HERMIT SERVICES (SCOTLAND) LIMITED

🌳Matureactive
SC352661 · ltd · incorporated 2008-12-18
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.
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Dec 2024
Net worth
£-14.8k
book net assets
Opportunity
80/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: Other engineering activities
Sector: Professional, scientific & technical
Investor take
Pass (distressed without resilience)
Distressed active trading company — structural issues outweigh the discount.

Opportunity 80/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (70/100, director aged 64). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

Data confidence

Overall: medium (78/100)

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
5 officers (3 active, 5 linked, 3 with DOB)
82
Ownership & PSC
2 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared
90
Director network
2 connected companies via shared directors
51
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.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · FRS 105 (micro)
Negative net assets
Liabilities exceed assets by £14,805

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
—
Net Worth
-£15k
↑ 1.1% YoY
Current Assets
£1k
↑ 418% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
-£15k-£12k-£8k-£5k-£2k£1kDec 2023Dec 2024

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 105 (micro)
Metric2024-12-312023-12-31
Total assets£-14.8k£-15.0k
Current assets£1.4k£273
Net assets£-14.8k£-15.0k

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 (23 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-07-08
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-07-11
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  3. 2023-09-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  4. 2022-09-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  5. 2021-12-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  6. 2020-12-24
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  7. 2019-10-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  8. 2018-10-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  9. 2017-09-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  10. 2016-09-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  11. 2015-12-22
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  12. 2015-09-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  13. 2015-01-08
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  14. 2014-09-18
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  15. 2013-12-18
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  16. 2009-12-18
    ➕
    MILNE, David appointed
    secretary
  17. 2008-12-18
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As HERMIT SERVICES (SCOTLAND) LIMITED
  18. 2008-12-18
    ➕
    MILNE, David appointed
    director
  19. 2008-12-18
    ➕
    MILNE, Moira Helen appointed
    director
  20. 2008-12-18
    ➕
    MILNE, David appointed
    secretary
  21. 2008-12-18
    ➖
    MILNE, David resigned
    secretary
  22. 2008-12-18
    ➕
    TOWNSEND, Paul Michael appointed
    director
  23. 2008-12-18
    ➖
    TOWNSEND, Paul Michael resigned
    director

Owner dependency

84/100
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 17 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Senior director age: Director aged approximately 64 — approaching natural succession window.
  • +Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

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 64. 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 17 years.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 17 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
Mr David Milne
Individual · British · DOB 07/1964 · age 62
25–50%
25–50%25-50% shares · 25-50% voting18/12/2016
Mrs Moira Helen Milne
Individual · British · DOB 10/1962 · age 64
25–50%
25–50%25-50% shares · 25-50% voting18/12/2016

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 →

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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.

See pricing →

Company details

Statusactive
Typeltd
Incorporated2008-12-18
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC71129 — Other engineering activities

Registered office

Hermit Point Menie Links
Balmedie
Aberdeen
AB23 8YH

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-09-30
Last made up to: 2024-12-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-01-01
Last: 2025-12-18

Officers (3 active · 2 resigned)

MILNE, David→
secretary · appointed 2009-12-18
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
MILNE, David→
director · ~62y · appointed 2008-12-18
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
MILNE, Moira Helen→
director · ~64y · appointed 2008-12-18
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
MILNE, David→
secretary · appointed 2008-12-18 · resigned 2008-12-18
Resigned
TOWNSEND, Paul Michael→
director · ~64y · appointed 2008-12-18 · resigned 2008-12-18
Resigned

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

Recent filings (44 total)

confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-12-23
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-07-08
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-12-23
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-07-11
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-12-22
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-09-27
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-12-23
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-09-26
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-12-30
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-12-23
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2020-12-24
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-12-23
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-12-18
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2019-10-31
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2018-12-20