ENGINEERING SPREADSHEETS LTD.

💤Zombieactive
SC302290 · ltd · incorporated 2006-05-12
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 Mar 2025
Net worth
£620.6k
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: Other letting and operating of own or leased real estate
Sector: Real estate
ALSO REGISTERED FOR
  • 71121Engineering design activities for industrial process and production
Investor take
Pursue
Property-backed borrower with a 66-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 66). 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).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

1 live charge · oldest 13.1y

45/100
under pressure

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

  • · Oldest live charge is 13.1 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
  • · Distress signals active — lender appetite narrows.

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, 2 SIC codes, incorporation date
100
Financials
2 years of iXBRL accounts extracted (YoY deltas available) + narrative notes parsed
75
Lenders & charges
1 charges (1/1 with lender, 1/1 with type)
90
Directors & officers
4 officers (2 active, 4 linked, 1 with DOB)
75
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
48 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
🔒Estimated company valuation

Sector-multiple EBITDA, turnover, and NAV-proxy valuation range with confidence tier — derived from extracted iXBRL financials.

Available from the Pro tier upwards.

See pricing →
Opportunity Score
82/100Exceptional
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
100
Good data coverage for analysis.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · accounting standard not declared
Positive net assets
Net assets £620,625

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
—
Net Worth
£621k
↑ 2.7% YoY
Current Assets
£205k
↑ 7.5% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
£0£124k£248k£372k£497k£621kMar 2024Mar 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2025-03-312024-03-31
Total assets£620.6k£604.4k
Current assets£205.2k£190.8k
Net assets£620.6k£604.4k

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

Recent activity

Last 30 days
0
filings
Last 90 days
0
filings
Last 180 days
1
filing
  • • 1 accounts
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (24 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-12-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  2. 2025-03-11
    📄
    capital-allotment-shares
    capital · SH01
  3. 2024-11-18
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  4. 2023-12-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  5. 2022-10-11
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  6. 2021-12-22
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  7. 2021-01-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  8. 2019-12-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  9. 2018-12-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  10. 2017-07-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  11. 2016-12-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  12. 2016-05-19
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  13. 2015-12-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  14. 2015-05-22
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  15. 2014-09-16
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  16. 2014-06-12
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  17. 2013-03-27
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: Clydesdale Bank PLC
  18. 2006-05-12
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As ENGINEERING SPREADSHEETS LTD.
  19. 2006-05-12
    ➕
    JONES, Moira Catherine Florence appointed
    secretary
  20. 2006-05-12
    ➕
    NICOLSON, Robert Davidson appointed
    director
  21. 2006-05-12
    ➕
    BRIAN REID LTD. appointed
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  22. 2006-05-12
    ➖
    BRIAN REID LTD. resigned
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  23. 2006-05-12
    ➕
    STEPHEN MABBOTT LTD. appointed
    corporate-nominee-director
  24. 2006-05-12
    ➖
    STEPHEN MABBOTT LTD. resigned
    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
  • +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.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 66 — succession pressure is live.

Succession & seller-readiness

88/100
Likely off-market candidate

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

SIGNALS
  • primaryFounder aged 63+: Senior director is approximately 66. Approaching typical UK retirement age — succession thinking likely.
  • primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
  • secondary12+ year tenure: Director in role 20 years.
  • 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.)

Shareholders & ownership

1 active beneficial owner · dominant holder ≥75%
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr Robert Davidson Nicolson
Individual · British · DOB 04/1960 · age 66
75–100%
—75-100% shares12/05/2017

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

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
Incorporated2006-05-12
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC68209 — Other letting and operating of own or leased real estate

Registered office

550 Brook Street
Broughty Ferry
Dundee
DD5 2EB

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-12-31
Last made up to: 2025-03-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-05-26
Last: 2025-05-12

Officers (2 active · 2 resigned)

JONES, Moira Catherine Florence→
secretary · appointed 2006-05-12
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
NICOLSON, Robert Davidson→
director · ~66y · appointed 2006-05-12
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
BRIAN REID LTD.→
corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 2006-05-12 · resigned 2006-05-12
Resigned
STEPHEN MABBOTT LTD.→
corporate-nominee-director · appointed 2006-05-12 · resigned 2006-05-12
Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

1
Total charges
1
Outstanding
1
Active lenders
Status:Lender:1 of 1 shown
TypeProperties
outstanding
Virgin Money
Clydesdale Bank PLC
Account pledge1 property27/03/2013—
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (48 total)

accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-12-30
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-05-21
capital-allotment-shares
capital · SH01
2025-03-11
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-11-18
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-06-17
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-12-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-06-17
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-10-11
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-07-09
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-12-22
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-06-16
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-01-29
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-05-24
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2019-12-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-05-15