IAIN GORDON ENGINEERING LIMITED

💤Zombieactive

SC286899 · ltd · incorporated 2005-07-01

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.

Why now

Window steady · low confidence

Steady and stalled — no momentum either way. Needs an approach trigger.

What changed my view

Last 30 days

No material changes in the last 30 days.

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 Jul 2025

Net worth

—

book net assets

Opportunity

75/100

Strong

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What this business does

Primary activity: Other engineering activities

Sector: Professional, scientific & technical

Investor take

Pursue

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

Opportunity 75/100 (strong), bankability 75/100. 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).

Data confidence

Overall: medium (69/100)

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

1 year of iXBRL accounts extracted (no YoY comparison) + narrative notes parsed

Lenders & charges

Confirmed no charges registered

Directors & officers

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

Ownership & PSC

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

Director network

Network not yet resolved

Filing history

48 filings on record

Gazette notices

No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)

Opportunity Score

75/100Strong

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

Good data coverage for analysis.

Key financials

1 year extracted from filed iXBRL accounts

Cash

—

Net Worth

—

Current Assets

—

Current Liabilities

—

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102

Metric	2025-07-31
Average employees	200

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

filing

• 1 accounts

Last 180 days

filing

• 1 accounts

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (18 events)Click to expand

2026-04-28
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-03-07
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-04-10
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-03-30
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-11-05
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2020-11-19
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2019-12-10
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2019-05-13
📍
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2019-01-22
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2017-10-05
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2016-11-08
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2016-04-28
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2015-08-11
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2015-03-12
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2014-07-07
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2005-07-01
🏢
Company incorporated
As IAIN GORDON ENGINEERING LIMITED
2005-07-01
➕
GORDON, Fiona appointed
secretary
2005-07-01
➕
GORDON, Iain 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.
+Founder name in company name: Company name contains director surname "GORDON" — strong identity link between founder and business.
+Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 21 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
+No director turnover: Company is 21 years old with no director changes — suggests a very tight-knit founder team never broadened.

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 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

2 active beneficial owners

Name	Shares	Voting rights	Nature of control	Notified
Mr Iain Gordon Individual · British · DOB 07/1972 · age 54	25–50%	25–50%	board controlsig. influence25-50% shares · 25-50% voting · board control · significant influence	01/07/2016
Mrs Fiona Gordon Individual · British · DOB 10/1973 · age 53	25–50%	25–50%	board controlsig. influence25-50% shares · 25-50% voting · board control · significant influence	01/07/2016

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

Similar companies

Active · Professional services · AB postcode area

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STREAMLINE SHIPPING GROUP LIMITED→ SC131956 · est 1991	£15.91M £11.73M–£20.10M	—	—	0	35y	83	74y
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T D C PARSONS PEEBLES LIMITED→ SC663297 · est 2020	£2.76M £2.03M–£3.48M	£11.52M	—	5100	6y	87	77y
ROTECH HOLDINGS LIMITED→ SC148822 · est 1994	£1.97M £1.45M–£2.49M	£453.6k	—	0	32y	92	58y
WELLTEC (UK) LTD.→ SC204742 · est 2000	£134.9k £99.4k–£170.4k	£17.23M	—	3200	26y	93	62y
ACCURA MEASUREMENT LIMITED→ SC322109 · est 2007	—	—	£5.47M	—	19y	83	60y
ALLEN ASSOCIATES (H.P.E.) LIMITED→ SC201596 · est 1999 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	26y	83	59y
CONNECT NDT LIMITED→ SC205224 · est 2000	—	—	—	—	26y	83	70y
CUMMING & CO. (ABERDEEN) LTD.→ SC248131 · est 2003	—	—	£352.1k	—	23y	83	58y
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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.

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Company details

Statusactive

Typeltd

Incorporated2005-07-01

Jurisdictionscotland

Primary SIC71129 — Other engineering activities

Registered office

27 Baillie Crescent

Alford

Aberdeenshire

AB33 8EZ

Scotland

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2027-04-30

Last made up to: 2025-07-31

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2026-07-15

Last: 2025-07-01

Officers (2 active · 0 resigned)

GORDON, Fiona→

secretary · appointed 2005-07-01

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

GORDON, Iain→

director · ~54y · appointed 2005-07-01

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

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