SHORT TRADING LTD

💤Zombieactive
SC406665 · ltd · incorporated 2011-09-02
Investment thesis
Zombie company — trading but stalled; unlikely mover.
Why interesting: Quiet, steady; could be a succession or carve-out candidate with the right conversation.
Why risky: No growth signal; thin margin for error on price.
🔒Estimated value
Upgrade to see
Turnover
year to Sept 2024
Net worth
book net assets
Opportunity
78/100
Strong
🔔
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What this business does
Primary activity: General cleaning of buildings
Sector: Administrative & support services
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 69-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 78/100 (strong), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (68/100, director aged 69). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Broaden director team. Sole director creates succession risk and reduces buyer comfort. Appoint a second director or strong #2. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (73/100).

Data confidence

Overall: high (81/100)

Strong data coverage across all sections. AI outputs should be trusted with minimal caveats.

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
4 officers (1 active, 4 linked, 3 with DOB)
85
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
10 connected companies via shared directors
75
Filing history
44 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
78/100Strong
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional 

Solid opportunity signal. Worth a dedicated memo and management meeting.

Business quality
70
Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.
Acquirability
70
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£0Sept 2023Sept 2024

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2024-09-302023-09-30
Average employees0

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
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 (22 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-06-25
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-06-17
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  3. 2023-06-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  4. 2022-06-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  5. 2022-04-27
    📄
    gazette-filings-brought-up-to-date
    gazette · DISS40
  6. 2022-04-26
    📄
    gazette-notice-compulsory
    gazette · GAZ1
  7. 2021-06-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  8. 2020-09-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  9. 2019-04-02
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  10. 2018-11-07
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  11. 2018-06-20
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  12. 2017-06-13
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  13. 2016-06-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  14. 2016-05-07
    📄
    gazette-filings-brought-up-to-date
    gazette · DISS40
  15. 2015-02-05
    SHORT, Nicholas Alexander resigned
    director
  16. 2011-09-02
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As SHORT TRADING LTD
  17. 2011-09-02
    SHORT, Alexander appointed
    director
  18. 2011-09-02
    BRIAN REID LTD. appointed
    corporate-secretary
  19. 2011-09-02
    BRIAN REID LTD. resigned
    corporate-secretary
  20. 2011-09-02
    MABBOTT, Stephen George appointed
    director
  21. 2011-09-02
    MABBOTT, Stephen George resigned
    director
  22. 2011-09-02
    SHORT, Nicholas Alexander 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
  • +Sole director: Only one active director — all governance concentrated on one person.
  • +Founder name in company name: Company name contains director surname "SHORT" — strong identity link between founder and business.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 69 — succession pressure is live.

Succession & seller-readiness

78/100
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 69. Approaching typical UK retirement age — succession thinking likely.
  • primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
  • secondary12+ year tenure: Director in role 15 years.
  • 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
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr Alexander Short
Individual · British · DOB 01/1957 · age 69
sig. influencesignificant influence05/02/2017

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

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
Incorporated2011-09-02
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC81210 — General cleaning of buildings

Registered office

90-96 Dykehead Street
Glasgow
G33 4AQ
Scotland

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-06-30
Last made up to: 2024-09-30
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-02-19
Last: 2026-02-05

Officers (1 active · 3 resigned)

SHORT, Alexander
director · ~69y · appointed 2011-09-02
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
BRIAN REID LTD.
corporate-secretary · appointed 2011-09-02 · resigned 2011-09-02
Resigned
MABBOTT, Stephen George
director · ~76y · appointed 2011-09-02 · resigned 2011-09-02
Resigned
SHORT, Nicholas Alexander
director · ~38y · appointed 2011-09-02 · resigned 2015-02-05
Resigned

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
2026-03-03
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-06-25
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-02-17
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-06-17
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-02-12
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-06-30
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-03-01
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-06-28
gazette-filings-brought-up-to-date
gazette · DISS40
2022-04-27
gazette-notice-compulsory
gazette · GAZ1
2022-04-26
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-04-21
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-06-28
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-02-17
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-09-28
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-02-25