EWEN MACRAE(WEST END GARAGE)LIMITED

🌳Matureactive

SC060381 · ltd · incorporated 1976-07-16

Investment thesis

Established operating company — standard diligence applies, no dominant angle.

Why interesting: Live, filing, normal profile.

Why risky: No standout signals in either direction.

🔒Estimated value

—

Upgrade to see

Turnover

—

year to Sept 2024

Net worth

£1.84M

book net assets

Opportunity

82/100

Exceptional

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What this business does

Primary activity: Sale of new cars and light motor vehicles

Sector: Wholesale & retail

ALSO REGISTERED FOR

45112SIC 45112
45190SIC 45190
45200SIC 45200

Investor take

Pursue

Active trading company with a 80-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 57/100. Strong seller-intent signal (63/100, director aged 80). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Consolidate lender relationships. 4 distinct lenders creates friction — refinance into single-lender structure for cleaner diligence. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

4 live charges · 4 lenders · oldest 31.1y

35/100

too messy

Refinance path is blocked by complexity. Rethink structure or expect bespoke, expensive terms.

· Oldest live charge is 31.1 years old — likely at or near maturity.
· 4 lenders named — inter-creditor friction likely.
· Legal-friction score 35/100 — workable, but lender will want more DD.

Data confidence

Overall: medium (78/100)

Adequate coverage. AI outputs are reliable for the sections scored high; verify the rest in diligence.

Company profile

address, 4 SIC codes, incorporation date

100

Financials

2 years of iXBRL accounts extracted (YoY deltas available) + narrative notes parsed

Lenders & charges

4 charges (4/4 with lender, 4/4 with type)

Directors & officers

6 officers (6 active, 6 linked, 5 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

3 active PSC(s) of 3 total, 3 with control declared

Director network

Network not yet resolved

Filing history

140 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 £1,840,194

Cash YoY

+19%

Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts

Cash

£2.4m

↑ 19% YoY

Net Worth

£1.8m

↑ 7.2% YoY

Current Assets

£3.0m

↑ 16% YoY

Current Liabilities

—

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown

Metric	2024-09-30	2023-09-30
Total assets	£1.88M	£1.81M
Current assets	£2.97M	£2.55M
Cash	£2.40M	£2.03M
Debtors	£329.8k	£315.2k
Net assets	£1.84M	£1.72M

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

filings

Last 90 days

filings

• 1 officers
• 1 confirmation-statement

Last 180 days

filings

• 1 officers
• 1 confirmation-statement
• 1 accounts

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (27 events)Click to expand

2026-02-17
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2025-12-24
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-09-06
📄
gazette-filings-brought-up-to-date
gazette · DISS40
2025-09-02
📄
gazette-notice-compulsory
gazette · GAZ1
2025-03-10
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-08-15
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-03-13
📄
gazette-filings-brought-up-to-date
gazette · DISS40
2024-03-12
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-03-12
📄
gazette-notice-compulsory
gazette · GAZ1
2023-09-12
📄
gazette-filings-brought-up-to-date
gazette · DISS40
2023-09-11
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-08-29
📄
gazette-notice-compulsory
gazette · GAZ1
2023-05-30
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-04-01
📄
gazette-filings-brought-up-to-date
gazette · DISS40
2023-03-21
📄
gazette-notice-compulsory
gazette · GAZ1
2022-10-05
📄
gazette-filings-brought-up-to-date
gazette · DISS40
2022-10-04
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-08-30
📄
gazette-notice-compulsory
gazette · GAZ1
2021-07-08
📄
gazette-filings-brought-up-to-date
gazette · DISS40
2010-04-28
🔒
Charge registered #4
Lender: Rowanmoor Trustees Limited & Others
2001-05-23
🔒
Charge registered #3
Lender: Volkswagen Financial Services (UK) Limited
2000-08-01
➕
BRUCE, Lorraine Catherine Ann appointed
director
2000-08-01
➕
MACRAE, Donald Angus Ewen appointed
director
2000-08-01
➕
MORRISON, Donald Malcolm appointed
director
2000-05-11
🔒
Charge registered #2
Lender: Clydesdale Bank Public Limited Company
1995-03-15
🔒
Charge registered #1
Lender: Shell U.K. Limited
1976-07-16
🏢
Company incorporated
As EWEN MACRAE(WEST END GARAGE)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

-5 active directors: Broader management team in place — suggests transferable governance.
+Founder name in company name: Company name contains director surname "MACRAE" — strong identity link between founder and business.
+Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 26 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
+Founder age: Director aged approximately 80 — succession pressure is live.
+Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

Succession & seller-readiness

90/100

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 80 years old. Natural succession window is now.
primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 26 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

3 active beneficial owners

Name	Shares	Voting rights	Nature of control	Notified
Mr Donald John Macrae Individual · Scottish · DOB 09/1946 · age 80	25–50%	25–50%	25-50% shares · 25-50% voting	06/04/2016
Mrs Catherine Maclean Macrae Individual · Scottish · DOB 03/1946 · age 80	25–50%	25–50%	25-50% shares · 25-50% voting	06/04/2016
Mr Donald Malcolm Morrison Individual · Scottish · DOB 03/1949 · age 77	—	—	sig. influencesignificant influence	06/04/2016

From Companies House Persons with Significant Control filings. Share ranges are banded per the public PSC regime.

Similar companies

Active · Automotive · IV postcode area

Company	Est. value	Turnover	Net worth	Staff	Age	Opp	Director
HIGHLAND MOTOR PARTS LIMITED→ SC228871 · est 2002	£9.39M £7.51M–£11.26M	—	—	75	24y	88	64y
DONALD MACKENZIE LIMITED→ SC058445 · est 1975	£1.06M £847.9k–£1.27M	—	—	5200	50y	87	68y
CULLODEN CAR SALES LTD.→ SC222206 · est 2001	—	—	£2.10M	—	24y	83	58y
SEVILLE 2011 LIMITED→ SC389852 · est 2010	—	—	£83.0k	—	15y	83	58y
SGM CARS LTD→ SC384911 · est 2010 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	15y	83	59y
AUTOCARE (INVERNESS) LIMITED→ SC203216 · est 2000	—	—	£178.1k	—	26y	82	65y
DANZAN LIMITED→ SC248100 · est 2003	—	—	—	2	23y	82	72y
DINGWALL PANEL BEATERS LIMITED→ SC214001 · est 2000	—	—	£108.0k	—	25y	82	62y
DUNLOPS MOTOR FACTORS (HIGHLAND) LTD.→ SC216519 · est 2001	—	—	£86.9k	—	25y	82	72y
FLEET MANAGEMENT SERVICES (UK) LIMITED→ SC211499 · est 2000	—	—	—	900	25y	82	69y
GODSMAN TYRES & EXHAUSTS LIMITED→ SC252460 · est 2003	—	—	£122.5k	—	22y	82	64y
J R MOTORS (ELGIN) LIMITED→ SC288973 · est 2005	—	—	£77.0k	—	20y	82	65y

Peers ranked by estimated value, then turnover, then opportunity score.See all →

🔒Tailored diligence questions

8 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

Incorporated1976-07-16

Jurisdictionscotland

Primary SIC45111 — Sale of new cars and light motor vehicles

Registered office

West End Garage

Dunvegan Road

Portree

Isle Of Skye

IV51 9HD

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2026-06-30

Last made up to: 2024-09-30

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2026-12-28

Last: 2025-12-14