SPENCE TRANSPORT SERVICES LTD

💤Zombieactive
SC545978 · ltd · incorporated 2016-09-21
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
71/100
Strong
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What this business does
Primary activity: Freight transport by road
Sector: Transportation & storage
Investor take
Pursue
Strong opportunity: active trading company with strong profile and bankable structure.

Opportunity 71/100 (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 (58/100).

Data confidence

Overall: medium (76/100)

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
3 officers (2 active, 3 linked, 2 with DOB)
83
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
22 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
71/100Strong
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional 

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

Business quality
65
Adequate — check latest filings for context.
Acquirability
50
Some acquirability indicators.
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 · FRS 102
Metric2024-09-302023-09-30
Average employees700700

Amounts extracted automatically from iXBRL. Fields left blank were not reported or not mapped. Values in GBP unless stated.

Recent activity

Last 30 days
0
filings
Last 90 days
0
filings
Last 180 days
1
filing
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (18 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-09-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-06-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  3. 2023-06-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  4. 2022-06-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  5. 2022-01-25
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  6. 2022-01-25
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  7. 2021-06-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  8. 2020-06-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  9. 2018-12-11
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  10. 2018-06-13
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  11. 2018-02-21
    📄
    termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM01
  12. 2017-12-30
    ➖
    SPENCE, Stephen Leslie resigned
    director
  13. 2016-10-18
    📄
    appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
    officers · AP01
  14. 2016-10-01
    ➕
    SPENCE, Stephen Leslie appointed
    director
  15. 2016-09-21
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As SPENCE TRANSPORT SERVICES LTD
  16. 2016-09-21
    ➕
    SPENCE, Stephen appointed
    secretary
  17. 2016-09-21
    ➕
    SPENCE, Marc appointed
    director
  18. 2016-09-21
    📄
    incorporation-company
    incorporation · NEWINC

Owner dependency

90/100
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 "SPENCE" — strong identity link between founder and business.

Succession & seller-readiness

45/100
Moderate signal

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

SIGNALS
  • primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.

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%
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr Marc Spence
Individual · Scottish · DOB 10/1988 · age 38
75–100%
75–100%75-100% shares · 75-100% voting21/09/2016

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

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 →
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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.

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Company details

Statusactive
Typeltd
Incorporated2016-09-21
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC49410 — Freight transport by road

Registered office

El Palamino
Bunchrew
Inverness
IV3 8TB
Scotland

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-06-30
Last made up to: 2024-09-30
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-12-12
Last: 2025-11-28

Officers (2 active · 1 resigned)

SPENCE, Stephen→
secretary · appointed 2016-09-21
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
SPENCE, Marc→
director · ~38y · appointed 2016-09-21
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
SPENCE, Stephen Leslie→
director · ~66y · appointed 2016-10-01 · resigned 2017-12-30
Resigned

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

Recent filings (22 total)

confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-01-22
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-09-26
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-11-28
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-06-30
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-11-13
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-06-30
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-09-26
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-06-30
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2022-01-25
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2022-01-25
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-09-28
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2021-06-23
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-09-23
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2020-06-30
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-09-24