ETHICA MANAGEMENT SERVICES LTD

🏛️Establishedactive
SC612317 · ltd · incorporated 2018-10-31
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
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Oct 2024
Net worth
£-13.6k
book net assets
Opportunity
76/100
Strong
🔔
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What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 64992
Sector: Financial & insurance
Investor take
Pass (distressed without resilience)
Active trading company. Family succession underway — not a classic acquisition target.

Opportunity 76/100 (strong), bankability 75/100. Same-surname younger director in place — likely family handover, not open to sale. Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (73/100).

Data confidence

Overall: high (84/100)

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
5 officers (2 active, 5 linked, 5 with DOB)
90
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 3 total, 3 with control declared
90
Director network
15 connected companies via shared directors
90
Filing history
29 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 £13,610

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
—
Net Worth
-£14k
↑ 14% YoY
Current Assets
£18k
↑ 6.7% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
-£16k-£9k-£2k£5k£12k£18kOct 2023Oct 2024

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 105 (micro)
Metric2024-10-312023-10-31
Total assets£-13.6k£-15.8k
Current assets£18.5k£17.3k
Net assets£-13.6k£-15.8k

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
0
filings
Last 180 days
0
filings
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (27 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-07-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  2. 2025-03-31
    ➕
    BARCLAY, David Ellis appointed
    director
  3. 2025-03-31
    ➖
    MCSHERRY, Gerrard resigned
    director
  4. 2025-03-31
    📄
    appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
    officers · AP01
  5. 2025-03-31
    📄
    termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM01
  6. 2024-09-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  7. 2023-07-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  8. 2022-07-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  9. 2021-08-13
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  10. 2021-08-02
    📄
    appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
    officers · AP01
  11. 2021-08-02
    📄
    termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM01
  12. 2021-07-30
    ➕
    BARCLAY, Colin Shields appointed
    director
  13. 2021-07-30
    ➖
    LAWSON, Jack resigned
    director
  14. 2021-07-30
    📄
    notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC02
  15. 2021-07-29
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  16. 2021-07-29
    📄
    cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
  17. 2021-07-29
    📄
    termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM01
  18. 2021-07-29
    📄
    cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
  19. 2021-07-16
    ➖
    LAWSON, Annabel resigned
    director
  20. 2021-07-08
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  21. 2021-07-05
    📄
    appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
    officers · AP01
  22. 2021-07-02
    ➕
    MCSHERRY, Gerrard appointed
    director
  23. 2021-04-22
    📄
    resolution
    resolution · RESOLUTIONS
  24. 2020-10-19
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  25. 2018-10-31
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As ETHICA MANAGEMENT SERVICES LTD
  26. 2018-10-31
    ➕
    LAWSON, Annabel appointed
    director
  27. 2018-10-31
    ➕
    LAWSON, Jack appointed
    director

Owner dependency

81/100
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
  • +Two-director setup: Only two active directors — typical of owner-managed SMEs but limits succession.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 68 — succession pressure is live.
  • +Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

Succession & seller-readiness

16/100
No succession signal

No meaningful acquirability indicators from public data.

SIGNALS
  • primaryFamily succession underway: Not a takeover target — BARCLAY, David Ellis (same surname) appointed 2025-03-31. Pattern consistent with intra-family handover.
  • primaryFounder aged 63+: Senior director is approximately 68. Approaching typical UK retirement age — succession thinking likely.
  • secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.

Red flags

clean
No red flags detected from available public data. (This is not a clean bill of health — detailed accounts review still recommended.)

Group structure

John Maclaren And Sons (Scotland) Limited is the ultimate parent — holding 75%+ shares. This company sits inside their group.

🏛️
John Maclaren And Sons (Scotland) Limited
Corporate parent · holds 75-100% shares
ultimate parent
⬇
ETHICA MANAGEMENT SERVICES LTD
This company · SC612317

Parent relationships inferred from Persons with Significant Control filings. Full subsidiary tree requires reverse-lookup (coming).

Shareholders & ownership

1 active beneficial owner · dominant holder ≥75%
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
John Maclaren And Sons (Scotland) Limited
Corporate entity
75–100%
—75-100% shares13/07/2021
2 historic (ceased) PSCs
  • Mr Jack Lawsonceased 13/07/2021· 25-50% shares · 25-50% voting · board control
  • Mrs Annabel Lawsonceased 13/07/2021· 25-50% shares · 25-50% voting · board control

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
Typeltd
Incorporated2018-10-31
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC64992 — SIC 64992

Registered office

3 Peel Park Place
East Kilbride
Glasgow
G74 5LW
Scotland

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-07-31
Last made up to: 2024-10-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-08-12
Last: 2025-07-29

Officers (2 active · 3 resigned)

BARCLAY, Colin Shields→
director · ~68y · appointed 2021-07-30
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
BARCLAY, David Ellis→
director · ~35y · appointed 2025-03-31
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
LAWSON, Annabel→
director · ~50y · appointed 2018-10-31 · resigned 2021-07-16
Resigned
LAWSON, Jack→
director · ~77y · appointed 2018-10-31 · resigned 2021-07-30
Resigned
MCSHERRY, Gerrard→
director · ~70y · appointed 2021-07-02 · resigned 2025-03-31
Resigned

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

Recent filings (29 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-08-11
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-07-30
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2025-03-31
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2025-03-31
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-09-27
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-09-02
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-08-04
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-07-28
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-09-02
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-07-29
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2021-08-13
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2021-08-02
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2021-08-02
notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC02
2021-07-30
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-07-29