THE SUSTAINABLE WATER COMPANY LTD.

💤Zombieactive

SC272816 · ltd · incorporated 2004-09-01

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 Sept 2024

Net worth

£85.0k

book net assets

Opportunity

77/100

Strong

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What this business does

Primary activity: Environmental consulting activities

Sector: Professional, scientific & technical

Investor take

Pursue

Strong opportunity: active trading company with strong profile and bankable structure.

Opportunity 77/100 (strong), bankability 80/100. 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

2 live charges · oldest 14.3y

45/100

under pressure

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

· Oldest live charge is 14.3 years old — likely at or near maturity.
· Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
· Distress signals active — lender appetite narrows.

Data confidence

Overall: medium (79/100)

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

2 charges (2/2 with lender, 2/2 with type)

Directors & officers

6 officers (2 active, 6 linked, 2 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

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

Director network

3 connected companies via shared directors

Filing history

59 filings on record

Gazette notices

No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)

Opportunity Score

77/100Strong

PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional

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

Business quality

Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.

Acquirability

Some acquirability indicators.

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 £85,007

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts

Cash

—

Net Worth

£85k

↑ 65% YoY

Current Assets

£19k

↑ 3.3% YoY

Current Liabilities

—

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown

Metric	2024-09-30	2023-09-30
Total assets	£86.8k	£53.3k
Current assets	£19.3k	£18.7k
Net assets	£85.0k	£51.5k

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

filings

Last 90 days

filings

Last 180 days

filings

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (29 events)Click to expand

2025-06-27
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-06-27
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-06-29
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accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-06-28
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-06-25
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2020-06-29
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2019-06-27
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2018-06-20
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2017-06-30
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2016-06-28
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2015-10-23
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2015-06-30
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2014-09-25
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2014-09-25
📄
mortgage-create-with-deed-with-charge-number-charge-creation-date
mortgage · MR01
2014-09-22
🔒
Charge registered #2
Lender: East of Scotland Investment Fund Limited
2014-07-28
✏️
certificate-change-of-name-company
change-of-name · CERTNM
2013-05-31
🔓
Charge satisfied #1
2012-02-09
🔒
Charge registered #1
Lender: East of Scotland Investment Fund Limited
2011-07-28
➖
AUMONIER, Jonathan resigned
director
2010-03-09
➕
AUMONIER, Jonathan appointed
director
2004-09-01
🏢
Company incorporated
As THE SUSTAINABLE WATER COMPANY LTD.
2004-09-01
➕
EMMS, Ruth appointed
secretary
2004-09-01
➕
EMMS, Derrick Alan appointed
director
2004-09-01
➕
PETER TRAINER COMPANY SECRETARIES LTD. appointed
corporate-nominee-secretary
2004-09-01
➖
PETER TRAINER COMPANY SECRETARIES LTD. resigned
corporate-nominee-secretary
2004-09-01
➕
PETER TRAINER COMPANY SECRETARIES LTD. appointed
corporate-nominee-director
2004-09-01
➖
PETER TRAINER COMPANY SECRETARIES LTD. resigned
corporate-nominee-director
2004-09-01
➕
PETER TRAINER CORPORATE SERVICES LTD. appointed
corporate-nominee-director
2004-09-01
➖
PETER TRAINER CORPORATE SERVICES LTD. resigned
corporate-nominee-director

Owner dependency

85/100

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.

Succession & seller-readiness

75/100

Likely off-market candidate

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

SIGNALS

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

1 active beneficial owner · dominant holder ≥75%

Name	Shares	Voting rights	Nature of control	Notified
Mr Derrick Alan Emms Individual · British · DOB 01/1971 · age 55	75–100%	75–100%	board controlsig. influence75-100% shares · 75-100% voting · board control · significant influence	30/06/2016

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 · Professional services · EH postcode area

Company	Est. value	Turnover	Net worth	Staff	Age	Opp	Director
CHARLES RIVER LABORATORIES EDINBURGH LIMITED→ SC091725 · est 1985	£131.60M £96.97M–£166.24M	£135.39M	—	135900	41y	85	67y
ROBERTSON EDUCATION (ABERDEENSHIRE) HOLDINGS LIMITED→ SC209010 · est 2000	£5.47M £4.03M–£6.91M	—	—	0	25y	85	60y
DSF (2003) LIMITED→ SC144009 · est 1993	£4.70M £3.46M–£5.93M	—	—	7	33y	87	61y
FCC (EAST AYRSHIRE) HOLDINGS LIMITED→ SC300470 · est 2006	£3.99M £2.94M–£5.03M	—	—	0	20y	87	60y
BLYTH & BLYTH CONSULTING ENGINEERS LIMITED→ SC241155 · est 2002	£2.78M £2.05M–£3.52M	—	—	93	23y	87	85y
SIBCAS LIMITED→ SC052604 · est 1973	£1.88M £1.39M–£2.38M	—	—	165	53y	88	68y
HORIZON (GP) LIMITED→ SC493523 · est 2014	£45.2k £33.3k–£57.1k	—	—	6	11y	95	66y
BURNDENE INVESTMENTS LIMITED→ SC015613 · est 1929	£14.3k £10.5k–£18.0k	—	—	0	96y	83	63y
3 ED HOLDINGS 2 LIMITED→ SC328040 · est 2007 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	18y	83	65y
ABACUS FINANCIAL MARKETING LIMITED→ SC197503 · est 1999	—	—	£3.4k	—	26y	83	59y
ACCOUNTING & TAXATION SERVICE LTD→ SC360357 · est 2009 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	16y	83	58y
BRINDLEY ASSOCIATES LIMITED→ SC290803 · est 2005	—	—	—	1300	20y	83	59y

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

Incorporated2004-09-01

Jurisdictionscotland

Primary SIC74901 — Environmental consulting activities

Registered office

16 Park Terrace

Kirknewton

West Lothian

EH27 8AB

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2026-06-30

Last made up to: 2024-09-30

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2026-09-15

Last: 2025-09-01

Officers (2 active · 4 resigned)

EMMS, Ruth→

secretary · appointed 2004-09-01

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

EMMS, Derrick Alan→

director · ~55y · appointed 2004-09-01

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

PETER TRAINER COMPANY SECRETARIES LTD.→

corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 2004-09-01 · resigned 2004-09-01

Resigned

AUMONIER, Jonathan→

director · ~62y · appointed 2010-03-09 · resigned 2011-07-28

Resigned

PETER TRAINER COMPANY SECRETARIES LTD.→

corporate-nominee-director · appointed 2004-09-01 · resigned 2004-09-01

Resigned

PETER TRAINER CORPORATE SERVICES LTD.→

corporate-nominee-director · appointed 2004-09-01 · resigned 2004-09-01

Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

Total charges

Outstanding

Active lenders

Status:Lender:2 of 2 shown

			Type	Properties
	outstanding	East of Scotland Investment Fund East of Scotland Investment Fund Limited	A registered charge	—	22/09/2014	—
	satisfied	East of Scotland Investment Fund East of Scotland Investment Fund Limited	Bond & floating charge	1 property	09/02/2012	31/05/2013

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