DIF DESIGNS LIMITED
🌳Matureactive
SC394524 · ltd · incorporated 2011-03-01
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 Mar 2025
Net worth
£-5.4k
book net assets
Opportunity
80/100
Exceptional
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 (83/100, director aged 70). 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
36 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 £5,442
Net assets shrinking
Down £14,725 YoY
Key financials
2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accountsCash
—
Net Worth
-£5k
↓ 159% YoY
Current Assets
£3k
↓ 90% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series
Financials
Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 105 (micro)| Metric | 2025-03-31 | 2024-03-31 |
|---|---|---|
| Total assets | £-5.4k | £9.3k |
| Current assets | £2.5k | £25.2k |
| Net assets | £-5.4k | £9.3k |
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 (18 events)Click to expand
- 2025-07-31📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2024-08-07📄change-person-director-company-with-change-dateofficers · CH01
- 2024-05-13📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2023-06-29📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2022-06-29📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2021-06-30📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2020-05-26📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2020-03-03📄change-person-director-company-with-change-dateofficers · CH01
- 2020-03-03📄change-person-director-company-with-change-dateofficers · CH01
- 2020-03-03📄change-to-a-person-with-significant-controlpersons-with-significant-control · PSC04
- 2020-03-03📄change-to-a-person-with-significant-controlpersons-with-significant-control · PSC04
- 2019-05-27📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2018-07-27📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2018-03-02📄appoint-person-director-company-with-name-dateofficers · AP01
- 2017-06-06📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2017-04-01➕MCDONALD, Michele appointeddirector
- 2011-03-01🏢Company incorporatedAs DIF DESIGNS LIMITED
- 2011-03-01➕MCDONALD, Malcolm John appointeddirector
Owner dependency
96/100
Critical — business is the founderThe 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 15 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
- +Founder age: Director aged approximately 70 — succession pressure is live.
- +Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.
- +No director turnover: Company is 15 years old with no director changes — suggests a very tight-knit founder team never broadened.
Succession & seller-readiness
89/100
Likely off-market candidateStrong acquirability signals converging. Worth approaching directly — this is how off-market deals start.
SIGNALS
- primaryFounder aged 70+: Senior director is approximately 70 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 15 years.
- secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 15 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
cleanNo 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Mr Malcolm John Mcdonald Individual · British · DOB 10/1956 · age 70 | 25–50% | 25–50% | 25-50% shares · 25-50% voting | 06/04/2016 |
Mrs Michele Mcdonald Individual · British · DOB 08/1958 · age 68 | 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.
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| DS ACCOUNTS LIMITED→ SC743404 · est 2022 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 3y | — | — |
| DU CIEL COMMUNICATIONS LTD→ SC820220 · est 2024 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 1y | — | — |
| DUNNOTTAR FIRE CONSULTANTS LTD→ SC744113 · est 2022 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 3y | — | — |
| DUNNOTTAR TECHNICAL SAFETY LTD→ SC880887 · est 2026 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| DVS AUTOMOTIVE LTD→ SC825050 · est 2024 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 1y | — | — |
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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
Incorporated2011-03-01
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC71129 — Other engineering activities
Registered office
18 North Silver Street
Aberdeen
AB10 1JU
Filing status
Accounts
Next due: 2026-12-31
Last made up to: 2025-03-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-03-15
Last: 2026-03-01
Officers (2 active · 0 resigned)
MCDONALD, Malcolm John→
Activedirector · ~70y · appointed 2011-03-01
View their other companies + combined net worth →
MCDONALD, Michele→
Activedirector · ~68y · appointed 2017-04-01
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Click a director name to see their full track record across all companies.
Recent filings (36 total)
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-03-05
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-07-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-03-19
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2024-08-07
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-05-13
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-03-08
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-06-29
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-03-07
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-06-29
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-03-10
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-06-30
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-04-13
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2020-05-26
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2020-03-03
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2020-03-03