VIRTUAL LEARNING ACADEMY LIMITED

💤Zombieactive

SC456515 · ltd · incorporated 2013-08-12

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 Mar 2025

Net worth

—

book net assets

Opportunity

78/100

Strong

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What this business does

Primary activity: Management consultancy activities other than financial management

Sector: Professional, scientific & technical

ALSO REGISTERED FOR

85590Other education n.e.c.

Investor take

Pursue

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

Opportunity 78/100 (strong), bankability 75/100. High owner-dependency — earn-out structure likely required for clean transition. 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 (80/100)

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

Company profile

address, 2 SIC codes, incorporation date

100

Financials

2 years of iXBRL accounts extracted (YoY deltas available) + narrative notes parsed

Lenders & charges

Confirmed no charges registered

Directors & officers

3 officers (1 active, 3 linked, 3 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared

Director network

2 connected companies via shared directors

Filing history

40 filings on record

Gazette notices

No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)

Opportunity Score

78/100Strong

PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional

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

Business quality

Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.

Acquirability

Strong succession / seller-readiness signals.

Risk profile

Few red flags.

Signal strength

Good data coverage for analysis.

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts

Cash

—

Net Worth

—

Current Assets

—

Current Liabilities

—

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown

Metric	2025-03-31	2024-03-31

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 (23 events)Click to expand

2025-08-19
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-07-22
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-01-26
📍
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2023-10-18
📄
gazette-filings-brought-up-to-date
gazette · DISS40
2023-10-17
📄
gazette-notice-compulsory
gazette · GAZ1
2023-08-21
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-08-16
📍
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2023-01-24
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-01-10
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-03-31
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-11-17
📄
change-account-reference-date-company-previous-shortened
accounts · AA01
2020-04-24
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-10-21
📄
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2019-08-30
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-05-30
📄
change-account-reference-date-company-previous-shortened
accounts · AA01
2019-04-13
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2018-06-29
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2016-05-23
➖
SOPER, Stephen Clive resigned
director
2015-01-01
➕
SOPER, Stephen Clive appointed
director
2015-01-01
➖
SUTHERLAND, James Alexander resigned
director
2013-08-12
🏢
Company incorporated
As VIRTUAL LEARNING ACADEMY LIMITED
2013-08-12
➕
SUTHERLAND, Catherine Ola appointed
director
2013-08-12
➕
SUTHERLAND, James Alexander appointed
director

Owner dependency

83/100

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.
+Senior director age: Director aged approximately 59 — approaching natural succession window.

Succession & seller-readiness

68/100

Strong succession signal

Multiple signals suggest succession is on the horizon. Candidate for proactive outreach.

SIGNALS

secondaryFounder aged 58+: Senior director is approximately 59. Early succession window.
primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
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

1 active beneficial owner · dominant holder ≥75%

Name	Shares	Voting rights	Nature of control	Notified
Mrs Catherine Ola Sutherland Individual · British · DOB 02/1967 · age 59	75–100%	—	75-100% shares	06/04/2016

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 →

Similar companies

Active · Professional services · IV postcode area

Company	Est. value	Turnover	Net worth	Staff	Age	Opp	Director
CMM ACCOUNTANCY (INVERNESS) LIMITED→ SC279223 · est 2005	—	—	—	—	21y	83	58y
COPERNICUS TECHNOLOGY LTD→ SC350102 · est 2008	—	—	£373.8k	—	17y	83	62y
INNES & MACKAY LIMITED→ SC283654 · est 2005	—	—	£571.2k	—	21y	83	61y
SELF STORAGE - 4 U LIMITED→ SC261522 · est 2004	—	—	—	9	22y	83	82y
ACSMID (HOLDINGS) LIMITED→ SC177791 · est 1997	—	—	£41.8k	—	28y	82	71y
ANSER PROFESSIONAL SERVICES LIMITED→ SC246199 · est 2003	—	—	£56.4k	—	23y	82	62y
AWS OCEAN ENERGY LIMITED→ SC268223 · est 2004	—	—	—	300	21y	82	64y
BAYHANARTS LIMITED→ SC097397 · est 1986	—	—	—	0	40y	82	84y
CALEDONIAN ENERGY MANAGEMENT LIMITED→ SC193616 · est 1999	—	—	£22.4k	—	27y	82	64y
CAMPBELL PLANT (LOCHABER) LTD→ SC303491 · est 2006	—	—	—	4	19y	82	66y
COLIN ARMSTRONG ASSOCIATES LIMITED→ SC259880 · est 2003	—	—	£1.64M	—	22y	82	67y
VGN STV LIMITED→ SC799946 · est 2024 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	2y	—	—

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

Incorporated2013-08-12

Jurisdictionscotland

Primary SIC70229 — Management consultancy activities other than financial management

Registered office

Westbrook House

Corkscrew

Alness

IV17 0XE

Scotland

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2026-12-31

Last made up to: 2025-03-31

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2026-08-14

Last: 2025-07-31

Officers (1 active · 2 resigned)

SUTHERLAND, Catherine Ola→

director · ~59y · appointed 2013-08-12

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

SOPER, Stephen Clive→

director · ~64y · appointed 2015-01-01 · resigned 2016-05-23

Resigned

SUTHERLAND, James Alexander→

director · ~52y · appointed 2013-08-12 · resigned 2015-01-01

Resigned

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

Recent filings (40 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates

confirmation-statement · CS01

2025-09-17

accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full

accounts · AA

2025-08-19

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates

confirmation-statement · CS01

2024-08-19

accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full

accounts · AA

2024-07-22

change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address

address · AD01

2024-01-26

gazette-filings-brought-up-to-date

gazette · DISS40

2023-10-18

gazette-notice-compulsory

gazette · GAZ1

2023-10-17

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates

confirmation-statement · CS01

2023-10-12

accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full

accounts · AA

2023-08-21

change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address

address · AD01

2023-08-16

accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full

accounts · AA

2023-01-24

confirmation-statement-with-updates

confirmation-statement · CS01

2022-09-05

accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full

accounts · AA

2022-01-10

confirmation-statement-with-updates

confirmation-statement · CS01

2021-08-09

accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full

accounts · AA

2021-03-31