THE PLAYBARN TRAINING LTD

🏛️Establishedactive

SC663166 · ltd · incorporated 2020-06-05

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 Jul 2025

Net worth

£3.5k

book net assets

Opportunity

72/100

Strong

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What this business does

Primary activity: Technical and vocational secondary education

Sector: Education

Investor take

Pursue

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

Opportunity 72/100 (strong), bankability 75/100. High owner-dependency — earn-out structure likely required for clean transition. Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (58/100).

Data confidence

Overall: high (80/100)

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

Lenders & charges

Confirmed no charges registered

Directors & officers

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

Ownership & PSC

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

Director network

2 connected companies via shared directors

Filing history

12 filings on record

Gazette notices

No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)

Opportunity Score

72/100Strong

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 105 (micro)

Positive net assets

Net assets £3,538

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts

Cash

—

Net Worth

£4k

~ YoY

Current Assets

£11k

~ YoY

Current Liabilities

—

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 105 (micro)

Metric	2025-07-31	2024-07-31
Total assets	£3.5k	£3.5k
Current assets	£11.1k	£11.1k
Net assets	£3.5k	£3.5k

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

filings

Last 90 days

filing

• 1 accounts

Last 180 days

filing

• 1 accounts

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (10 events)Click to expand

2026-04-09
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-04-16
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-04-29
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-04-29
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2022-03-03
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2021-04-20
📄
change-account-reference-date-company-current-extended
accounts · AA01
2020-06-05
🏢
Company incorporated
As THE PLAYBARN TRAINING LTD
2020-06-05
➕
HOUGHTON, Joseph Edward appointed
director
2020-06-05
➕
HOUGHTON, Zoe appointed
director
2020-06-05
📄
incorporation-company
incorporation · NEWINC

Owner dependency

71/100

High — earn-out structure required

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

FACTORS

+Two-director setup: Only two active directors — typical of owner-managed SMEs but limits succession.
+Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.
+No director turnover: Company is 6 years old with no director changes — suggests a very tight-knit founder team never broadened.

Succession & seller-readiness

36/100

Weak signal

Limited succession signal. Not a near-term off-market candidate.

SIGNALS

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.)

Shareholders & ownership

2 active beneficial owners

Name	Shares	Voting rights	Nature of control	Notified
Mr Joseph Edward Houghton Individual · British · DOB 03/1969 · age 57	25–50%	25–50%	board control25-50% shares · 25-50% voting · board control	05/06/2020
Mrs Zoe Houghton Individual · British · DOB 03/1974 · age 52	25–50%	25–50%	board control25-50% shares · 25-50% voting · board control	05/06/2020

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 →

Similar companies

Active · Education & training · ML postcode area

Company	Est. value	Turnover	Net worth	Staff	Age	Opp	Director
A & B EDUCATION LIMITED→ SC159176 · est 1995	—	—	£74.5k	—	30y	83	65y
ARDFERN LIMITED→ SC323936 · est 2007	—	—	£517.8k	—	18y	82	71y
MICROCOM (SCOTLAND) LIMITED→ SC127233 · est 1990	—	—	£1.37M	—	35y	82	77y
MICROCOM TRAINING LIMITED→ SC126684 · est 1990	—	—	£695.3k	—	35y	82	77y
QUALITAS INTERNATIONAL LIMITED→ SC173499 · est 1997	—	—	£81.0k	—	29y	82	59y
REGEN: FX YOUTH TRUST→ SC315092 · est 2007 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	19y	81	65y
VERG LTD→ SC359137 · est 2009	—	—	—	400	17y	81	66y
CLYDEVALLEY KINDERGARTEN LIMITED→ SC219513 · est 2001	—	—	—	18	24y	80	58y
SPORTFLIGHT SCOTLAND LIMITED→ SC308893 · est 2006	—	—	£10.1k	—	19y	80	65y
THE SCOTTISH VOCATIONAL TRAINING FOUNDATION C.I.C.→ SC102963 · est 1987 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	39y	80	69y
BIGGAR CORN EXCHANGE LTD→ SC368706 · est 2009	—	—	£72.5k	—	16y	79	81y
GMD COMMUNITY SERVICES LTD→ SC419834 · est 2012	—	—	£132.1k	—	14y	79	59y

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

🔒Tailored diligence questions

6 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.

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Company details

Statusactive

Typeltd

Incorporated2020-06-05

Jurisdictionscotland

Primary SIC85320 — Technical and vocational secondary education

Registered office

11 Westbank Holdings Ayr Road

Ravenstruther

Lanark

ML11 8NL

Scotland

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2027-04-30

Last made up to: 2025-07-31

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2026-06-18

Last: 2025-06-04

Officers (2 active · 0 resigned)

HOUGHTON, Joseph Edward→

director · ~57y · appointed 2020-06-05

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

HOUGHTON, Zoe→

director · ~52y · appointed 2020-06-05

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

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