ONTOP TRACTORS LIMITED

🌳Matureactive

SC059965 · ltd · incorporated 1976-05-05

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 35.0y old — refinance window within 12 months

🔒Estimated value

—

Upgrade to see

Turnover

—

year to Nov 2024

Net worth

£29.8k

book net assets

Opportunity

82/100

Exceptional

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What this business does

Primary activity: SIC 28302

Sector: Manufacturing

Investor take

Pursue

Active trading company with a 65-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 65). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Discharge stale live charges. 1 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

1 live charge · oldest 35.0y

65/100

clean up first

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

· Oldest live charge is 35.0 years old — likely at or near maturity.
· Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
· Legal-friction score 25/100 — workable, but lender will want more DD.

Data confidence

Overall: medium (77/100)

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

Lenders & charges

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

Directors & officers

6 officers (3 active, 6 linked, 4 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

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

Director network

Network not yet resolved

Filing history

95 filings on record

Gazette notices

No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)

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 · accounting standard not declared

Positive net assets

Net assets £29,806

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts

Cash

—

Net Worth

£30k

↑ 9.8% YoY

Current Assets

£39k

↑ 26% YoY

Current Liabilities

—

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown

Metric	2024-11-30	2023-11-30
Total assets	£30.8k	£28.1k
Current assets	£39.0k	£30.9k
Net assets	£29.8k	£27.1k

Amounts extracted automatically from iXBRL. Fields left blank were not reported or not mapped. Values in GBP unless stated.

Recent activity

Last 30 days

filings

Last 90 days

filings

Last 180 days

filing

• 1 confirmation-statement

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (23 events)Click to expand

2025-07-25
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-08-27
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-08-15
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-08-31
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-08-31
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2020-09-08
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2019-08-28
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2018-08-31
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2017-08-28
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2016-08-30
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2016-01-24
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2015-08-31
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2015-01-18
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2014-08-28
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2014-01-27
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2003-01-16
➕
GILLON, Ian Brownlie appointed
secretary
2003-01-16
➖
GILLON, Allison Anderson resigned
secretary
2003-01-16
➖
GILLON, Allison Anderson resigned
director
2003-01-16
➖
GILLON, John Hamilton resigned
director
1991-05-11
🔒
Charge registered #1
Lender: Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
1990-05-31
➕
GILLON, Hugh Robert appointed
director
1990-05-31
➕
GILLON, Ian Brownlie appointed
director
1976-05-05
🏢
Company incorporated
As ONTOP TRACTORS 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 36 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
+Founder age: Director aged approximately 65 — succession pressure is live.
+Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

Succession & seller-readiness

86/100

Likely off-market candidate

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

SIGNALS

primaryFounder aged 63+: Senior director is approximately 65. Approaching typical UK retirement age — succession thinking likely.
secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 36 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 50 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%

Name	Shares	Voting rights	Nature of control	Notified
Mr Ian Brownlie Gillon Individual · British · DOB 02/1961 · age 65	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.

Similar companies

Active · Manufacturing · PH postcode area

Company	Est. value	Turnover	Net worth	Staff	Age	Opp	Director
RUSSWOOD LTD.→ SC092505 · est 1985	£3.34M £2.60M–£4.09M	—	—	67	41y	85	66y
EDWARDS ENGINEERING (PERTH) LIMITED→ SC046562 · est 1969	£2.34M £1.82M–£2.86M	—	—	4100	56y	83	58y
FAIR CITY PRECAST LIMITED→ SC078774 · est 1982	—	—	—	—	43y	83	60y
A M FIRE & SECURITY SYSTEMS LTD→ SC247526 · est 2003	—	—	—	1200	23y	82	58y
DRUMMOND FENCING LIMITED→ SC297497 · est 2006	—	—	£269.1k	—	20y	82	60y
INVERNESS PRECAST LTD→ SC392391 · est 2011	—	—	—	—	15y	82	60y
MACPHERSON'S WELDING & ENGINEERING SERVICES LIMITED→ SC224287 · est 2001	—	—	£154.8k	—	24y	82	66y
MARGARET MORRISON LIMITED→ SC299646 · est 2006	—	—	—	600	20y	82	66y
MEARNS SAWMILLS LIMITED→ SC022017 · est 1942	—	—	—	200	84y	82	84y
PERTHSHIRE TIMBER COMPANY LIMITED→ SC142941 · est 1993	—	—	—	1900	33y	82	84y
ROB ROY HOMES (CRIEFF) LIMITED→ SC056208 · est 1974	—	—	—	3900	51y	82	68y
SIGNAL WARRANTIES LIMITED→ SC716710 · est 2021 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	4y	—	—

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 →

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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

Incorporated1976-05-05

Jurisdictionscotland

Primary SIC28302 — SIC 28302

Registered office

Balgowan

Tibbermore

By Perth

PH1 1QP

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2026-08-31

Last made up to: 2024-11-30

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2027-01-14

Last: 2025-12-31

Officers (3 active · 3 resigned)

GILLON, Ian Brownlie→

secretary · appointed 2003-01-16

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

GILLON, Hugh Robert→

director · ~62y · appointed 1990-05-31

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

GILLON, Ian Brownlie→

director · ~65y · appointed 1990-05-31

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

GILLON, Allison Anderson→

secretary · resigned 2003-01-16

Resigned

GILLON, Allison Anderson→

director · ~92y · resigned 2003-01-16

Resigned

GILLON, John Hamilton→

director · ~98y · resigned 2003-01-16

Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

Total charges

Outstanding

Active lenders

Status:Lender:1 of 1 shown

			Type	Properties
	outstanding	Lloyds Banking Group Royal Bank of Scotland PLC	Bond & floating charge	1 property	11/05/1991	—

Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.