COLIN LAWSON TRANSPORT LIMITED

📉Decliningactive

SC268596 · ltd · incorporated 2004-06-01

Investment thesis

Established operating company — standard diligence applies, no dominant angle.

Why interesting: Live, filing, normal profile.

Why risky: No standout signals in either direction.

Opportunity decay

drifting distress · 6-months

Drifting toward distress — expect more negotiability in 3–6 months, but also more friction.

· Lifecycle stage drifting downward
· Currently "declining"

🔒Estimated value

—

Upgrade to see

Turnover

£8.74M

year to Dec 2024

Net worth

—

book net assets

Opportunity

82/100

Exceptional

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What this business does

Primary activity: SIC 45200

Sector: Wholesale & retail

ALSO REGISTERED FOR

49410Freight transport by road

Investor take

Pursue

Strong opportunity: leverage-led grower with exceptional profile and acceptable with review structure.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 67/100. Strong seller-intent signal (70/100, director aged 59). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Consolidate lender relationships. 3 distinct lenders creates friction — refinance into single-lender structure for cleaner diligence. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (85/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

3 live charges · 3 lenders · oldest 16.0y

35/100

too messy

Refinance path is blocked by complexity. Rethink structure or expect bespoke, expensive terms.

· Oldest live charge is 16.0 years old — likely at or near maturity.
· 3 lenders named — inter-creditor friction likely.
· Legal-friction score 35/100 — workable, but lender will want more DD.

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, 2 SIC codes, incorporation date

100

Financials

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

Lenders & charges

3 charges (3/3 with lender, 3/3 with type)

Directors & officers

3 officers (2 active, 3 linked, 1 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

2 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared

Director network

2 connected companies via shared directors

Filing history

58 filings on record

Gazette notices

No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)

🔒Estimated company valuation

Sector-multiple EBITDA, turnover, and NAV-proxy valuation range with confidence tier — derived from extracted iXBRL financials.

Available from the Pro tier upwards.

See pricing →

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 · FRS 102

Profitable

Profit before tax £348,862

Turnover YoY

+5%

Year on year

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	2024-12-31	2023-12-31
Turnover	£8.74M	£8.37M
Gross profit	£1.36M	£1.20M
Operating profit	£437.0k	£546.7k
Profit before tax	£348.9k	£471.2k
Average employees	7300	7300

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 accounts

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (23 events)Click to expand

2025-12-18
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-full
accounts · AA
2024-09-25
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-full
accounts · AA
2023-12-22
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-full
accounts · AA
2022-12-19
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-full
accounts · AA
2021-12-22
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-full
accounts · AA
2020-07-23
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-full
accounts · AA
2020-06-11
📄
change-account-reference-date-company-previous-shortened
accounts · AA01
2020-06-11
📍
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2019-12-23
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-full
accounts · AA
2019-02-27
📍
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2018-12-27
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-full
accounts · AA
2018-01-03
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-full
accounts · AA
2016-12-23
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-full
accounts · AA
2016-06-09
📄
mortgage-create-with-deed-with-charge-number-charge-creation-date
mortgage · MR01
2016-06-08
🔒
Charge registered #3
Lender: Clydesdale Bank PLC (Trading as Both Clydesdale Bank and Yorkshire Bank)
2016-06-07
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2016-04-06
🔒
Charge registered #2
Lender: Clydesdale Bank PLC (Trading as Both Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank) (Company Number SC001111)
2010-05-07
🔒
Charge registered #1
Lender: Clydesdale Bank PLC
2004-06-01
🏢
Company incorporated
As COLIN LAWSON TRANSPORT LIMITED
2004-06-01
➕
LAWSON, Lisa appointed
secretary
2004-06-01
➕
LAWSON, Colin appointed
director
2004-06-01
➕
OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED appointed
corporate-nominee-secretary
2004-06-01
➖
OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED resigned
corporate-nominee-secretary

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 "LAWSON" — strong identity link between founder and business.
+Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 22 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
+Senior director age: Director aged approximately 59 — approaching natural succession window.

Succession & seller-readiness

85/100

Likely off-market candidate

Strong acquirability signals converging. Worth approaching directly — this is how off-market deals start.

