JOHN & J H SANDS LIMITED

🌳Matureactive

SC056427 · ltd · incorporated 1974-09-30

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 33.3y old — refinance window within 12 months

🔒Estimated value

—

Upgrade to see

Turnover

—

year to Mar 2025

Net worth

—

book net assets

Opportunity

83/100

Exceptional

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What this business does

Primary activity: Retail sale of hardware, paints and glass in specialised stores

Sector: Wholesale & retail

Investor take

Pursue

Active trading company with a 68-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 83/100 (exceptional), bankability 85/100. Strong seller-intent signal (63/100, director aged 68). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

1 live charge · oldest 33.3y

85/100

ready

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

· Oldest live charge is 33.3 years old — likely at or near maturity.
· Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
· Legal-friction score 15/100 — clean.

Data confidence

Overall: high (80/100)

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

13 officers (6 active, 13 linked, 11 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

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

Director network

1 connected companies via shared directors

Filing history

105 filings on record

Gazette notices

No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)

Opportunity Score

83/100Exceptional

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.

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 · accounting standard unknown

Metric	2025-03-31	2024-03-31
Average employees	800	800

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 (30 events)Click to expand

2025-12-31
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-12-31
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-12-29
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-12-21
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2023-12-21
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2022-12-29
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-07-27
📄
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2021-07-26
➕
WRIGHT, William Sonny appointed
director
2021-06-30
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-06-07
📄
change-account-reference-date-company-previous-extended
accounts · AA01
2020-06-30
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-06-28
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2018-01-03
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2017-12-14
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2017-06-29
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2016-06-16
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2008-02-01
➕
SKINNER, Alastair appointed
director
2008-02-01
➕
WRIGHT, Marie appointed
director
2007-10-01
➕
SKINNER, Lynn Marie appointed
director
2007-06-22
➕
SKINNER, Stuart appointed
secretary
2007-06-22
➖
HARLEY, James Millar resigned
secretary
2007-06-22
➖
HARLEY, James Millar resigned
director
2002-09-13
🔓
Charge satisfied #1
1998-07-03
➖
HARLEY, Alexander resigned
director
1995-11-24
➖
HARLEY, Beryl Anita resigned
director
1995-11-24
➖
NICHOLLS, Mary Elizabeth resigned
director
1995-11-24
➖
SHEA, Linda resigned
director
1995-11-24
➖
SKINNER, Isabella Dickson resigned
director
1993-01-20
🔒
Charge registered #1
Lender: The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
1974-09-30
🏢
Company incorporated
As JOHN & J H SANDS LIMITED

Owner dependency

73/100

High — earn-out structure required

Material founder dependency. Consider a 2-3 year earn-out and build in a handover plan before completion.

FACTORS

-5 active directors: Broader management team in place — suggests transferable governance.
+Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 19 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
+Founder age: Director aged approximately 68 — succession pressure is live.
+Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

Succession & seller-readiness

73/100

Strong succession signal

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

SIGNALS

primaryFounder aged 63+: Senior director is approximately 68. Approaching typical UK retirement age — succession thinking likely.
secondary12+ year tenure: Director in role 19 years.
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

Name	Shares	Voting rights	Nature of control	Notified
Mr Stuart Skinner Individual · Scottish · DOB 10/1959 · age 67	50–75%	—	50-75% shares	07/04/2016

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.

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Similar companies

Active · Retail · KY postcode area

Company	Est. value	Turnover	Net worth	Staff	Age	Opp	Director
GUYANA LIMITED→ SC216279 · est 2001	—	—	—	1600	25y	83	64y
LINKS LICENSED GROCERS LTD.→ SC327527 · est 2007	—	—	—	1200	18y	83	63y
MICROSCOPY SUPPLIES & CONSULTANTS LIMITED→ SC139542 · est 1992	—	—	—	300	33y	83	79y
ANDREW HUTT LIMITED→ SC056671 · est 1974	—	—	—	100	51y	82	93y
BACCHUS (ST ANDREWS) LTD.→ SC251347 · est 2003	—	—	£227.9k	—	22y	82	66y
BOB MILLAR LIMITED→ SC168787 · est 1996	—	—	£2.61M	—	29y	82	59y
BRINNOR LIMITED→ SC353301 · est 2009	—	—	—	1100	17y	82	62y
CLASSIQUE FLOORING LIMITED→ SC144130 · est 1993	—	—	£611.3k	—	33y	82	71y
DEALS ON REELS LIMITED→ SC237443 · est 2002	—	—	£9.6k	—	23y	82	65y
DUNFERMLINE REPAIR CENTRE LTD.→ SC169402 · est 1996	—	—	£18.3k	—	29y	82	65y
GARDENS MOWERS AND TOOLS LIMITED→ SC348112 · est 2008	—	—	£374.1k	—	17y	82	69y
HMR STORES LTD.→ SC338232 · est 2008	—	—	£19.5k	—	18y	82	78y

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.

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Company details

Statusactive

Typeltd

Incorporated1974-09-30

Jurisdictionscotland

Primary SIC47520 — Retail sale of hardware, paints and glass in specialised stores

Registered office

58 High Street

Kinross

KY13 8AN

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2026-12-31

Last made up to: 2025-03-31

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2027-01-13

Last: 2025-12-30