H.W. COMERY LIMITED

🌳Matureactive
SC055368 · ltd · incorporated 1974-04-03
Investment thesis
Property vehicle with a workable charge structure — clean refinance potential.
Why interesting: Asset-backed; value largely in underlying property; lender engagement likely possible.
Why risky: Dependent on title and valuation due diligence; standard property risks.
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Jan 2025
Net worth
£735.5k
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 46770
Sector: Wholesale & retail
ALSO REGISTERED FOR
  • 68209Other letting and operating of own or leased real estate
Investor take
Pursue
Asset-holding vehicle with a 78-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 85/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 78). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Cash flow review and working-capital discipline. Cash down -92% YoY — forensic review of receivables, stock turns, and creditor days. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

1 live charge · oldest 52.0y

45/100
under pressure

Refinance would be pressure-driven, not opportunity-driven. Expect tighter margins and covenant scrutiny.

  • · Oldest live charge is 52.0 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
  • · Cashflow trend is negative — lender view likely cautious.

Data confidence

Overall: high (80/100)

Strong data coverage across all sections. AI outputs should be trusted with minimal caveats.

Company profile
address, 2 SIC codes, incorporation date
100
Financials
2 years of iXBRL accounts extracted (YoY deltas available) + narrative notes parsed
75
Lenders & charges
1 charges (1/1 with lender, 1/1 with type)
90
Directors & officers
7 officers (3 active, 7 linked, 6 with DOB)
87
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared
90
Director network
3 connected companies via shared directors
54
Filing history
103 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.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · accounting standard not declared
Positive net assets
Net assets £735,495
Cash draining
Cash down 92% YoY
Cash YoY
-92%
Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
£12k
↓ 92% YoY
Net Worth
£735k
↑ 21% YoY
Current Assets
£496k
↑ 14% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
£0£147k£294k£441k£588k£735kJan 2024Jan 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2025-01-312024-01-31
Total assets£739.5k£613.2k
Current assets£496.4k£436.6k
Cash£11.6k£152.1k
Debtors£47.7k£78.6k
Net assets£735.5k£608.4k

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 (24 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-10-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-10-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  3. 2023-10-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  4. 2022-10-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  5. 2022-10-25
    📄
    mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
    mortgage · MR04
  6. 2022-10-25
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #1
  7. 2022-02-14
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  8. 2022-02-14
    📄
    cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
  9. 2022-01-17
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  10. 2021-10-25
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  11. 2021-01-25
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  12. 2019-10-25
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  13. 2019-08-15
    📄
    termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM01
  14. 2019-06-02
    ➖
    SMITH, Donald resigned
    director
  15. 2018-10-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  16. 2018-04-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  17. 2016-10-19
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  18. 2006-03-31
    ➖
    MARSHALL, Jean Donna resigned
    director
  19. 1998-09-30
    ➕
    MCGILL, Helen Joan appointed
    director
  20. 1998-09-30
    ➖
    BAND, Gordon Cameron resigned
    director
  21. 1998-09-30
    ➕
    MARSHALL, Jean Donna appointed
    director
  22. 1994-09-21
    ➖
    LOCHRIE, Andrew resigned
    director
  23. 1974-05-01
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: Donald Smith & Son (Metals) LTD 12/16 Dalmally Lane, Glasgow
  24. 1974-04-03
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As H.W. COMERY LIMITED

Owner dependency

83/100
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 28 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 78 — succession pressure is live.

Succession & seller-readiness

96/100
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 78 years old. Natural succession window is now.
  • secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
  • primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 28 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 52 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
Mr Roy James Ness
Individual · British · DOB 10/1954 · age 72
75–100%
75–100%75-100% shares · 75-100% voting06/04/2016
1 historic (ceased) PSC
  • Donald Smith And Son (Metals) Limitedceased 23/12/2021· 50-75% shares · 50-75% voting

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
Incorporated1974-04-03
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC46770 — SIC 46770

Registered office

Unit 8 Wardmill Works
Wardmill Road
Arbroath
DD11 1RR
Scotland

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-10-31
Last made up to: 2025-01-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-02-14
Last: 2026-01-31

Officers (3 active · 4 resigned)

MCGILL, Helen Joan→
secretary
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
MCGILL, Helen Joan→
director · ~78y · appointed 1998-09-30
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
NESS, Roy James→
director · ~72y
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
BAND, Gordon Cameron→
director · ~87y · resigned 1998-09-30
Resigned
LOCHRIE, Andrew→
director · ~93y · resigned 1994-09-21
Resigned
MARSHALL, Jean Donna→
director · ~68y · appointed 1998-09-30 · resigned 2006-03-31
Resigned
SMITH, Donald→
director · ~88y · resigned 2019-06-02
Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

1
Total charges
0
Outstanding
0
Active lenders
Status:Lender:1 of 1 shown
TypeProperties
satisfied
Donald Smith & Son (Metals) 12/16 Dalmally Lane, Glasgow
Donald Smith & Son (Metals) LTD 12/16 Dalmally Lane, Glasgow
Bond & floating charge1 property01/05/197425/10/2022

Recent filings (103 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-01-31
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-10-28
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-01-31
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-10-29
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-01-31
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-10-30
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-02-01
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-10-31
mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
mortgage · MR04
2022-10-25
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-02-14
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2022-02-14
cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
2022-02-14
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2022-01-17
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-10-25
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-02-01