DAVID NICOLSON ENGINEERING LIMITED

🌳Matureactive
SC366661 · ltd · incorporated 2009-10-12
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 Jun 2025
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
80/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: Other service activities n.e.c.
Sector: Other service activities
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 64-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

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 (73/100).

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
2 officers (2 active, 2 linked, 2 with DOB)
90
Ownership & PSC
2 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
39 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£0Jun 2024Jun 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102
Metric2025-06-302024-06-30
Average employees2200

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
1
filing
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
Last 180 days
1
filing
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (17 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-09-25
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2025-03-07
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  3. 2024-02-29
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  4. 2024-02-29
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  5. 2024-02-12
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  6. 2023-07-14
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  7. 2023-04-18
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  8. 2022-10-18
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  9. 2022-05-25
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  10. 2021-04-07
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  11. 2020-03-06
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  12. 2019-02-14
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  13. 2018-02-06
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  14. 2017-03-01
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  15. 2009-10-12
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As DAVID NICOLSON ENGINEERING LIMITED
  16. 2009-10-12
    ➕
    NICOLSON, Elizabeth Anne appointed
    director
  17. 2009-10-12
    ➕
    NICOLSON, George David appointed
    director

Owner dependency

100/100
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.
  • +Founder name in company name: Company name contains director surname "NICOLSON" — strong identity link between founder and business.
  • +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.
  • +No director turnover: Company is 17 years old with no director changes — suggests a very tight-knit founder team never broadened.

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 George David Nicolson
Individual · British · DOB 09/1962 · age 64
25–50%
—25-50% shares12/10/2016
Mrs Elizabeth Anne Nicolson
Individual · British · DOB 05/1964 · age 62
25–50%
—25-50% shares12/10/2016

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

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
Incorporated2009-10-12
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC96090 — Other service activities n.e.c.

Registered office

Scarvataing Cottage Aith
Bixter
Shetland
ZE2 9NE
Scotland

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2027-03-31
Last made up to: 2025-06-30
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-03-14
Last: 2026-02-28

Officers (2 active · 0 resigned)

NICOLSON, Elizabeth Anne→
director · ~62y · appointed 2009-10-12
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
NICOLSON, George David→
director · ~64y · appointed 2009-10-12
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active

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

Recent filings (39 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-03-09
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-09-25
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-03-07
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-03-03
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-03-05
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2024-02-29
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2024-02-29
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-02-12
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2023-07-14
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2023-04-18
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-03-03
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-10-18
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-05-25
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-03-03
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-05-04