COLE LIVING DESIGNS LIMITED

💤Zombieactive
SC309588 · ltd · incorporated 2006-10-03
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 Oct 2024
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: Buying and selling of own real estate
Sector: Real estate
ALSO REGISTERED FOR
  • 81100SIC 81100
Investor take
Pursue
Property-backed borrower with a 61-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (70/100, director aged 61). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Discharge stale live charges. 2 live charge(s) created 15+ years ago — likely paid but undischarged. Clean register. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (73/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

3 live charges · oldest 19.2y

45/100
under pressure

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

  • · Oldest live charge is 19.2 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
  • · Distress signals active — lender appetite narrows.

Data confidence

Overall: medium (77/100)

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
3 charges (3/3 with lender, 3/3 with type)
90
Directors & officers
2 officers (2 active, 2 linked, 1 with DOB)
80
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
44 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
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.

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
—
Net Worth
—
Current Assets
—
Current Liabilities
—
£0£0£0£0£0£0Oct 2023Oct 2024

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2024-10-312023-10-31

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
0
filings
Last 180 days
1
filing
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (21 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-04-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-04-02
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  3. 2023-03-22
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  4. 2022-11-11
    📄
    mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
    mortgage · MR04
  5. 2022-11-11
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #1
  6. 2022-02-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  7. 2021-07-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  8. 2020-07-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  9. 2019-06-05
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  10. 2018-06-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  11. 2017-07-25
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  12. 2016-07-21
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  13. 2015-11-09
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  14. 2015-07-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  15. 2014-10-27
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  16. 2007-12-04
    🔒
    Charge registered #3
    Lender: The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
  17. 2007-04-20
    🔒
    Charge registered #2
    Lender: The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
  18. 2007-02-28
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
  19. 2006-10-03
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As COLE LIVING DESIGNS LIMITED
  20. 2006-10-03
    ➕
    BOX, Catherine Ruth appointed
    secretary
  21. 2006-10-03
    ➕
    BOX, Geoff Charles Carey appointed
    director

Owner dependency

98/100
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.
  • +Senior director age: Director aged approximately 61 — approaching natural succession window.
  • +No director turnover: Company is 20 years old with no director changes — suggests a very tight-knit founder team never broadened.

Succession & seller-readiness

78/100
Likely off-market candidate

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

SIGNALS
  • secondaryFounder aged 58+: Senior director is approximately 61. Early succession window.
  • 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 Geoff Charles Carey Box
Individual · British · DOB 08/1965 · age 61
75–100%
—75-100% shares31/08/2016

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

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
Incorporated2006-10-03
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC68100 — Buying and selling of own real estate

Registered office

12 Ochiltree Court, Mid Calder
Livingston
West Lothian
EH53 0RU

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-07-31
Last made up to: 2024-10-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-11-22
Last: 2025-11-08

Officers (2 active · 0 resigned)

BOX, Catherine Ruth→
secretary · appointed 2006-10-03
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
BOX, Geoff Charles Carey→
director · ~61y · appointed 2006-10-03
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active

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

Mortgages & charges

3
Total charges
2
Outstanding
1
Active lenders
Status:Lender:3 of 3 shown
TypeProperties
outstanding
Lloyds Banking Group
The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
Standard security1 property04/12/2007—
outstanding
Lloyds Banking Group
The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
Standard security1 property20/04/2007—
satisfied
Lloyds Banking Group
The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
Bond & floating charge1 property28/02/200711/11/2022
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (44 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-12-08
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-04-27
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-12-11
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-04-02
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-11-16
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-10-15
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-03-22
mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
mortgage · MR04
2022-11-11
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-10-05
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-02-28
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-10-12
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-07-30
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-12-30
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2020-07-27
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-11-17