COPYLAB LIMITED

💤Zombieactive
SC297035 · ltd · incorporated 2006-02-13
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 Feb 2025
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
77/100
Strong
🔔
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What this business does
Primary activity: Advertising agencies
Sector: Professional, scientific & technical
Investor take
Pursue
Strong opportunity: active trading company with strong profile and bankable structure.

Opportunity 77/100 (strong), bankability 85/100. Strong seller-intent signal (68/100, director aged 53). 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 9.9y

45/100
under pressure

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

  • · Oldest live charge is 9.9 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
  • · Distress signals active — lender appetite narrows.

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
2 charges (2/2 with lender, 2/2 with type)
90
Directors & officers
3 officers (1 active, 3 linked, 2 with DOB)
83
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
4 connected companies via shared directors
57
Filing history
54 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
77/100Strong
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional 

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

Business quality
70
Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.
Acquirability
60
Some acquirability indicators.
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£0Feb 2024Feb 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102
Metric2025-02-282024-02-29
Average employees172600

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

🔒Filing-note intelligence

2 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
0
filings
Last 90 days
0
filings
Last 180 days
1
filing
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (25 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-08-25
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2025-04-22
    📄
    termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM01
  3. 2025-04-22
    📄
    termination-secretary-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM02
  4. 2025-03-31
    ➖
    HUNTER, Samantha Jayne resigned
    secretary
  5. 2025-03-31
    ➖
    HUNTER, Samantha J resigned
    director
  6. 2024-11-22
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  7. 2024-02-20
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  8. 2023-11-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  9. 2023-02-13
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  10. 2022-07-12
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  11. 2022-03-17
    📄
    mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
    mortgage · MR04
  12. 2022-03-17
    📄
    mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
    mortgage · MR04
  13. 2022-03-17
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #2
  14. 2022-03-17
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #1
  15. 2021-06-16
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  16. 2020-08-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  17. 2019-10-09
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  18. 2018-06-13
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  19. 2017-07-12
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  20. 2016-09-01
    🔒
    Charge registered #2
    Lender: Santander UK PLC
  21. 2016-08-17
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: Santander UK PLC
  22. 2011-11-01
    ➕
    HUNTER, Samantha J appointed
    director
  23. 2006-02-13
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As COPYLAB LIMITED
  24. 2006-02-13
    ➕
    HUNTER, Ross appointed
    director
  25. 2006-02-13
    ➕
    HUNTER, Samantha Jayne appointed
    secretary

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 20 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 20 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 20 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.)

Group structure

Copylab Holdings Limited is the ultimate parent — holding 75%+ shares. This company sits inside their group.

🏛️
Copylab Holdings Limited
Corporate parent · holds 75-100% shares · board control
ultimate parent
⬇
COPYLAB LIMITED
This company · SC297035

Parent relationships inferred from Persons with Significant Control filings. Full subsidiary tree requires reverse-lookup (coming).

Shareholders & ownership

1 active beneficial owner · dominant holder ≥75%
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Copylab Holdings Limited
Corporate entity
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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£3.56M
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——3125y8375y
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——6027y8349y
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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
Incorporated2006-02-13
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC73110 — Advertising agencies

Registered office

Macfarlane Gray House Castlecraig Business Park
Springbank Road
Stirling
FK7 7WT

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-11-30
Last made up to: 2025-02-28
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-02-25
Last: 2026-02-11

Officers (1 active · 2 resigned)

HUNTER, Ross→
director · ~53y · appointed 2006-02-13
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
HUNTER, Samantha Jayne→
secretary · appointed 2006-02-13 · resigned 2025-03-31
Resigned
HUNTER, Samantha J→
director · ~53y · appointed 2011-11-01 · resigned 2025-03-31
Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

2
Total charges
0
Outstanding
0
Active lenders
Status:Lender:2 of 2 shown
TypeProperties
satisfied
Santander
Santander UK PLC
A registered charge1 property01/09/201617/03/2022
satisfied
Santander
Santander UK PLC
A registered charge1 property17/08/201617/03/2022

Recent filings (54 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-02-13
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-08-25
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2025-04-22
termination-secretary-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM02
2025-04-22
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-02-11
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-11-22
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-02-20
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2024-02-20
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-11-28
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-02-14
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2023-02-13
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-07-12
mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
mortgage · MR04
2022-03-17
mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
mortgage · MR04
2022-03-17
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-02-14