JOHN BARRY LIMITED

🌳Matureactive
SC018081 · ltd · incorporated 1934-09-25
Investment thesis
Well-run mature business — low negotiation leverage; premium likely.
Why interesting: Textbook target; clean filings, stable trading.
Why risky: No pressure on seller; any deal likely at full price.
Opportunity decay
hardening · 12-months
Already tight — no obvious softening catalysts on the horizon.
  • · Thesis: well-run, low negotiation leverage
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Sept 2024
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
77/100
Strong
🔔
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What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 17220
Sector: Manufacturing
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 67-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 77/100 (strong), bankability 67/100. Strong seller-intent signal (68/100, director aged 67). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Consolidate lender relationships. 5 distinct lenders creates friction — refinance into single-lender structure for cleaner diligence. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

7 live charges · 5 lenders · oldest 44.0y

35/100
too messy

Refinance path is blocked by complexity. Rethink structure or expect bespoke, expensive terms.

  • · Oldest live charge is 44.0 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · 5 lenders named — inter-creditor friction likely.
  • · Legal-friction score 35/100 — workable, but lender will want more DD.

Data confidence

Overall: medium (77/100)

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
7 charges (7/7 with lender, 7/7 with type)
90
Directors & officers
10 officers (3 active, 10 linked, 6 with DOB)
82
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
111 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
🔒Estimated company valuation

Sector-multiple EBITDA, turnover, and NAV-proxy valuation range with confidence tier — derived from extracted iXBRL financials.

Available from the Pro tier upwards.

See pricing →
Opportunity Score
77/100Strong
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional 

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

Business quality
70
Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.
Acquirability
70
Strong succession / seller-readiness signals.
Risk profile
77
Few red flags.
Signal strength
100
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£0Sept 2023Sept 2024

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102
Metric2024-09-302023-09-30
Average employees17001700

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
1
filing
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
Last 180 days
1
filing
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (40 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-06-17
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-04-08
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  3. 2023-06-10
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  4. 2022-06-23
    📄
    mortgage-create-with-deed-with-charge-number-charge-creation-date
    mortgage · MR01
  5. 2022-06-21
    🔒
    Charge registered #7
    Lender: Atom Bank PLC
  6. 2022-06-07
    📄
    mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
    mortgage · MR04
  7. 2022-06-07
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #3
  8. 2022-05-14
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  9. 2021-08-27
    ➕
    BARRY, James Anthony appointed
    secretary
  10. 2021-08-27
    ➖
    FOSTER, June Mcalpine resigned
    secretary
  11. 2021-08-27
    ➖
    FOSTER, June Mcalpine resigned
    director
  12. 2021-08-27
    📄
    appoint-person-secretary-company-with-name-date
    officers · AP03
  13. 2021-08-27
    📄
    termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM01
  14. 2021-08-27
    📄
    termination-secretary-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM02
  15. 2021-02-08
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  16. 2020-06-01
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  17. 2019-04-09
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  18. 2018-11-12
    ➕
    BARRY, James Anthony Charles appointed
    director
  19. 2018-11-12
    📄
    appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
    officers · AP01
  20. 2018-03-21
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  21. 2017-05-19
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  22. 2015-01-05
    ➖
    BARRY, Anthony Walter James resigned
    director
  23. 2013-06-26
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #4
  24. 2013-06-18
    🔒
    Charge registered #6
    Lender: Rbs Invoice Finance Limited
  25. 2010-03-02
    ➕
    FOSTER, June Mcalpine appointed
    director
  26. 2010-03-02
    ➕
    JOHN BARRY LTD appointed
    corporate-director
  27. 2010-03-02
    ➖
    JOHN BARRY LTD resigned
    corporate-director
  28. 2009-09-02
    ➖
    WALTON, Graham George Keeton resigned
    director
  29. 2006-08-08
    ➖
    BARRY, Anthony Walter James resigned
    secretary
  30. 2006-08-08
    ➕
    FOSTER, June Mcalpine appointed
    secretary
  31. 2005-02-10
    🔒
    Charge registered #5
    Lender: The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
  32. 1994-01-17
    ➖
    MCLEAN, John Young resigned
    director
  33. 1992-12-08
    ➕
    WALTON, Graham George Keeton appointed
    director
  34. 1985-02-01
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #2
  35. 1985-02-01
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #1
  36. 1984-03-05
    🔒
    Charge registered #4
    Lender: Anthony Walter James Barry
  37. 1983-07-28
    🔒
    Charge registered #3
    Lender: The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
  38. 1982-04-26
    🔒
    Charge registered #2
    Lender: The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland
  39. 1982-04-26
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland
  40. 1934-09-25
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As JOHN BARRY LIMITED

