DIGITAL LAND SURVEYS LIMITED

🌳Matureactive
SC331165 · ltd · incorporated 2007-09-19
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
hardening · 12-months
Already tight — no obvious softening catalysts on the horizon.
  • · Thesis: well-run, low negotiation leverage
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Oct 2024
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
80/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: Quantity surveying activities
Sector: Professional, scientific & technical
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 73-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 80/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 73). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

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
75
Lenders & charges
Confirmed no charges registered
85
Directors & officers
3 officers (3 active, 3 linked, 2 with DOB)
83
Ownership & PSC
2 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 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
80/100Exceptional
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
90
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 · FRS 102
Metric2024-10-312023-10-31
Average employees300300

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
0
filings
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (19 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-07-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-07-15
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  3. 2023-07-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  4. 2023-02-10
    📄
    capital-allotment-shares
    capital · SH01
  5. 2022-07-04
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  6. 2021-05-20
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  7. 2020-06-06
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  8. 2019-07-03
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  9. 2018-06-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  10. 2017-07-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  11. 2017-02-06
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  12. 2016-07-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  13. 2015-10-15
    📄
    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. 2014-10-20
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  16. 2007-09-19
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As DIGITAL LAND SURVEYS LIMITED
  17. 2007-09-19
    ➕
    AYLING, Margaret appointed
    secretary
  18. 2007-09-19
    ➕
    AYLING, Margaret appointed
    director
  19. 2007-09-19
    ➕
    AYLING, Richard Edward appointed
    director

Owner dependency

91/100
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
  • +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.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 73 — succession pressure is live.
  • +Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

Succession & seller-readiness

89/100
Likely off-market candidate

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

SIGNALS
  • primaryFounder aged 70+: Senior director is approximately 73 years old. Natural succession window is now.
  • 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
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mrs Margaret Ayling
Individual · British · DOB 07/1954 · age 72
25–50%
25–50%25-50% shares · 25-50% voting06/04/2016
Mr Richard Edward Ayling
Individual · British · DOB 05/1953 · age 73
25–50%
25–50%25-50% shares · 25-50% voting06/04/2016

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
Incorporated2007-09-19
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC74902 — Quantity surveying activities

Registered office

Albany Chambers
Albany Street
Oban
Argyll & Bute
PA34 4NL
Scotland

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-07-31
Last made up to: 2024-10-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-10-03
Last: 2025-09-19

Officers (3 active · 0 resigned)

AYLING, Margaret→
secretary · appointed 2007-09-19
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
AYLING, Margaret→
director · ~72y · appointed 2007-09-19
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
AYLING, Richard Edward→
director · ~73y · appointed 2007-09-19
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active

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

Recent filings (44 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-09-24
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-07-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-09-20
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-07-15
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-09-21
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-07-28
capital-allotment-shares
capital · SH01
2023-02-10
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-09-21
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-07-04
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-09-20
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-05-20
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-09-24
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2020-06-06
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-09-23
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2019-07-03