M D LEISURE LIMITED

💤Zombieactive
SC268939 · ltd · incorporated 2004-06-08
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 · medium confidence
Mixed signals — 1 changes over 30 days, no clear direction yet.
  • · PSC count: 1 → 2
What changed my view
Last 30 days

Picture improved over the last 30 days — 1 positive signal vs 0 negative.

  • ↑PSC count: 1 → 2
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 Oct 2024
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
🔔
Follow this company (free)
Email alerts on filings, charges, director changes, gazette notices. No account needed.

Unsubscribe any time from any email. GDPR-respectful.

🔒Generate AI memo →🔒Outreach pack →🔒Corporate story →📑 Reports →Sign in to watch
What this business does
Primary activity: Hotels and similar accommodation
Sector: Accommodation & food service
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 65-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 65). 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 (73/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

2 live charges · oldest 20.8y

45/100
under pressure

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

  • · Oldest live charge is 20.8 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
75
Lenders & charges
2 charges (2/2 with lender, 2/2 with type)
90
Directors & officers
4 officers (2 active, 4 linked, 1 with DOB)
75
Ownership & PSC
2 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
54 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£0£0£0£0£0Oct 2023Oct 2024

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102
Metric2024-10-312023-10-31
Average employees423200

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
1
filing
  • • 1 persons-with-significant-control
Last 90 days
1
filing
  • • 1 persons-with-significant-control
Last 180 days
1
filing
  • • 1 persons-with-significant-control
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (25 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-06-05
    📄
    notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
  2. 2025-09-25
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  3. 2024-08-02
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  4. 2023-07-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  5. 2022-06-13
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  6. 2021-06-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  7. 2020-07-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  8. 2019-05-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  9. 2018-07-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  10. 2017-07-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  11. 2016-07-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  12. 2016-06-10
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  13. 2015-07-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  14. 2015-06-08
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  15. 2014-08-04
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  16. 2014-06-17
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  17. 2005-11-21
    🔒
    Charge registered #2
    Lender: The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
  18. 2005-08-11
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
  19. 2004-06-08
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As M D LEISURE LIMITED
  20. 2004-06-08
    ➕
    DONALDSON, Susan appointed
    secretary
  21. 2004-06-08
    ➕
    DONALDSON, Mark appointed
    director
  22. 2004-06-08
    ➕
    C.S. SECRETARIAL SERVICES LTD appointed
    corporate-secretary
  23. 2004-06-08
    ➖
    C.S. SECRETARIAL SERVICES LTD resigned
    corporate-secretary
  24. 2004-06-08
    ➕
    CS DIRECTOR SERVICES LIMITED appointed
    corporate-director
  25. 2004-06-08
    ➖
    CS DIRECTOR SERVICES LIMITED resigned
    corporate-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.
  • +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 22 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 65 — 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 65. 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 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
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr Mark Donaldson
Individual · British · DOB 12/1961 · age 65
50–75%
50–75%board control50-75% shares · 50-75% voting · board control09/06/2016
Susan Donaldson
Individual · British · DOB 04/1964 · age 62
25–50%
25–50%board control25-50% shares · 25-50% voting · board control06/04/2017

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

Similar companies

Active · Hospitality · ZE postcode area
CompanyEst. valueTurnoverNet worthStaffAgeOppDirector
CLAIRMONT ENTERPRISES LIMITED→
SC173386 · est 1997
——£714.7k—29y8258y
FORT CAFE & TAKEAWAY LIMITED→
SC310008 · est 2006
——£279.5k—19y8064y
J. R. WHITE & CO.→
SC221494 · est 2001
——£400.3k—24y8069y
HAPPY HADDOCK SHETLAND LIMITED→
SC312198 · est 2006
———50019y7974y
BALTASOUND HOTEL LTD→
SC530461 · est 2016
——£38.3k—10y7863y
HENSINGTON PALACE (SHETLAND) LTD→
SC389551 · est 2010
——£133.3k—15y7854y
C’EST LA VIE (SHETLAND) LTD→
SC575819 · est 2017
——£80.2k—8y7766y
CULLIVOE HALL TRADING COMPANY LIMITED→
SC558359 · est 2017
——£1—9y7771y
MARYFIELD HOUSE LIMITED→
SC570623 · est 2017
———48y7772y
LAS SELF CATERING LTD→
SC848795 · est 2025 · no financials extracted
————1y7664y
LERWICK BOATING CLUB LIMITED→
SC582936 · est 2017
———28y7663y
SAMON LIMITED→
SC869960 · est 2025 · no financials extracted
—————7661y
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.

See pricing →

Company details

Statusactive
Typeltd
Incorporated2004-06-08
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC55100 — Hotels and similar accommodation

Registered office

Vaila
Exnaboe
Virkie
Shetland
ZE3 9JS

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-07-31
Last made up to: 2024-10-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-06-22
Last: 2025-06-08

Officers (2 active · 2 resigned)

DONALDSON, Susan→
secretary · appointed 2004-06-08
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
DONALDSON, Mark→
director · ~65y · appointed 2004-06-08
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
C.S. SECRETARIAL SERVICES LTD→
corporate-secretary · appointed 2004-06-08 · resigned 2004-06-08
Resigned
CS DIRECTOR SERVICES LIMITED→
corporate-director · appointed 2004-06-08 · resigned 2004-06-08
Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

2
Total charges
2
Outstanding
1
Active lenders
Status:Lender:2 of 2 shown
TypeProperties
outstanding
Lloyds Banking Group
The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
Standard security1 property21/11/2005—
outstanding
Lloyds Banking Group
The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
Floating charge1 property11/08/2005—
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (54 total)

notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
2026-06-05
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-09-25
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-07-15
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-08-02
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-06-17
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-07-27
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-06-13
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-06-13
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-06-13
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-06-28
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-06-18
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-07-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-06-08
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-06-13
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-05-28