AEL HOLDINGS LIMITED

🌳Matureactive

SC335748 · ltd · incorporated 2008-01-03

Investment thesis

Established operating company — standard diligence applies, no dominant angle.

Why interesting: Live, filing, normal profile.

Why risky: No standout signals in either direction.

Opportunity decay

approaching window · 12-months

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

· Oldest live charge 18.1y old — refinance window within 12 months

🔒Estimated value

—

Upgrade to see

Turnover

—

year to Dec 2024

Net worth

—

book net assets

Opportunity

82/100

Exceptional

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What this business does

Primary activity: Financial management

Sector: Professional, scientific & technical

Investor take

Pursue

Active trading company with a 68-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 68). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Discharge stale live charges. 3 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

4 live charges · oldest 18.1y

65/100

clean up first

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

· Oldest live charge is 18.1 years old — likely at or near maturity.
· Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
· Legal-friction score 25/100 — workable, but lender will want more DD.

Data confidence

Overall: medium (79/100)

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

4 charges (4/4 with lender, 4/4 with type)

Directors & officers

6 officers (2 active, 6 linked, 4 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared

Director network

1 connected companies via shared directors

Filing history

72 filings on record

Gazette notices

No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)

Opportunity Score

82/100Exceptional

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	2024-12-31	2023-12-31
Average employees	200	200

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

filing

• 1 mortgage

Last 180 days

filings

• 1 mortgage
• 1 confirmation-statement

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (30 events)Click to expand

2026-03-11
📄
mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
mortgage · MR04
2026-03-11
🔓
Charge satisfied #1
2025-06-04
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-09-27
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-09-26
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-09-29
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-09-29
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-12-22
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-09-30
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2018-09-26
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2018-06-21
📍
change-sail-address-company-with-old-address-new-address
address · AD02
2018-06-14
📍
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2018-06-14
📄
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2018-01-16
➖
MASSIE, Lisa Jane resigned
director
2017-09-29
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2017-01-26
📍
move-registers-to-sail-company-with-new-address
address · AD03
2011-10-12
➖
MD SECRETARIES LIMITED resigned
corporate-nominee-secretary
2010-08-24
➕
WHYTE, Martin appointed
director
2010-08-24
➕
MASSIE, Lisa Jane appointed
director
2010-03-23
➖
GARDEN, Robert John resigned
director
2008-07-09
🔒
Charge registered #4
Lender: Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
2008-07-09
🔒
Charge registered #3
Lender: Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
2008-06-26
🔒
Charge registered #2
Lender: Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
2008-03-14
➕
HARPER, David Stephen appointed
director
2008-03-14
🔒
Charge registered #1
Lender: Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
2008-02-13
➕
GARDEN, Robert John appointed
director
2008-01-13
➖
MD DIRECTORS LIMITED resigned
corporate-nominee-director
2008-01-03
🏢
Company incorporated
As AEL HOLDINGS LIMITED
2008-01-03
➕
MD SECRETARIES LIMITED appointed
corporate-nominee-secretary
2008-01-03
➕
MD DIRECTORS LIMITED appointed
corporate-nominee-director

Owner dependency

83/100

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 18 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
+Founder age: Director aged approximately 68 — succession pressure is live.

Succession & seller-readiness

79/100

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 68. Approaching typical UK retirement age — succession thinking likely.
secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
secondary12+ year tenure: Director in role 18 years.
secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 18 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%

Name	Shares	Voting rights	Nature of control	Notified
Mr David Stephen Harper Individual · British · DOB 06/1958 · age 68	75–100%	75–100%	board control75-100% shares · 75-100% voting · board control	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

Active · Professional services · AB postcode area

Company	Est. value	Turnover	Net worth	Staff	Age	Opp	Director
FERGUS STEWART INTEGRITY LTD→ SC858282 · est 2025 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
FERGUSON GEOTECHNICAL LIMITED→ SC567675 · est 2017 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	8y	—	—
FINANCE GAP SOLUTIONS LIMITED→ SC474221 · est 2014 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	12y	—	—
FIND TOTALS LTD→ SC844843 · est 2025 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	1y	—	—
FLORIN ENGINEERING DESIGN LTD→ SC444600 · est 2013 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	13y	—	—
FORCHAN LTD→ SC421444 · est 2012 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	14y	—	—
FOUR SEAS CONSULTING LIMITED→ SC689068 · est 2021 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	5y	—	—
FOURLET (CASTLECALL) LIMITED→ SC330460 · est 2007 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	18y	—	—
FOX ENGINEERING SOLUTIONS LIMITED→ SC508885 · est 2015 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	10y	—	—
FPSO SUPPORT & SERVICES LTD→ SC387768 · est 2010 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	15y	—	—
FSPD DEVELOPMENTS LTD→ SC500435 · est 2015 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	11y	—	—
FULCRUM INDUSTRIAL SOLUTIONS LIMITED→ SC467706 · est 2014 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	12y	—	—

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

Incorporated2008-01-03

Jurisdictionscotland

Primary SIC70221 — Financial management

Registered office

Averon Engineering

Milton Of Thainstone

Inverurie

Aberdeenshire

AB51 5NS

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2026-09-30

Last made up to: 2024-12-31

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2027-01-30

Last: 2026-01-16

Officers (2 active · 4 resigned)

HARPER, David Stephen→

director · ~68y · appointed 2008-03-14

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

WHYTE, Martin→

director · ~52y · appointed 2010-08-24

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

MD SECRETARIES LIMITED→

corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 2008-01-03 · resigned 2011-10-12

Resigned

GARDEN, Robert John→

director · ~55y · appointed 2008-02-13 · resigned 2010-03-23

Resigned

MASSIE, Lisa Jane→

director · ~58y · appointed 2010-08-24 · resigned 2018-01-16

Resigned

MD DIRECTORS LIMITED→

corporate-nominee-director · appointed 2008-01-03 · resigned 2008-01-13

Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

Total charges

Outstanding

Active lenders

Status:Lender:4 of 4 shown

		Type	Properties
outstanding	Lloyds Banking Group Royal Bank of Scotland PLC	Assignation in security	1 property	09/07/2008	—
outstanding	Lloyds Banking Group Royal Bank of Scotland PLC	Assignation in security	1 property	09/07/2008	—
outstanding	Lloyds Banking Group Royal Bank of Scotland PLC	Assignment of life policy	1 property	26/06/2008	—
satisfied	Lloyds Banking Group Royal Bank of Scotland PLC	Floating charge	1 property	14/03/2008	11/03/2026

Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.