See all →

🔒Tailored diligence questions

8 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.

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Company details

Statusactive

Typeltd

Incorporated2003-06-20

Jurisdictionscotland

Primary SIC82990 — Other business support service activities n.e.c.

Registered office

West Powlair

Finzean

Banchory

AB31 6PH

Scotland

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2027-03-31

Last made up to: 2025-06-30

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2027-06-30

Last: 2026-06-16

Officers (2 active · 2 resigned)

ESSON, Doris Lena→

secretary · appointed 2003-06-20

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

ESSON, Charles→

director · ~69y · appointed 2003-06-20

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

BRIAN REID LTD.→

corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 2003-06-20 · resigned 2003-06-20

Resigned

STEPHEN MABBOTT LTD.→

corporate-nominee-director · appointed 2003-06-20 · resigned 2003-06-20

Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

Total charges

Outstanding

Active lenders

Status:Lender:1 of 1 shown

			Type	Properties
	outstanding	Virgin Money Clydesdale Bank PLC	Floating charge	1 property	24/10/2011	—

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