GRAY & ADAMS LIMITED

📈Growthactive

SC047482 · ltd · incorporated 1970-04-30

Investment thesis

Growth-phase business — story-led; valuation sensitive to momentum.

Why interesting: Trading is scaling; acquirers paying for trajectory get disproportionate leverage.

Why risky: Price often leads fundamentals; dependency on founder often high.

Opportunity decay

approaching window · 12-months

Approaching a transaction window — refinance or sale event plausible in the next 12 months.

· Oldest live charge 14.6y old — refinance window within 12 months

🔒Estimated value

—

Upgrade to see

Turnover

—

year to May 2025

Net worth

—

book net assets

Opportunity

82/100

Exceptional

🔒Generate AI memo →🔒Outreach pack →🔒Corporate story →📑 Reports →Sign in to watch

What this business does

Primary activity: SIC 29202

Sector: Manufacturing

Investor take

Pursue

Conservative operator with a 71-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (63/100, director aged 71). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: strategic trade sale (78/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

1 live charge · oldest 14.6y

95/100

ready

Refinance conversation should be productive — structure clean and timing right.

· Oldest live charge is 14.6 years old — likely at or near maturity.
· Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
· Legal-friction score 20/100 — clean.
· Profitable and stable/growing — lender coverage supportable.

Data confidence

Overall: high (81/100)

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

1 charges (1/1 with lender, 1/1 with type)

Directors & officers

19 officers (7 active, 19 linked, 14 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared

Director network

8 connected companies via shared directors

Filing history

133 filings on record

Gazette notices

No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)

🔒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

82/100Exceptional

PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional

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

Business quality

Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.

Acquirability

Strong succession / seller-readiness signals.

Risk profile

Few red flags.

Signal strength

100

Good data coverage for analysis.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · FRS 102

Profitable

Profit before tax £19,692,950

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts

Cash

—

Net Worth

—

Current Assets

—

Current Liabilities

—

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102

Metric	2025-05-02	2024-04-26
Profit before tax	£19.69M	£12.86M
Average employees	502	50200

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

filings

Last 90 days

filings

Last 180 days

filings

• 1 confirmation-statement
• 1 accounts

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (42 events)Click to expand

2025-12-26
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-full
accounts · AA
2024-12-26
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-full
accounts · AA
2023-12-28
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-full
accounts · AA
2023-01-09
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-full
accounts · AA
2022-10-24
📄
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2022-10-14
➕
SUTHERLAND, Andrew appointed
director
2022-06-14
📄
termination-secretary-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM02
2022-06-14
📄
appoint-person-secretary-company-with-name-date
officers · AP03
2022-05-31
➕
SUTHERLAND, Andrew appointed
secretary
2022-05-14
➖
SMITH, John resigned
secretary
2022-05-10
📄
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2022-05-09
➖
GRANT, Mark Alexander resigned
director
2021-12-29
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-full
accounts · AA
2021-12-13
➕
GRAY, James Gordon appointed
director
2021-12-13
📄
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2020-12-18
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-full
accounts · AA
2019-12-31
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-full
accounts · AA
2019-04-26
📍
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2018-12-20
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-full
accounts · AA
2018-01-04
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-full
accounts · AA
2015-04-01
➖
GRAY, Lewis Beedie resigned
director
2013-08-12
➕
GRANT, Mark Alexander appointed
director
2013-04-30
➖
MITCHELL, Paul Watt resigned
secretary
2013-04-30
➕
SMITH, John appointed
secretary
2013-04-30
➖
MITCHELL, Paul Watt resigned
director
2011-11-16
➕
MITCHELL, Paul Watt appointed
secretary
2011-11-16
➖
SMITH, Derek resigned
secretary
2011-11-16
➕
MITCHELL, Paul Watt appointed
director
2011-11-16
➖
SMITH, Derek Robert resigned
director
2011-09-21
🔒
Charge registered #1
Lender: The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
2010-10-08
➕
GRAY, Martin appointed
director
2010-03-15
➕
SMITH, Derek appointed
secretary
2010-03-15
➖
WATT, James Lawrence resigned
secretary
2010-03-15
➕
SMITH, Derek Robert appointed
director
2010-03-15
➖
WATT, James Lawrence resigned
director
2007-04-20
➕
GRAY JUNIOR, Lewis appointed
director
2004-12-01
➕
WATT, James Lawrence appointed
director
2002-05-31
➖
GRAY, James resigned
director
2001-06-09
➖
ADAMS, James Gilchrist resigned
director
1998-06-02
➕
ADAMS, James Gilchrist appointed
director
1998-06-02
➖
ADAMS, James Gunn resigned
director
1970-04-30
🏢
Company incorporated
As GRAY & ADAMS LIMITED