SIGNALS

secondaryFounder aged 58+: Senior director is approximately 59. Early succession window.
primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 22 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 22 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%

Name	Shares	Voting rights	Nature of control	Notified
Mr Colin Lawson Individual · British · DOB 05/1967 · age 59	75–100%	—	75-100% shares	01/06/2016
Mrs Lisa Suzanne Lawson Individual · British · DOB 11/1968 · age 58	25–50%	—	25-50% shares	01/06/2016

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 →

Similar companies

Active · Automotive · AB postcode area

Company	Est. value	Turnover	Net worth	Staff	Age	Opp	Director
BREAKING POINT LIMITED→ SC167411 · est 1996	—	—	£22.6k	—	29y	83	61y
CARS RECOVERY LIMITED→ SC334403 · est 2007	—	—	£186.5k	—	18y	83	68y
MACDUFF DIESELS LTD.→ SC177616 · est 1997	—	—	£909.3k	—	28y	83	70y
A. W. AUTOTECH LIMITED→ SC172396 · est 1997	—	—	£527.7k	—	29y	82	59y
ALAN J. ROSS MOTOR ENGINEERS LTD.→ SC178820 · est 1997	—	—	£382.8k	—	28y	82	72y
BRIDGE OF DON GARAGE LIMITED→ SC285473 · est 2005	—	—	£163.5k	—	20y	82	65y
CAMERON AUTOTECH LIMITED→ SC241160 · est 2002	—	—	£1.27M	—	23y	82	65y
CITYVOE LIMITED→ SC274365 · est 2004	—	—	—	700	21y	82	63y
COTTAGE CARS (ABERDEEN) LTD.→ SC350432 · est 2008	—	—	—	—	17y	82	65y
CROWN MOTORS (A & I) LIMITED→ SC128540 · est 1990	—	—	£2.41M	—	35y	82	66y
NORTH EAST CUSTOM COATINGS LIMITED→ SC738283 · est 2022 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	3y	—	—
RWRMOTORS LTD→ SC694869 · est 2021 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	5y	—	—

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

🔒Tailored diligence questions

9 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

Incorporated2004-06-01

Jurisdictionscotland

Primary SIC45200 — SIC 45200

Registered office

Epic House Crawpeel Road

Altens Industrial Estate

Aberdeen

AB12 3LG

Scotland

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2026-09-30

Last made up to: 2024-12-31

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2026-06-12

Last: 2025-05-29

Officers (2 active · 1 resigned)

LAWSON, Lisa→

secretary · appointed 2004-06-01

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

LAWSON, Colin→

director · ~59y · appointed 2004-06-01

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED→

corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 2004-06-01 · resigned 2004-06-01

Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

Total charges

Outstanding

Active lenders

Status:Lender:3 of 3 shown

		Type	Properties
outstanding	Virgin Money Clydesdale Bank PLC (Trading as Both Clydesdale Bank and Yorkshire Bank)	A registered charge	1 property	08/06/2016	—
outstanding	Virgin Money Clydesdale Bank PLC (Trading as Both Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank) (Company Number SC001111)	A registered charge	—	06/04/2016	—
outstanding	Virgin Money Clydesdale Bank PLC	Floating charge	1 property	07/05/2010	—

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

Recent filings (58 total)

accounts-with-accounts-type-full

accounts · AA

2025-12-18

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates

confirmation-statement · CS01

2025-06-12

accounts-with-accounts-type-full

accounts · AA

2024-09-25

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates

confirmation-statement · CS01

2024-05-29

accounts-with-accounts-type-full

accounts · AA

2023-12-22

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates

confirmation-statement · CS01

2023-06-02

accounts-with-accounts-type-full

accounts · AA

2022-12-19

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates

confirmation-statement · CS01

2022-06-06

accounts-with-accounts-type-full

accounts · AA

2021-12-22

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates

confirmation-statement · CS01

2021-05-31

accounts-with-accounts-type-full

accounts · AA

2020-07-23

change-account-reference-date-company-previous-shortened

accounts · AA01

2020-06-11

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates

confirmation-statement · CS01

2020-06-11

change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address

address · AD01

2020-06-11

accounts-with-accounts-type-full

accounts · AA

2019-12-23