MATTHEWS LEGAL LIMITED

🌳Matureactive
SC497784 · ltd · incorporated 2015-02-13
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
—
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Turnover
—
year to May 2025
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
79/100
Strong
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What this business does
Primary activity: Solicitors
Sector: Professional, scientific & technical
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 72-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 79/100 (strong), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (63/100, director aged 72). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

Data confidence

Overall: medium (72/100)

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
6 officers (4 active, 6 linked, 6 with DOB)
90
Ownership & PSC
No PSCs filed (unusual — worth investigating)
35
Director network
3 connected companies via shared directors
54
Filing history
33 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
79/100Strong
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional 

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

Business quality
70
Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.
Acquirability
75
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£0May 2024May 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102
Metric2025-05-312024-05-31
Average employees25002600

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
2
filings
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
  • • 1 accounts
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (26 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-01-22
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2025-02-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  3. 2024-01-25
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  4. 2023-02-03
    📄
    capital-return-purchase-own-shares
    capital · SH03
  5. 2023-01-23
    📄
    capital-cancellation-shares
    capital · SH06
  6. 2023-01-18
    📄
    resolution
    resolution · RESOLUTIONS
  7. 2023-01-18
    📄
    resolution
    resolution · RESOLUTIONS
  8. 2022-10-20
    📄
    termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM01
  9. 2022-10-11
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  10. 2022-09-30
    ➖
    BAXTER, Patrick Joseph resigned
    director
  11. 2022-06-01
    ➕
    MACCAIG, Adam John appointed
    director
  12. 2022-06-01
    📄
    appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
    officers · AP01
  13. 2021-12-20
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  14. 2021-04-15
    📄
    termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM01
  15. 2021-02-24
    ➖
    MURRAY, Peter Mcdowall resigned
    director
  16. 2021-02-09
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  17. 2020-02-19
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  18. 2018-10-05
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  19. 2018-08-17
    📄
    resolution
    resolution · RESOLUTIONS
  20. 2018-08-17
    📄
    capital-name-of-class-of-shares
    capital · SH08
  21. 2015-06-01
    ➕
    DA PRATO, Neil John appointed
    director
  22. 2015-02-13
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As MATTHEWS LEGAL LIMITED
  23. 2015-02-13
    ➕
    FOX, Helena Grace appointed
    director
  24. 2015-02-13
    ➕
    MATTHEWS, Peter Alexander Hope appointed
    director
  25. 2015-02-13
    ➕
    BAXTER, Patrick Joseph appointed
    director
  26. 2015-02-13
    ➕
    MURRAY, Peter Mcdowall appointed
    director

Owner dependency

70/100
High — earn-out structure required

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

FACTORS
  • -4 active directors: Broader management team in place — suggests transferable governance.
  • +Founder name in company name: Company name contains director surname "MATTHEWS" — strong identity link between founder and business.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 72 — succession pressure is live.

Succession & seller-readiness

65/100
Strong succession signal

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

SIGNALS
  • primaryFounder aged 70+: Senior director is approximately 72 years old. Natural succession window is now.
  • 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.)
🔒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

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
Incorporated2015-02-13
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC69102 — Solicitors

Registered office

Bank Of Scotland Buildings
37 Albert Street
Newton Stewart
DG8 6EG
United Kingdom

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2027-02-28
Last made up to: 2025-05-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-02-25
Last: 2026-02-11

Officers (4 active · 2 resigned)

DA PRATO, Neil John→
director · ~63y · appointed 2015-06-01
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
FOX, Helena Grace→
director · ~57y · appointed 2015-02-13
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
MACCAIG, Adam John→
director · ~41y · appointed 2022-06-01
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
MATTHEWS, Peter Alexander Hope→
director · ~72y · appointed 2015-02-13
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
BAXTER, Patrick Joseph→
director · ~70y · appointed 2015-02-13 · resigned 2022-09-30
Resigned
MURRAY, Peter Mcdowall→
director · ~78y · appointed 2015-02-13 · resigned 2021-02-24
Resigned

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

Recent filings (33 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-02-12
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2026-01-22
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-02-27
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-02-24
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-02-12
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-01-25
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-02-15
capital-return-purchase-own-shares
capital · SH03
2023-02-03
capital-cancellation-shares
capital · SH06
2023-01-23
resolution
resolution · RESOLUTIONS
2023-01-18
resolution
resolution · RESOLUTIONS
2023-01-18
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2022-10-20
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-10-11
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2022-06-01
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-02-11