DAVID SOMERVILLE LTD

🌳Matureactive

SC271242 · ltd · incorporated 2004-07-28

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.

🔒Estimated value

—

Upgrade to see

Turnover

—

year to Apr 2025

Net worth

£15.6k

book net assets

Opportunity

80/100

Exceptional

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What this business does

Primary activity: Architectural activities

Sector: Professional, scientific & technical

Investor take

Pursue

Asset-holding vehicle with a 81-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 80/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 81). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (73/100).

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

Confirmed no charges registered

Directors & officers

5 officers (2 active, 5 linked, 2 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

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

Director network

Network not yet resolved

Filing history

55 filings on record

Gazette notices

No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)

Opportunity Score

80/100Exceptional

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

Good data coverage for analysis.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · FRS 102

Positive net assets

Net assets £15,640

Net assets shrinking

Down £12,592 YoY

Cash YoY

-17%

Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts

Cash

£19k

↓ 17% YoY

Net Worth

£16k

↓ 45% YoY

Current Assets

£28k

↓ 33% YoY

Current Liabilities

—

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102

Metric	2025-04-30	2024-04-30
Total assets	£15.6k	£28.2k
Current assets	£27.5k	£41.1k
Cash	£18.5k	£22.3k
Debtors	£9.0k	£18.8k
Net assets	£15.6k	£28.2k

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

🔒Filing-note intelligence

3 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

filing

• 1 accounts

Last 180 days

filing

• 1 accounts

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (24 events)Click to expand

2026-02-28
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-02-21
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-01-31
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-02-28
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-04-30
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-04-30
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-01-30
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-01-31
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2018-01-29
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2017-01-31
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2015-11-09
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2015-10-01
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2014-08-18
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2014-07-24
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2013-10-31
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2012-07-01
➕
SOMERVILLE, Helena Zdenka Frantiska appointed
director
2012-07-01
➖
SOMERVILLE, Helena Zdenka Frantiska resigned
secretary
2004-09-30
➕
SOMERVILLE, David George appointed
director
2004-09-30
➕
SOMERVILLE, Helena Zdenka Frantiska appointed
secretary
2004-07-29
➖
FORM 10 SECRETARIES FD LTD resigned
corporate-nominee-secretary
2004-07-29
➖
FORM 10 DIRECTORS FD LTD resigned
corporate-nominee-director
2004-07-28
🏢
Company incorporated
As DAVID SOMERVILLE LTD
2004-07-28
➕
FORM 10 SECRETARIES FD LTD appointed
corporate-nominee-secretary
2004-07-28
➕
FORM 10 DIRECTORS FD LTD appointed
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

+Two-director setup: Only two active directors — typical of owner-managed SMEs but limits succession.
+Founder name in company name: Company name contains director surname "SOMERVILLE" — 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.
+Founder age: Director aged approximately 81 — succession pressure is live.
+Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

Succession & seller-readiness

96/100

Likely off-market candidate

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

SIGNALS

primaryFounder aged 70+: Senior director is approximately 81 years old. Natural succession window is now.
secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
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

1 active beneficial owner

Name	Shares	Voting rights	Nature of control	Notified
Mr David George Somerville Individual · British · DOB 04/1948 · age 78	25–50%	—	25-50% shares	01/05/2016

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

Incorporated2004-07-28

Jurisdictionscotland

Primary SIC71111 — Architectural activities

Registered office

Balchraggan Studio

Abriachan

Inverness

Highland

IV3 8LB

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2027-01-31

Last made up to: 2025-04-30

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2026-08-11

Last: 2025-07-28

Officers (2 active · 3 resigned)

SOMERVILLE, David George→

director · ~81y · appointed 2004-09-30

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

SOMERVILLE, Helena Zdenka Frantiska→

director · ~78y · appointed 2012-07-01

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

SOMERVILLE, Helena Zdenka Frantiska→

secretary · appointed 2004-09-30 · resigned 2012-07-01

Resigned

FORM 10 SECRETARIES FD LTD→

corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 2004-07-28 · resigned 2004-07-29

Resigned

FORM 10 DIRECTORS FD LTD→

corporate-nominee-director · appointed 2004-07-28 · resigned 2004-07-29

Resigned

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