JAMES COWIE & CO. LIMITED

🌳Matureactive
SC039171 · ltd · incorporated 1963-08-26
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
approaching window · 12-months
Approaching a transaction window — refinance or sale event plausible in the next 12 months.
  • · Oldest live charge 37.5y old — refinance window within 12 months
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
not disclosed
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
83/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: Manufacture of metal structures and parts of structures
Sector: Manufacturing
Investor take
Pursue
Strong opportunity: active trading company with exceptional profile and bankable structure.

Opportunity 83/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (70/100, director aged 59). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Discharge stale live charges. 2 live charge(s) created 15+ years ago — likely paid but undischarged. Clean register. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

3 live charges · 2 lenders · oldest 37.5y

50/100
clean up first

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

  • · Oldest live charge is 37.5 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Two lenders — manageable, but coordination required.
  • · Legal-friction score 25/100 — workable, but lender will want more DD.

Data confidence

Overall: medium (58/100)

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
No iXBRL financials extracted
0
Lenders & charges
3 charges (3/3 with lender, 3/3 with type)
90
Directors & officers
8 officers (3 active, 8 linked, 5 with DOB)
83
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
5 connected companies via shared directors
60
Filing history
119 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
83/100Exceptional
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
85
Strong succession / seller-readiness signals.
Risk profile
85
Few red flags.
Signal strength
100
Good data coverage for analysis.

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 (30 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-06-04
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-small
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-05-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  3. 2023-06-05
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  4. 2022-06-20
    ➕
    GILMURRAY, Anne appointed
    secretary
  5. 2022-06-20
    📄
    appoint-person-secretary-company-with-name-date
    officers · AP03
  6. 2022-06-08
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  7. 2022-05-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  8. 2022-05-17
    📄
    termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM01
  9. 2022-05-17
    📄
    termination-secretary-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM02
  10. 2022-05-11
    ➖
    MCKANE, Nicola Carney resigned
    secretary
  11. 2022-05-11
    ➖
    MCKANE, Nicola Carney resigned
    director
  12. 2021-05-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  13. 2020-09-02
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-small
    accounts · AA
  14. 2019-06-06
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-small
    accounts · AA
  15. 2018-04-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-small
    accounts · AA
  16. 2017-06-08
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-full
    accounts · AA
  17. 2016-06-06
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-full
    accounts · AA
  18. 2015-09-08
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  19. 2012-05-23
    ➕
    GILMURRAY, Anne appointed
    director
  20. 2012-05-23
    ➖
    CARNEY, Mary resigned
    director
  21. 2012-05-23
    ➖
    CARNEY, Matthew resigned
    director
  22. 1997-05-15
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #2
  23. 1997-01-17
    ➕
    CARNEY, Mark appointed
    director
  24. 1997-01-17
    ➖
    CARNEY, Mary resigned
    secretary
  25. 1997-01-17
    ➕
    MCKANE, Nicola Carney appointed
    secretary
  26. 1997-01-17
    ➕
    MCKANE, Nicola Carney appointed
    director
  27. 1997-01-07
    🔒
    Charge registered #3
    Lender: The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland
  28. 1989-01-31
    🔒
    Charge registered #2
    Lender: Hamilton District Council
  29. 1988-10-28
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland
  30. 1963-08-26
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As JAMES COWIE & CO. LIMITED

Owner dependency

76/100
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.
  • +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 29 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Senior director age: Director aged approximately 59 — approaching natural succession window.

Succession & seller-readiness

76/100
Likely off-market candidate

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

SIGNALS
  • secondaryFounder aged 58+: Senior director is approximately 59. Early succession window.
  • secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
  • primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 29 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 63 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
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr Mark Carney
Individual · British · DOB 10/1967 · age 59
——sig. influencesignificant influence06/08/2016

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

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
Incorporated1963-08-26
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC25110 — Manufacture of metal structures and parts of structures

Registered office

Whistleberry Industrial Estate
Hamilton
ML3 0ED

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-05-31
Last made up to: 2024-08-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-09-13
Last: 2025-08-30

Officers (3 active · 5 resigned)

GILMURRAY, Anne→
secretary · appointed 2022-06-20
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
CARNEY, Mark→
director · ~59y · appointed 1997-01-17
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
GILMURRAY, Anne→
director · ~54y · appointed 2012-05-23
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
CARNEY, Mary→
secretary · resigned 1997-01-17
Resigned
MCKANE, Nicola Carney→
secretary · appointed 1997-01-17 · resigned 2022-05-11
Resigned
CARNEY, Mary→
director · ~83y · resigned 2012-05-23
Resigned
CARNEY, Matthew→
director · ~85y · resigned 2012-05-23
Resigned
MCKANE, Nicola Carney→
director · ~60y · appointed 1997-01-17 · resigned 2022-05-11
Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

3
Total charges
2
Outstanding
1
Active lenders
Status:Lender:3 of 3 shown
TypeProperties
outstanding
Lloyds Banking Group
The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland
Bond & floating charge1 property07/01/1997—
satisfied
Hamilton District Council
Standard security1 property31/01/198915/05/1997
outstanding
Lloyds Banking Group
The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland
Standard security1 property28/10/1988—
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (119 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-09-01
accounts-with-accounts-type-small
accounts · AA
2025-06-04
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-08-30
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-05-30
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-09-04
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-06-05
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-08-30
appoint-person-secretary-company-with-name-date
officers · AP03
2022-06-20
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2022-06-08
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-05-26
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2022-05-17
termination-secretary-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM02
2022-05-17
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-08-31
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-05-26
accounts-with-accounts-type-small
accounts · AA
2020-09-02