MERLIN TREE SERVICES LIMITED

💤Zombieactive

SC590199 · ltd · incorporated 2018-03-02

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.

Why now

Window closing · medium confidence

Getting harder to buy cheaply — 1 signals strengthening over the last 30 days.

· Filings: 20 → 21

What changed my view

Last 30 days

Picture improved over the last 30 days — 1 positive signal vs 0 negative.

↑Filings: 20 → 21

Last 90 days

Picture improved over the last 90 days — 1 positive signal vs 0 negative.

↑Filings: 20 → 21

Last 180 days

No snapshot from 180 days ago — start tracking from today.

🔒Estimated value

—

Upgrade to see

Turnover

—

year to Mar 2026

Net worth

£85.8k

book net assets

Opportunity

70/100

Strong

🔒Generate AI memo →🔒Outreach pack →🔒Corporate story →📑 Reports →Sign in to watch

What this business does

Primary activity: SIC 02400

Sector: Agriculture, forestry & fishing

Investor take

Pursue

Strong opportunity: asset-holding vehicle with strong profile and bankable structure.

Opportunity 70/100 (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: high (82/100)

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

Company profile

address, 1 SIC codes, incorporation date

100

Financials

3 years of iXBRL accounts extracted + narrative notes parsed

Lenders & charges

Confirmed no charges registered

Directors & officers

3 officers (1 active, 3 linked, 2 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

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

Director network

Network not yet resolved

Filing history

21 filings on record

Gazette notices

No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)

Opportunity Score

70/100Strong

PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional

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

Business quality

Adequate — check latest filings for context.

Acquirability

Some acquirability indicators.

Risk profile

Few red flags.

Signal strength

Good data coverage for analysis.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · FRS 102

Positive net assets

Net assets £85,841

Cash YoY

+867%

Year on year

Key financials

3 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts

Cash

£86k

↑ 867% YoY

Net Worth

£86k

↑ 152% YoY

Current Assets

£118k

↑ 264% YoY

Current Liabilities

—

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102

Metric	2026-03-31	2025-03-31	2024-03-31
Total assets	£95.0k	£46.2k	£41.3k
Current assets	£118.0k	£32.4k	£31.1k
Cash	£86.1k	£8.9k	£19.0k
Debtors	£31.9k	£23.5k	£12.1k
Net assets	£85.8k	£34.0k	£32.2k

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

filing

• 1 accounts

Last 180 days

filings

• 1 accounts
• 1 confirmation-statement

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (19 events)Click to expand

2026-05-08
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-09-03
➖
MCDOWALL, Kenneth resigned
secretary
2025-09-03
➖
MCDOWALL, Kenneth resigned
director
2025-09-03
📄
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2025-09-03
📄
termination-secretary-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM02
2025-06-17
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-05-29
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-07-31
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-06-20
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-05-24
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-03-25
📄
cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
2021-03-24
📄
notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
2020-08-07
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2019-11-14
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2018-03-02
🏢
Company incorporated
As MERLIN TREE SERVICES LIMITED
2018-03-02
➕
MCDOWALL, Alan appointed
director
2018-03-02
➕
MCDOWALL, Kenneth appointed
secretary
2018-03-02
➕
MCDOWALL, Kenneth appointed
director
2018-03-02
📄
incorporation-company
incorporation · NEWINC

Owner dependency

75/100

High — earn-out structure required

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

FACTORS

+Sole director: Only one active director — all governance concentrated on one person.

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

1 med ·

2 director resignations in last 12 months

medium

Multiple recent departures can indicate governance disagreement, succession event, or preparation for sale/stress.

Evidence: MCDOWALL, Kenneth resigned 2025-09-03; MCDOWALL, Kenneth resigned 2025-09-03

Shareholders & ownership

1 active beneficial owner · dominant holder ≥75%

Name	Shares	Voting rights	Nature of control	Notified
Mcdowall Alan Individual · British · DOB 08/1982 · age 44	75–100%	—	75-100% shares	01/03/2021

1 historic (ceased) PSC

Mr Kenneth Mcdowallceased 01/03/2021· 75-100% shares

From Companies House Persons with Significant Control filings. Share ranges are banded per the public PSC regime.

Similar companies

Active · Agriculture · G postcode area

Company	Est. value	Turnover	Net worth	Staff	Age	Opp	Director
ARDARDAN ESTATE LTD.→ SC302812 · est 2006	—	—	£892.6k	—	20y	83	73y
CASSILTOUN TRUST→ SC205629 · est 2000 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	26y	83	86y
ALBAR LANDSCAPES LIMITED→ SC111284 · est 1988	—	—	£1.54M	—	38y	82	65y
BRORA FISHING COMPANY LIMITED→ SC233209 · est 2002	—	—	£606.1k	—	23y	82	74y
INSHORE FISHING LTD→ SC263540 · est 2004	—	—	—	2	22y	82	71y
J. ORR & COMPANY LIMITED→ SC230625 · est 2002	—	—	£1.87M	—	24y	82	82y
J.R. MACGREGOR (DYKE) LIMITED→ SC135312 · est 1991	—	—	£780.9k	—	34y	82	85y
MOSSNEUK FARM (FORESIDE) LIMITED→ SC223005 · est 2001	—	—	£501.2k	—	24y	82	72y
ANNANDALE TREE SURGERY LIMITED→ SC258313 · est 2003	—	—	£62.5k	—	22y	80	62y
BOOMHOUR BROOK FOREST LIMITED→ SC335637 · est 2007	—	—	—	—	18y	80	81y
CASEY TREE CARE & LANDSCAPE SERVICES LTD→ SC350604 · est 2008	—	—	—	100	17y	80	61y
ERIC BOYD FORESTRY LIMITED→ SC255830 · est 2003	—	—	£663.5k	—	22y	80	64y

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

Incorporated2018-03-02

Jurisdictionscotland

Primary SIC02400 — SIC 02400

Registered office

8 Moorburn Avenue

Giffnock

Glasgow

G46 7AL

United Kingdom

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2027-12-31

Last made up to: 2026-03-31

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2027-03-15

Last: 2026-03-01

Officers (1 active · 2 resigned)

MCDOWALL, Alan→

director · ~44y · appointed 2018-03-02

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

MCDOWALL, Kenneth→

secretary · appointed 2018-03-02 · resigned 2025-09-03

Resigned

MCDOWALL, Kenneth→

director · ~71y · appointed 2018-03-02 · resigned 2025-09-03

Resigned

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

Recent filings (21 total)

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

accounts · AA

2026-05-08

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates

confirmation-statement · CS01

2026-03-23

termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date

officers · TM01

2025-09-03

termination-secretary-company-with-name-termination-date

officers · TM02

2025-09-03

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

accounts · AA

2025-06-17

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates

confirmation-statement · CS01

2025-03-02

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

accounts · AA

2024-05-29

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates

confirmation-statement · CS01

2024-04-01

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

accounts · AA

2023-07-31

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates

confirmation-statement · CS01

2023-03-01

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

accounts · AA

2022-06-20

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates

confirmation-statement · CS01

2022-03-05

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

accounts · AA

2021-05-24

confirmation-statement-with-updates

confirmation-statement · CS01

2021-03-25

cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control

persons-with-significant-control · PSC07

2021-03-25