TRADE AND UNION (UK) LIMITED

💤Zombieactive
SC764781 · ltd · incorporated 2023-04-03
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 Apr 2024
Net worth
book net assets
Opportunity
52/100
Worth a look
🔔
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What this business does
Primary activity: Specialised design activities
Sector: Professional, scientific & technical
Investor take
Pass (distressed without resilience)
Distressed admin-neglect survivor — structural issues outweigh the discount.

Opportunity 52/100 (worth a look), bankability 40/100. High owner-dependency — earn-out structure likely required for clean transition. Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: File overdue accounts. Clears statutory overdue flag — immediate bankability uplift for refinance conversations. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (38/100). Current lenders should be on monthly review.

Data confidence

Overall: medium (61/100)

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
1 year of iXBRL accounts extracted (no YoY comparison) + narrative notes parsed
50
Lenders & charges
Confirmed no charges registered
85
Directors & officers
3 officers (1 active, 3 linked, 2 with DOB)
83
Ownership & PSC
No PSCs filed (unusual — worth investigating)
35
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
11 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
52/100Worth a look
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional 

Mixed signal. Worth opening the full target workup before deciding to pursue.

Business quality
35
Concerning — overdue filings or status flags present.
Acquirability
55
Some acquirability indicators.
Risk profile
49
Multiple red flags — proceed with caution.
Signal strength
90
Good data coverage for analysis.

Key financials

1 year extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
Net Worth
Current Assets
Current Liabilities

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102
Metric2024-04-29
Average employees100

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

🔒Filing-note intelligence

2 signals 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
2
filings
  • 1 accounts
  • 1 officers
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (15 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-01-27
    📄
    change-account-reference-date-company-previous-shortened
    accounts · AA01
  2. 2025-12-18
    📄
    termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM01
  3. 2025-11-11
    BURT, Jonathan David resigned
    director
  4. 2025-08-15
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  5. 2025-03-17
    📄
    change-account-reference-date-company-previous-shortened
    accounts · AA01
  6. 2025-02-18
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  7. 2024-12-18
    📄
    change-account-reference-date-company-previous-shortened
    accounts · AA01
  8. 2023-11-22
    📄
    termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM01
  9. 2023-11-07
    FORBES, Cameron resigned
    director
  10. 2023-10-20
    BURT, Jonathan David appointed
    director
  11. 2023-10-20
    📄
    appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
    officers · AP01
  12. 2023-04-03
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As TRADE AND UNION (UK) LIMITED
  13. 2023-04-03
    TRADE & UNION PTE LTD appointed
    corporate-director
  14. 2023-04-03
    FORBES, Cameron appointed
    director
  15. 2023-04-03
    📄
    incorporation-company
    incorporation · NEWINC

Owner dependency

75/100
High — earn-out structure required

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

FACTORS
  • +Sole director: Only one active director — all governance concentrated on one person.

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

2 high ·
Accounts overdue
high

Statutory accounts have not been filed by their due date. Can indicate admin breakdown, cash preservation, or deliberate delay.

Evidence: Next due: 2026-04-27

Confirmation statement overdue
high

Annual confirmation statement not filed on time. Required statutory filing — overdue is a strong discipline signal.

Evidence: Next due: 2026-04-16

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Peers ranked by estimated value, then turnover, then opportunity score.See all →
🔒Tailored diligence questions

11 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
Incorporated2023-04-03
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC74100 — Specialised design activities

Registered office

3 Wellington Square
Ayr
KA7 1EN
Scotland

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-04-27OVERDUE
Last made up to: 2024-04-29
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-04-16OVERDUE
Last: 2025-04-02

Officers (1 active · 2 resigned)

TRADE & UNION PTE LTD
corporate-director · appointed 2023-04-03
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
BURT, Jonathan David
director · ~46y · appointed 2023-10-20 · resigned 2025-11-11
Resigned
FORBES, Cameron
director · ~28y · appointed 2023-04-03 · resigned 2023-11-07
Resigned

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

Recent filings (11 total)

change-account-reference-date-company-previous-shortened
accounts · AA01
2026-01-27
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2025-12-18
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-08-15
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-04-22
change-account-reference-date-company-previous-shortened
accounts · AA01
2025-03-17
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2025-02-18
change-account-reference-date-company-previous-shortened
accounts · AA01
2024-12-18
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-04-03
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2023-11-22
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2023-10-20
incorporation-company
incorporation · NEWINC
2023-04-03