Owner dependency

96/100
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 name in company name: Company name contains director surname "BARRY" — strong identity link between founder and business.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 67 — succession pressure is live.
  • +Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

Succession & seller-readiness

66/100
Strong succession signal

Multiple signals suggest succession is on the horizon. Candidate for proactive outreach.

SIGNALS
  • primaryFounder aged 63+: Senior director is approximately 67. Approaching typical UK retirement age — succession thinking likely.
  • secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 92 years old and no new directors in the last 3 years — succession not yet being planned internally.

Red flags

1 med ·
Charge satisfaction-then-recreation pattern
medium

Multiple instances where a charge was satisfied and a new charge created within 6 months. Suggests active refinancing cycle.

Shareholders & ownership

1 active beneficial owner · dominant holder ≥75%
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr Roderick Thomas Anthony Barry
Individual · British · DOB 09/1959 · age 67
75–100%
75–100%board control75-100% shares · 75-100% voting · board control06/04/2016

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

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.

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
Incorporated1934-09-25
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC17220 — SIC 17220

Registered office

16/1 Dryden Road
Bilston Glen Industrial Estate
Loanhead
Midlothian
EH20 9LZ

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-06-30
Last made up to: 2024-09-30
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-02-18
Last: 2026-02-04

Officers (3 active · 7 resigned)

BARRY, James Anthony→
secretary · appointed 2021-08-27
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
BARRY, James Anthony Charles→
director · ~38y · appointed 2018-11-12
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
BARRY, Roderick Thomas Anthony→
director · ~67y
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
BARRY, Anthony Walter James→
secretary · resigned 2006-08-08
Resigned
FOSTER, June Mcalpine→
secretary · appointed 2006-08-08 · resigned 2021-08-27
Resigned
BARRY, Anthony Walter James→
director · ~99y · resigned 2015-01-05
Resigned
FOSTER, June Mcalpine→
director · ~71y · appointed 2010-03-02 · resigned 2021-08-27
Resigned
MCLEAN, John Young→
director · ~94y · resigned 1994-01-17
Resigned
WALTON, Graham George Keeton→
director · ~79y · appointed 1992-12-08 · resigned 2009-09-02
Resigned
JOHN BARRY LTD→
corporate-director · appointed 2010-03-02 · resigned 2010-03-02
Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

7
Total charges
3
Outstanding
3
Active lenders
Status:Lender:7 of 7 shown
TypeProperties
outstanding
Atom Bank
Atom Bank PLC
A registered charge1 property21/06/2022—
outstanding
NatWest Group
Rbs Invoice Finance Limited
A registered charge1 property18/06/2013—
outstanding
Lloyds Banking Group
The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
Standard security1 property10/02/2005—
satisfied
Anthony Walter James Barry
Floating charge1 property05/03/198426/06/2013
satisfied
Lloyds Banking Group
The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
Bond & floating charge1 property28/07/198307/06/2022
satisfied
Lloyds Banking Group
The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland
Standard security1 property26/04/198201/02/1985
satisfied
Lloyds Banking Group
The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland
Standard security1 property26/04/198201/02/1985
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (111 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-02-25
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-06-17
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-03-14
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-04-08
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-02-15
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-06-10
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-02-24
mortgage-create-with-deed-with-charge-number-charge-creation-date
mortgage · MR01
2022-06-23
mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
mortgage · MR04
2022-06-07
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-05-14
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-02-15
appoint-person-secretary-company-with-name-date
officers · AP03
2021-08-27
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2021-08-27
termination-secretary-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM02
2021-08-27
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-02-08