MEARNS SAWMILLS LIMITED

🌳Matureactive
SC022017 · ltd · incorporated 1942-03-23
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.
Why now
Window steady · low confidence
Stable recent picture — watch for any upcoming trigger event.
Opportunity decay
approaching window · 12-months
Approaching a transaction window — refinance or sale event plausible in the next 12 months.
  • · Oldest live charge 33.0y old — refinance window within 12 months
What changed my view
Last 30 days

No material changes in the last 30 days.

Last 90 days

No material changes in the last 90 days.

Last 180 days

No snapshot from 180 days ago — start tracking from today.

🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Mar 2025
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: Sawmilling and planing of wood
Sector: Manufacturing
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 84-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 67/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 84). 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

2 live charges · 2 lenders · oldest 33.0y

50/100
clean up first

Refinance viable after a tidy-up — address the highlighted items first.

  • · Oldest live charge is 33.0 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Two lenders — manageable, but coordination required.
  • · Legal-friction score 35/100 — workable, but lender will want more DD.

Data confidence

Overall: medium (79/100)

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
2 charges (2/2 with lender, 2/2 with type)
90
Directors & officers
6 officers (3 active, 6 linked, 3 with DOB)
80
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
4 connected companies via shared directors
57
Filing history
104 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
82/100Exceptional
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional 

Strong composite across quality, acquirability, and risk. High-priority target — progress to serious diligence.

Business quality
70
Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.
Acquirability
80
Strong succession / seller-readiness signals.
Risk profile
85
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£0Mar 2024Mar 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102
Metric2025-03-312024-03-31
Average employees200200

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
0
filings
Last 180 days
0
filings
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (24 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-09-10
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-09-18
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  3. 2023-08-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  4. 2023-01-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  5. 2021-12-21
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  6. 2021-01-25
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  7. 2020-10-19
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  8. 2020-10-19
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  9. 2019-12-20
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  10. 2018-12-19
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  11. 2017-12-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  12. 2016-12-14
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  13. 2016-04-01
    📄
    mortgage-create-with-deed-with-charge-number-charge-creation-date
    mortgage · MR01
  14. 2016-03-24
    🔒
    Charge registered #2
    Lender: Janet Cicley Arthur
  15. 2016-02-09
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  16. 2016-01-07
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  17. 2011-03-01
    ➕
    GORDON, Valerie Milne appointed
    secretary
  18. 2011-03-01
    ➕
    GORDON, Caroline Jane appointed
    director
  19. 2010-09-10
    ➖
    GORDON, William Murray resigned
    secretary
  20. 2010-09-10
    ➖
    GORDON, William Murray resigned
    director
  21. 1993-07-29
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: Clydesdale Bank Public Limited Company
  22. 1991-09-25
    ➕
    GORDON, William Murray appointed
    secretary
  23. 1991-09-24
    ➖
    ROSS, Robert Murray resigned
    secretary
  24. 1942-03-23
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As MEARNS SAWMILLS LIMITED

Owner dependency

91/100
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.
  • +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 15 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 84 — succession pressure is live.
  • +Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

Succession & seller-readiness

89/100
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 84 years old. Natural succession window is now.
  • secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
  • secondary12+ year tenure: Director in role 15 years.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 84 years old and no new directors in the last 3 years — succession not yet being planned internally.
  • supportingClean filings + long tenure: Disciplined long-tenure operator — classic lifestyle-business pattern that often sells quietly.

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
Mrs Valerie Milne Gordon
Individual · British · DOB 04/1942 · age 84
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.

🔒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 →

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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.

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
Incorporated1942-03-23
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC16100 — Sawmilling and planing of wood

Registered office

Craig House
Stanley
Perthshire
PH1 4NG

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-12-31
Last made up to: 2025-03-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-02-10
Last: 2026-01-27

Officers (3 active · 3 resigned)

GORDON, Valerie Milne→
secretary · appointed 2011-03-01
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
GORDON, Caroline Jane→
director · ~60y · appointed 2011-03-01
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
GORDON, Valerie Milne→
director · ~84y
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
GORDON, William Murray→
secretary · appointed 1991-09-25 · resigned 2010-09-10
Resigned
ROSS, Robert Murray→
secretary · resigned 1991-09-24
Resigned
GORDON, William Murray→
director · ~89y · resigned 2010-09-10
Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

2
Total charges
2
Outstanding
2
Active lenders
Status:Lender:2 of 2 shown
TypeProperties
outstanding
Janet Cicley Arthur / Gordon Drake Arthur / Victoria Anne Arthur / Charles Vincent Arthur
A registered charge1 property24/03/2016—
outstanding
Virgin Money
Clydesdale Bank Public Limited Company
Floating charge1 property29/07/1993—
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (104 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-01-27
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-09-10
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-01-27
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-09-18
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-01-29
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-08-30
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-01-30
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-01-27
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-03-03
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-12-21
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-01-28
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-01-25
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2020-10-19
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2020-10-19
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-02-06