UNST SHELLFISH LTD.

🌳Matureactive

SC326121 · ltd · incorporated 2007-06-21

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.

Opportunity decay

approaching window · 12-months

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

· Oldest live charge 18.8y old — refinance window within 12 months

🔒Estimated value

—

Upgrade to see

Turnover

—

year to Jun 2025

Net worth

£180.6k

book net assets

Opportunity

83/100

Exceptional

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What this business does

Primary activity: SIC 03110

Sector: Agriculture, forestry & fishing

Investor take

Pursue

Active trading company with a 61-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 83/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. 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 (65/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

2 live charges · 2 lenders · oldest 18.8y

50/100

clean up first

Refinance viable after a tidy-up — address the highlighted items first.

· Oldest live charge is 18.8 years old — likely at or near maturity.
· Two lenders — manageable, but coordination required.
· Legal-friction score 25/100 — workable, but lender will want more DD.

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, 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

5 officers (3 active, 5 linked, 2 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

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

Director network

Network not yet resolved

Filing history

50 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.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · accounting standard not declared

Positive net assets

Net assets £180,595

Cash YoY

+59%

Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts

Cash

£31k

↑ 59% YoY

Net Worth

£181k

↑ 8.0% YoY

Current Assets

£87k

↑ 10% YoY

Current Liabilities

—

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown

Metric	2025-06-30	2024-06-30
Total assets	£232.9k	£235.2k
Current assets	£87.1k	£78.9k
Cash	£30.7k	£19.4k
Debtors	£10.4k	£11.0k
Net assets	£180.6k	£167.2k

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

filings

Last 180 days

filing

• 1 accounts

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (26 events)Click to expand

2026-01-26
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-01-10
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-12-18
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-01-24
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-01-20
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-01-20
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2019-12-11
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2018-12-13
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2018-01-18
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2016-12-06
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2016-06-25
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2016-01-21
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2015-06-22
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2014-12-17
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2014-06-23
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2013-11-26
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2008-03-05
🔒
Charge registered #2
Lender: Mac Mussels Limtied
2007-07-30
🔒
Charge registered #1
Lender: The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland
2007-06-21
🏢
Company incorporated
As UNST SHELLFISH LTD.
2007-06-21
➕
NIVEN, David William appointed
secretary
2007-06-21
➕
NIVEN, David William appointed
director
2007-06-21
➕
PRIEST, Terence Vincent appointed
director
2007-06-21
➕
BRIAN REID LTD. appointed
corporate-secretary
2007-06-21
➖
BRIAN REID LTD. resigned
corporate-secretary
2007-06-21
➕
STEPHEN MABBOTT LTD. appointed
corporate-director
2007-06-21
➖
STEPHEN MABBOTT LTD. resigned
corporate-director

Owner dependency

76/100

High — earn-out structure required

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

FACTORS

+Two-director setup: Only two active directors — typical of owner-managed SMEs but limits succession.
+Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 19 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
+Senior director age: Director aged approximately 61 — approaching natural succession window.

Succession & seller-readiness

69/100

Strong succession signal

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

SIGNALS

secondaryFounder aged 58+: Senior director is approximately 61. Early succession window.
secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
secondary12+ year tenure: Director in role 19 years.
secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 19 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
Terence Vincent Priest Individual · British · DOB 09/1968 · age 58	25–50%	25–50%	25-50% shares · 25-50% voting	06/04/2016
David William Niven Individual · British · DOB 08/1965 · age 61	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.

Similar companies

Active · Agriculture · ZE postcode area

Company	Est. value	Turnover	Net worth	Staff	Age	Opp	Director
RESEARCH FISHING CO. LIMITED→ SC103453 · est 1987	£15.65M £12.04M–£19.26M	—	—	0	39y	81	87y
CHARISMA HOLDING COMPANY LIMITED→ SC207704 · est 2000	£14.85M £11.42M–£18.28M	—	—	0	25y	80	75y
GRONIDAAL ORGANIC SMOLTS LTD.→ SC307638 · est 2006	—	—	£396.2k	—	19y	83	82y
C & A THOMASON LTD.→ SC197920 · est 1999	—	—	£217.5k	—	26y	82	88y
GUIDING LIGHT FISHING COMPANY LIMITED→ SC339799 · est 2008	—	—	—	2	18y	82	58y
SHETLAND MARINE LIMITED→ SC398706 · est 2011	—	—	—	3	15y	82	70y
SHETLAND SEAFOOD AUCTIONS LIMITED→ SC190378 · est 1998	—	—	£408.2k	—	27y	82	62y
TINGWALL LIVESTOCK LIMITED→ SC285843 · est 2005	—	—	£247.4k	—	20y	82	75y
ANDERSON BROS (VOE) LTD.→ SC246814 · est 2003	—	—	£220.2k	—	23y	80	64y
BLUESHELL MUSSELS LIMITED→ SC254395 · est 2003	—	—	£16.08M	—	22y	80	58y
COLLAFIRTH SEAFARMS LIMITED→ SC335991 · est 2008	—	—	—	—	18y	80	70y
CRIBBA SOUND LTD.→ SC291896 · est 2005	—	—	£95.5k	—	20y	80	58y

Peers ranked by estimated value, then turnover, then opportunity score.See all →

🔒Tailored diligence questions

6 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

Incorporated2007-06-21

Jurisdictionscotland

Primary SIC03110 — SIC 03110

Registered office

Maundeville, Uyeasound

Unst

Shetland

ZE2 9DL

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2027-03-31

Last made up to: 2025-06-30

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2026-07-05

Last: 2025-06-21

Officers (3 active · 2 resigned)

NIVEN, David William→

secretary · appointed 2007-06-21

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

NIVEN, David William→

director · ~61y · appointed 2007-06-21

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

PRIEST, Terence Vincent→

director · ~58y · appointed 2007-06-21

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

BRIAN REID LTD.→

corporate-secretary · appointed 2007-06-21 · resigned 2007-06-21

Resigned

STEPHEN MABBOTT LTD.→

corporate-director · appointed 2007-06-21 · resigned 2007-06-21

Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

Total charges

Outstanding

Active lenders

Status:Lender:2 of 2 shown

			Type	Properties
	outstanding	Mac Mussels Limtied	Floating charge	1 property	05/03/2008	—
	outstanding	Lloyds Banking Group The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland	Bond & floating charge	1 property	30/07/2007	—

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