MACHIN, DUNN AND MACFARLANE LIMITED

🌳Matureactive

SC452611 · ltd · incorporated 2013-06-18

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 2024

Net worth

£23.7k

book net assets

Opportunity

75/100

Strong

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What this business does

Primary activity: Architectural activities

Sector: Professional, scientific & technical

Investor take

Pursue

Strong opportunity: active trading company with strong profile and bankable structure.

Opportunity 75/100 (strong), bankability 80/100. High owner-dependency — earn-out structure likely required for clean transition. Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (58/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

1 live charge · oldest 6.9y

45/100

under pressure

Refinance would be pressure-driven, not opportunity-driven. Expect tighter margins and covenant scrutiny.

· Oldest live charge is 6.9 years old — likely at or near maturity.
· Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
· Cashflow trend is negative — lender view likely cautious.

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

Lenders & charges

1 charges (1/1 with lender, 1/1 with type)

Directors & officers

3 officers (2 active, 3 linked, 3 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

2 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared

Director network

Network not yet resolved

Filing history

34 filings on record

Gazette notices

No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)

Opportunity Score

75/100Strong

PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional

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

Business quality

Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.

Acquirability

Some acquirability indicators.

Risk profile

Few red flags.

Signal strength

100

Good data coverage for analysis.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · accounting standard not declared

Positive net assets

Net assets £23,742

Cash YoY

-21%

Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts

Cash

£9k

↓ 21% YoY

Net Worth

£24k

↑ 1.6% YoY

Current Assets

£26k

↓ 37% YoY

Current Liabilities

—

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown

Metric	2024-06-30	2023-06-30
Total assets	£40.5k	£60.4k
Current assets	£25.6k	£40.6k
Cash	£8.9k	£11.3k
Debtors	£16.7k	£29.3k
Net assets	£23.7k	£23.4k

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

filings

Last 180 days

filings

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (22 events)Click to expand

2025-03-31
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-03-18
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-03-29
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-02-11
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-02-09
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-03-31
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-08-08
📄
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2019-08-08
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2019-08-08
📄
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2019-08-08
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2019-08-08
📍
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2019-06-15
📄
mortgage-create-with-deed-with-charge-number-charge-creation-date
mortgage · MR01
2019-06-14
🔒
Charge registered #1
Lender: Kilmelford Limited
2019-03-20
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-02-11
📄
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2019-02-11
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2018-01-18
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2014-05-25
➖
MACHIN, Colin resigned
director
2013-06-18
🏢
Company incorporated
As MACHIN, DUNN AND MACFARLANE LIMITED
2013-06-18
➕
DUNN, Craig James appointed
director
2013-06-18
➕
MACFARLANE, Neil appointed
director
2013-06-18
➕
MACHIN, Colin appointed
director

Owner dependency

73/100

High — earn-out structure required

Material founder dependency. Consider a 2-3 year earn-out and build in a handover plan before completion.

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 "DUNN" — strong identity link between founder and business.

Succession & seller-readiness

49/100

Moderate signal

Some succession indicators present. Worth watching; approach if sector/strategy fits.

SIGNALS

secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
secondary12+ year tenure: Director in role 13 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

2 active beneficial owners

Name	Shares	Voting rights	Nature of control	Notified
Mr Neil Mcfarlane Individual · British · DOB 10/1983 · age 43	25–50%	25–50%	25-50% shares · 25-50% voting	19/06/2016
Mr Craig James Dunn Individual · British · DOB 02/1983 · age 43	25–50%	25–50%	25-50% shares · 25-50% voting	19/06/2016

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

Incorporated2013-06-18

Jurisdictionscotland

Primary SIC71111 — Architectural activities

Registered office

11 Bank Street

Alloa

Clackmannanshire

FK10 1HP

Scotland

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2026-06-30

Last made up to: 2024-06-30

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2026-07-02

Last: 2025-06-18

Officers (2 active · 1 resigned)

DUNN, Craig James→

director · ~43y · appointed 2013-06-18

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

MACFARLANE, Neil→

director · ~43y · appointed 2013-06-18

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

MACHIN, Colin→

director · ~62y · appointed 2013-06-18 · resigned 2014-05-25

Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

Total charges

Outstanding

Active lenders

Status:Lender:1 of 1 shown

			Type	Properties
	outstanding	Kilmelford Kilmelford Limited	A registered charge	1 property	14/06/2019	—

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