SPECIALIST WELDING SERVICES (SCOTLAND) LTD

💤Zombieactive

SC651315 · ltd · incorporated 2020-01-13

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 steady · low confidence

Steady and stalled — no momentum either way. Needs an approach trigger.

What changed my view

Last 30 days

No material changes in the last 30 days.

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 Jan 2025

Net worth

—

book net assets

Opportunity

76/100

Strong

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What this business does

Primary activity: SIC 25990

Sector: Manufacturing

ALSO REGISTERED FOR

71129Other engineering activities
96090Other service activities n.e.c.

Investor take

Pursue

Active trading company with a 73-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 76/100 (strong), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (60/100, director aged 73). 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: medium (78/100)

Adequate coverage. AI outputs are reliable for the sections scored high; verify the rest in diligence.

Company profile

address, 3 SIC codes, incorporation date

100

Financials

2 years of iXBRL accounts extracted (YoY deltas available) + narrative notes parsed

Lenders & charges

Confirmed no charges registered

Directors & officers

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

Ownership & PSC

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

Director network

Network not yet resolved

Filing history

12 filings on record

Gazette notices

No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)

Opportunity Score

76/100Strong

PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional

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

Business quality

Adequate — check latest filings for context.

Acquirability

Strong succession / seller-readiness signals.

Risk profile

Few red flags.

Signal strength

Good data coverage for analysis.

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts

Cash

—

Net Worth

—

Current Assets

—

Current Liabilities

—

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102

Metric	2025-01-31	2024-01-31

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

Recent activity

Last 30 days

filings

Last 90 days

filings

Last 180 days

filing

• 1 confirmation-statement

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (8 events)Click to expand

2025-10-31
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2024-10-29
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2023-10-23
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2022-10-05
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2021-11-02
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2020-01-13
🏢
Company incorporated
As SPECIALIST WELDING SERVICES (SCOTLAND) LTD
2020-01-13
➕
TRACEY, John appointed
director
2020-01-13
📄
incorporation-company
incorporation · NEWINC

Owner dependency

95/100

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 age: Director aged approximately 73 — succession pressure is live.
+No director turnover: Company is 6 years old with no director changes — suggests a very tight-knit founder team never broadened.

Succession & seller-readiness

75/100

Likely off-market candidate

Strong acquirability signals converging. Worth approaching directly — this is how off-market deals start.

SIGNALS

primaryFounder aged 70+: Senior director is approximately 73 years old. Natural succession window is now.
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%

Name	Shares	Voting rights	Nature of control	Notified
John Tracey Individual · British · DOB 07/1953 · age 73	75–100%	75–100%	75-100% shares · 75-100% voting	13/01/2020

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

Similar companies

Active · Manufacturing · ML postcode area

Company	Est. value	Turnover	Net worth	Staff	Age	Opp	Director
BSB STRUCTURAL LTD.→ SC277667 · est 2004	£13.76M £10.70M–£16.82M	£20.18M	—	7300	21y	85	65y
BROWN MCFARLANE LIMITED→ SC121113 · est 1989	£6.25M £4.87M–£7.64M	—	—	92	36y	87	60y
IMV TECHNOLOGIES UK LIMITED→ SC085981 · est 1983	£5.78M £4.49M–£7.06M	£16.44M	—	66	42y	83	59y
RAINBOW BLINDS AND FABRICS LIMITED→ SC191505 · est 1998	£1.52M £1.18M–£1.86M	£4.18M	—	5100	27y	88	64y
BRYSON TRACTORS LIMITED→ SC235088 · est 2002	£949.1k £738.2k–£1.16M	—	—	41	23y	87	62y
BROWN MCFARLANE PRECISION ENGINEERING LIMITED→ SC652564 · est 2020	£882.0k £686.0k–£1.08M	—	—	6	6y	83	60y
PARKBURN PRECISION HANDLING SYSTEMS LIMITED→ SC158127 · est 1995	£570.0k £443.3k–£696.7k	—	—	68	31y	85	69y
MV FRUEHAUF LTD→ SC708376 · est 2021	£150.9k £117.4k–£184.4k	—	—	149	4y	82	63y
CONSARC ENGINEERING LIMITED→ SC019918 · est 1937 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	88y	83	79y
CRANE MAINTAIN LTD→ SC317952 · est 2007	—	—	£852.7k	—	19y	83	59y
GLENISLA KILTS LIMITED→ SC217626 · est 2001	—	—	£63.7k	—	25y	83	74y
HUGH LOGAN PLANT & ENGINEERING SERVICES LIMITED→ SC060061 · est 1976	—	—	£1.25M	—	50y	83	59y

Peers ranked by estimated value, then turnover, then opportunity score.See all →

🔒Tailored diligence questions

8 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.

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Company details

Statusactive

Typeltd

Incorporated2020-01-13

Jurisdictionscotland

Primary SIC25990 — SIC 25990

Registered office

24 Inveresk Place

Coatbridge

ML5 2DA

United Kingdom

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2026-10-31

Last made up to: 2025-01-31

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2027-01-26

Last: 2026-01-12

Officers (1 active · 0 resigned)

TRACEY, John→

director · ~73y · appointed 2020-01-13

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

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