Owner dependency

88/100

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

-6 active directors: Broader management team in place — suggests transferable governance.
+Founder name in company name: Company name contains director surname "GRAY" — strong identity link between founder and business.
+Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 19 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
+Founder age: Director aged approximately 71 — succession pressure is live.
+Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

Succession & seller-readiness

83/100

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 71 years old. Natural succession window is now.
secondary12+ year tenure: Director in role 19 years.
secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 56 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.)

Group structure

Gray & Adams Group Ltd is the ultimate parent — holding 75%+ shares. This company sits inside their group.

🏛️

Gray & Adams Group Ltd

Corporate parent · holds 75-100% shares

ultimate parent

⬇

GRAY & ADAMS LIMITED

This company · SC047482

Parent relationships inferred from Persons with Significant Control filings. Full subsidiary tree requires reverse-lookup (coming).

Shareholders & ownership

1 active beneficial owner · dominant holder ≥75%

Name	Shares	Voting rights	Nature of control	Notified
Gray & Adams Group Ltd Corporate entity	75–100%	—	75-100% shares	06/04/2016

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 →

Similar companies

Active · Manufacturing · AB postcode area

Company	Est. value	Turnover	Net worth	Staff	Age	Opp	Director
GRAY & ADAMS GROUP LIMITED→ SC230241 · est 2002	£53.82M £41.86M–£65.78M	—	—	0	24y	85	71y
GRAY & ADAMS (DUNFERMLINE) LIMITED→ SC082971 · est 1983	£17.07M £13.28M–£20.87M	—	—	106	43y	85	71y
GRAY & ADAMS (DONCASTER) LIMITED→ SC128013 · est 1990	£16.62M £12.93M–£20.32M	—	—	101	35y	87	71y
INTERWELL LIMITED→ SC391140 · est 2011	£10.98M £8.54M–£13.42M	£33.44M	—	7800	15y	91	60y
EBLAST LIMITED→ SC202165 · est 1999	£8.03M £6.24M–£9.81M	£11.11M	—	7400	26y	88	57y
ROTECH SUBSEA LIMITED→ SC451221 · est 2013	£6.41M £4.99M–£7.83M	£17.20M	—	4800	12y	84	58y
DALES ENGINEERING SERVICES LIMITED→ SC107948 · est 1987	£6.22M £4.84M–£7.60M	£21.87M	—	11000	38y	93	70y
SUPERIOR ENERGY SERVICES LIMITED→ SC259694 · est 2003	£6.15M £4.78M–£7.51M	£1.45M	—	1500	22y	94	60y
IMENCO UK LIMITED→ SC372021 · est 2010	£5.97M £4.64M–£7.29M	£17.33M	—	11500	16y	95	71y
VECTOR SUPPLIES LIMITED→ SC103810 · est 1987	£1.63M £1.27M–£1.99M	—	—	16	39y	85	71y
SAPPI ROCKWELL SOLUTIONS LIMITED→ SC177774 · est 1997	£1.19M £927.2k–£1.46M	—	—	71	28y	84	52y
EXCEED TORRIDON LIMITED→ SC508840 · est 2015	—	—	—	54	10y	84	65y

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

Incorporated1970-04-30

Jurisdictionscotland

Primary SIC29202 — SIC 29202

Registered office

Gray & Adams

South Road

Fraserburgh

AB43 9HU

Scotland

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2027-01-31

Last made up to: 2025-05-02

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2027-01-14

Last: 2025-12-31