COMPREHENSIVE DESIGN ARCHITECTS LIMITED

🌳Matureactive

SC311114 · ltd · incorporated 2006-10-30

Investment thesis

Well-run mature business — low negotiation leverage; premium likely.

Why interesting: Textbook target; clean filings, stable trading.

Why risky: No pressure on seller; any deal likely at full price.

Why now

Window steady · low confidence

Steady and tidy — no seller pressure yet. Approach only if an angle opens.

Opportunity decay

approaching window · 12-months

Approaching a transaction window — refinance or sale event plausible in the next 12 months.

· Oldest live charge 19.7y old — refinance window within 12 months

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 Apr 2025

Net worth

—

book net assets

Opportunity

83/100

Exceptional

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What this business does

Primary activity: Architectural activities

Sector: Professional, scientific & technical

Investor take

Pursue

Active trading company with a 67-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 83/100 (exceptional), bankability 85/100. Strong seller-intent signal (73/100, director aged 67). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

2 live charges · 2 lenders · oldest 19.7y

70/100

ready

Refinance conversation should be productive — structure clean and timing right.

· Oldest live charge is 19.7 years old — likely at or near maturity.
· Two lenders — manageable, but coordination required.
· Legal-friction score 15/100 — clean.

Data confidence

Overall: high (81/100)

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

Lenders & charges

2 charges (2/2 with lender, 2/2 with type)

Directors & officers

12 officers (5 active, 12 linked, 11 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

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

Director network

4 connected companies via shared directors

Filing history

85 filings on record

Gazette notices

No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)

Opportunity Score

83/100Exceptional

PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional

Strong composite across quality, acquirability, and risk. High-priority target — progress to serious diligence.

Business quality

Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.

Acquirability

Strong succession / seller-readiness signals.

Risk profile

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

—

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102

Metric	2025-04-30	2024-04-30
Average employees	43	4100

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

filings

Last 90 days

filings

Last 180 days

filing

• 1 accounts

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (40 events)Click to expand

2026-01-29
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-12-04
📄
capital-cancellation-shares
capital · SH06
2025-12-04
📄
capital-return-purchase-own-shares
capital · SH03
2025-01-31
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-01-30
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-01-10
📄
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2023-12-11
➖
SAUNDERS, Nicholas Nathan resigned
director
2023-11-14
📄
mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
mortgage · MR04
2023-11-14
🔓
Charge satisfied #2
2023-01-31
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-01-27
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-02-24
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-01-29
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-09-23
📄
capital-cancellation-shares
capital · SH06
2019-09-23
📄
capital-return-purchase-own-shares
capital · SH03
2018-12-28
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-small
accounts · AA
2018-10-25
📄
capital-cancellation-shares
capital · SH06
2018-10-25
📄
capital-return-purchase-own-shares
capital · SH03
2017-05-12
➕
GRAY, Catriona appointed
director
2017-05-12
➕
SAUNDERS, Nicholas Nathan appointed
director
2016-12-19
🔓
Charge satisfied #1
2016-08-12
➖
ALLAN, Mark Morrison resigned
director
2016-08-09
🔒
Charge registered #2
Lender: Svenska Handelsbanken Ab (Publ)
2013-12-01
➕
MASSON, Craig George appointed
director
2010-12-24
➖
ROSS, David John resigned
director
2010-06-23
➖
LOW, Duncan Whyte resigned
director
2010-03-30
➖
ANAVI, Michael Brian resigned
secretary
2010-03-30
➖
ANAVI, Michael Brian resigned
director
2009-10-21
➕
CLARK, Andrew Geoffrey appointed
director
2009-10-21
➕
ROSS, David John appointed
director
2009-02-28
➖
ARCHIBALD, Merville Cowper resigned
director
2006-11-17
🔒
Charge registered #1
Lender: The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland
2006-10-30
🏢
Company incorporated
As COMPREHENSIVE DESIGN ARCHITECTS LIMITED
2006-10-30
➕
HANNAH, David appointed
director
2006-10-30
➕
HINDS, Thomas Francis appointed
director
2006-10-30
➕
ANAVI, Michael Brian appointed
secretary
2006-10-30
➕
ALLAN, Mark Morrison appointed
director
2006-10-30
➕
ANAVI, Michael Brian appointed
director
2006-10-30
➕
ARCHIBALD, Merville Cowper appointed
director
2006-10-30
➕
LOW, Duncan Whyte appointed
director

Owner dependency

65/100

High — earn-out structure required

Material founder dependency. Consider a 2-3 year earn-out and build in a handover plan before completion.

FACTORS

-5 active directors: Broader management team in place — suggests transferable governance.
+Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 20 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
+Founder age: Director aged approximately 67 — succession pressure is live.

Succession & seller-readiness

73/100

Strong succession signal

Multiple signals suggest succession is on the horizon. Candidate for proactive outreach.

SIGNALS

primaryFounder aged 63+: Senior director is approximately 67. Approaching typical UK retirement age — succession thinking likely.
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

2 active beneficial owners

Name	Shares	Voting rights	Nature of control	Notified
Mr Thomas Francis Hinds Individual · British · DOB 05/1966 · age 60	25–50%	25–50%	25-50% shares · 25-50% voting	06/04/2016
Mr David Hannah Individual · British · DOB 10/1959 · age 67	25–50%	25–50%	25-50% shares · 25-50% voting	06/04/2016

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 →

Similar companies

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CHARLES RIVER LABORATORIES EDINBURGH LIMITED→ SC091725 · est 1985	£131.60M £96.97M–£166.24M	£135.39M	—	135900	41y	85	67y
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DSF (2003) LIMITED→ SC144009 · est 1993	£4.70M £3.46M–£5.93M	—	—	7	33y	87	61y
FCC (EAST AYRSHIRE) HOLDINGS LIMITED→ SC300470 · est 2006	£3.99M £2.94M–£5.03M	—	—	0	20y	87	60y
NWH HOLDINGS LIMITED→ SC303441 · est 2006	£3.67M £2.70M–£4.64M	—	—	373	20y	88	61y
BLYTH & BLYTH CONSULTING ENGINEERS LIMITED→ SC241155 · est 2002	£2.78M £2.05M–£3.52M	—	—	93	23y	87	85y
SIBCAS LIMITED→ SC052604 · est 1973	£1.88M £1.39M–£2.38M	—	—	165	53y	88	68y
HORIZON (GP) LIMITED→ SC493523 · est 2014	£45.2k £33.3k–£57.1k	—	—	6	11y	95	66y
3 ED HOLDINGS 2 LIMITED→ SC328040 · est 2007 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	18y	83	65y
ACCOUNTING & TAXATION SERVICE LTD→ SC360357 · est 2009 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	17y	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

Incorporated2006-10-30

Jurisdictionscotland

Primary SIC71111 — Architectural activities

Registered office

16 Moray Place

Edinburgh

Midlothian

EH3 6DT

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2027-01-31

Last made up to: 2025-04-30

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2027-01-05

Last: 2025-12-22