PATTERSON AND COMPANY DEFENCE LTD

💤Zombieactive
SC650254 · ltd · incorporated 2019-12-24
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 Nov 2025
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
71/100
Strong
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What this business does
Primary activity: Solicitors
Sector: Professional, scientific & technical
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 (78/100)

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
2 officers (1 active, 2 linked, 2 with DOB)
90
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
20 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£0Nov 2024Nov 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102
Metric2025-11-302024-11-30
Average employees400400

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
2
filings
  • • 1 accounts
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (18 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-01-21
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2025-01-15
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  3. 2024-07-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  4. 2023-08-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  5. 2022-11-01
    ✏️
    certificate-change-of-name-company
    change-of-name · CERTNM
  6. 2022-11-01
    📄
    resolution
    resolution · RESOLUTIONS
  7. 2022-10-31
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  8. 2022-10-31
    📄
    termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM01
  9. 2022-10-31
    📄
    cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
  10. 2022-10-27
    ➖
    PATERSON, Natalie resigned
    director
  11. 2021-12-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  12. 2021-07-16
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  13. 2021-06-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  14. 2019-12-27
    📄
    change-account-reference-date-company-current-shortened
    accounts · AA01
  15. 2019-12-24
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As PATTERSON AND COMPANY DEFENCE LTD
  16. 2019-12-24
    ➕
    PATTERSON, David William appointed
    director
  17. 2019-12-24
    ➕
    PATERSON, Natalie appointed
    director
  18. 2019-12-24
    📄
    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 "PATTERSON" — 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
David William Patterson
Individual · British · DOB 02/1987 · age 39
75–100%
75–100%75-100% shares · 75-100% voting24/12/2019
1 historic (ceased) PSC
  • Ms Natalie Patersonceased 27/10/2022· 25-50% shares · 25-50% voting

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.

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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
Incorporated2019-12-24
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC69102 — Solicitors

Registered office

Highland House
20 Longman Road
Inverness
IV1 1RY
United Kingdom

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2027-08-31
Last made up to: 2025-11-30
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-01-06
Last: 2025-12-23

Officers (1 active · 1 resigned)

PATTERSON, David William→
director · ~39y · appointed 2019-12-24
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
PATERSON, Natalie→
director · ~39y · appointed 2019-12-24 · resigned 2022-10-27
Resigned

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

Recent filings (20 total)

accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2026-01-21
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-01-13
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-01-15
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-12-24
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-07-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-01-02
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-08-29
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-01-04
certificate-change-of-name-company
change-of-name · CERTNM
2022-11-01
resolution
resolution · RESOLUTIONS
2022-11-01
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2022-10-31
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2022-10-31
cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
2022-10-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-01-10
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-12-29