ESM INVESTMENT SERVICES LIMITED

💤Zombieactive
SC594747 · private-limited-guarant-nsc · incorporated 2018-04-18
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 · high confidence
Getting harder to buy cheaply — 4 signals strengthening over the last 30 days.
  • · Hygiene score: 70 → 90
  • · Opportunity score: 68 → 76
  • · Bankability: 65 → 75
  • · Filings: 17 → 19
Opportunity decay
hardening · 6-months
Hardening — profile is tightening. If you want to act, do it before the window closes further.
  • · 4 recent signals strengthening vs 0 weakening
What changed my view
Last 30 days

Picture improved over the last 30 days — 4 positive signals vs 0 negative.

  • ↑Opportunity score: 68 → 76
  • ↑Hygiene score: 70 → 90
  • ↑Bankability: 65 → 75
  • ↑Filings: 17 → 19
Last 90 days

No snapshot from 90 days ago — start tracking from today.

Last 180 days

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

🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to May 2025
Net worth
£-47.7k
book net assets
Opportunity
76/100
Strong
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What this business does
Primary activity: Management consultancy activities other than financial management
Sector: Professional, scientific & technical
Investor take
Pass (distressed without resilience)
Distressed active trading company — structural issues outweigh the discount.

Opportunity 76/100 (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 (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
2 years of iXBRL accounts extracted (YoY deltas available) + narrative notes parsed
75
Lenders & charges
Confirmed no charges registered
85
Directors & officers
1 officers (1 active, 1 linked, 1 with DOB)
90
Ownership & PSC
2 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared
90
Director network
10 connected companies via shared directors
75
Filing history
19 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
76/100Strong
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional 

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

Business quality
65
Adequate — check latest filings for context.
Acquirability
70
Strong succession / seller-readiness signals.
Risk profile
85
Few red flags.
Signal strength
90
Good data coverage for analysis.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · FRS 105 (micro)
Negative net assets
Liabilities exceed assets by £47,692

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
—
Net Worth
-£48k
~ YoY
Current Assets
£14k
↓ 13% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
-£48k-£35k-£22k-£9k£4k£16kMay 2024May 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 105 (micro)
Metric2025-05-312024-05-31
Total assets£-47.7k£-47.4k
Current assets£14.3k£16.5k
Net assets£-47.7k£-47.4k

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
2
filings
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
  • • 1 officers
Last 180 days
3
filings
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
  • • 1 officers
  • • 1 accounts
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (13 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-05-13
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  2. 2026-02-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  3. 2025-02-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  4. 2024-05-16
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  5. 2023-02-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  6. 2022-04-01
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  7. 2021-05-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  8. 2020-08-26
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  9. 2020-02-17
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  10. 2020-01-10
    📄
    change-account-reference-date-company-previous-extended
    accounts · AA01
  11. 2018-04-18
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As ESM INVESTMENT SERVICES LIMITED
  12. 2018-04-18
    ➕
    MORRIS, Steven Charles appointed
    director
  13. 2018-04-18
    📄
    incorporation-company
    incorporation · NEWINC

Owner dependency

88/100
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 64 — approaching natural succession window.
  • +No director turnover: Company is 8 years old with no director changes — suggests a very tight-knit founder team never broadened.

Succession & seller-readiness

65/100
Strong succession signal

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

SIGNALS
  • primaryFounder aged 63+: Senior director is approximately 64. Approaching typical UK retirement age — succession thinking likely.
  • 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

2 active beneficial owners
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr Steven Charles Morris
Individual · British · DOB 12/1962 · age 64
25–50%
25–50%25-50% shares · 25-50% voting18/04/2018
Mrs Fiona Morris
Individual · British · DOB 01/1965 · age 61
25–50%
25–50%25-50% shares · 25-50% voting18/04/2018

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 →

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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
Typeprivate-limited-guarant-nsc
Incorporated2018-04-18
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC70229 — Management consultancy activities other than financial management

Registered office

3 Clairmont Gardens
Glasgow
G3 7LW
Scotland

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2027-02-28
Last made up to: 2025-05-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-05-01
Last: 2026-04-17

Officers (1 active · 0 resigned)

MORRIS, Steven Charles→
director · ~64y · appointed 2018-04-18
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active

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

Recent filings (19 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-05-14
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2026-05-13
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2026-02-27
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-05-09
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-02-27
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-05-16
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-04-26
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-05-16
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-02-28
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-05-04
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-04-01
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-05-27
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-05-25
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2020-08-26
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-04-21