RESEARCH RELAY LIMITED

💤Zombieactive
SC279287 · ltd · incorporated 2005-02-02
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 Dec 2024
Net worth
£-13.3k
book net assets
Opportunity
80/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: Engineering related scientific and technical consulting activities
Sector: Professional, scientific & technical
Investor take
Pass (distressed without resilience)
Distressed active trading company — structural issues outweigh the discount.

Opportunity 80/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 74). 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).

Data confidence

Overall: high (80/100)

Strong data coverage across all sections. AI outputs should be trusted with minimal caveats.

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
Confirmed no charges registered
85
Directors & officers
4 officers (2 active, 4 linked, 2 with DOB)
80
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
7 connected companies via shared directors
66
Filing history
51 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
80/100Exceptional
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
90
Good data coverage for analysis.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · FRS 102
Negative net assets
Liabilities exceed assets by £13,271
Very low cash
Cash position: £23
Cash YoY
+35%
Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
£23
↑ 35% YoY
Net Worth
-£13k
↑ 3.6% YoY
Current Assets
£25k
~ YoY
Current Liabilities
—
-£14k-£6k£2k£10k£17k£25kDec 2023Dec 2024

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102
Metric2024-12-312023-12-31
Total assets£-7.6k£-7.1k
Current assets£25.1k£25.2k
Cash£23£17
Debtors£25.1k£25.2k
Net assets£-13.3k£-13.8k

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
0
filings
Last 90 days
2
filings
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
  • • 1 address
Last 180 days
2
filings
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
  • • 1 address
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (22 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-02-13
    📍
    move-registers-to-sail-company-with-new-address
    address · AD03
  2. 2025-09-18
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  3. 2024-09-25
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  4. 2023-05-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  5. 2022-09-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  6. 2021-09-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  7. 2020-10-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  8. 2019-09-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  9. 2018-09-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  10. 2017-09-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  11. 2016-09-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  12. 2016-02-18
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  13. 2015-09-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  14. 2015-02-25
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  15. 2015-02-25
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  16. 2011-12-31
    ➖
    GOWLAND, Esther Joy resigned
    director
  17. 2005-02-02
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As RESEARCH RELAY LIMITED
  18. 2005-02-02
    ➕
    GOWLAND, Dennis Stephen appointed
    secretary
  19. 2005-02-02
    ➕
    GOWLAND, Dennis Stephen appointed
    director
  20. 2005-02-02
    ➕
    OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED appointed
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  21. 2005-02-02
    ➖
    OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED resigned
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  22. 2005-02-02
    ➕
    GOWLAND, Esther Joy appointed
    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 21 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 74 — succession pressure is live.

Succession & seller-readiness

100/100
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 74 years old. Natural succession window is now.
  • primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
  • primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 21 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 21 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%
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr Dennis Stephen Gowland
Individual · British · DOB 05/1952 · age 74
75–100%
75–100%board control75-100% shares · 75-100% voting · board control06/04/2016

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 →

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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
Incorporated2005-02-02
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC71122 — Engineering related scientific and technical consulting activities

Registered office

New Horries
Deerness
Orkney
KW17 2QL
Scotland

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-09-30
Last made up to: 2024-12-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-02-16
Last: 2026-02-02

Officers (2 active · 2 resigned)

GOWLAND, Dennis Stephen→
secretary · appointed 2005-02-02
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
GOWLAND, Dennis Stephen→
director · ~74y · appointed 2005-02-02
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED→
corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 2005-02-02 · resigned 2005-02-02
Resigned
GOWLAND, Esther Joy→
director · ~46y · appointed 2005-02-02 · resigned 2011-12-31
Resigned

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

Recent filings (51 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-02-16
move-registers-to-sail-company-with-new-address
address · AD03
2026-02-13
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-09-18
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-02-16
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2024-09-25
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-02-09
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2023-05-29
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-02-15
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2022-09-29
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-02-04
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2021-09-29
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-02-15
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2020-10-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-02-11
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2019-09-30