HOWE SECURITIES LIMITED

💤Zombieactive
SC085892 · ltd · incorporated 1983-12-09
Investment thesis
Zombie company — trading but stalled; unlikely mover.
Why interesting: Quiet, steady; could be a succession or carve-out candidate with the right conversation.
Why risky: No growth signal; thin margin for error on price.
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
not disclosed
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
80/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: Non-trading company
Sector: Professional, scientific & technical
Investor take
Pursue
Dormant / non-trading with a 72-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 80/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 72). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Broaden director team. Sole director creates succession risk and reduces buyer comfort. Appoint a second director or strong #2. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (73/100).

Data confidence

Overall: medium (58/100)

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
No iXBRL financials extracted
0
Lenders & charges
Confirmed no charges registered
85
Directors & officers
4 officers (2 active, 4 linked, 3 with DOB)
85
Ownership & PSC
2 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared
90
Director network
8 connected companies via shared directors
69
Filing history
92 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
80/100Exceptional
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
90
Good data coverage for analysis.

Recent activity

Last 30 days
1
filing
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
Last 90 days
2
filings
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
  • • 1 accounts
Last 180 days
2
filings
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
  • • 1 accounts
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (19 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-03-18
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  2. 2025-03-07
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  3. 2024-02-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  4. 2023-02-21
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  5. 2022-03-16
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  6. 2021-04-19
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  7. 2020-03-04
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  8. 2019-06-06
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  9. 2018-06-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  10. 2017-05-03
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  11. 2016-04-05
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  12. 2016-03-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  13. 2015-04-09
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  14. 2015-04-02
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  15. 2014-04-16
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  16. 2003-12-19
    ➕
    BROWN, Roger Thomas appointed
    director
  17. 2003-12-19
    ➖
    BROWN, Ewan resigned
    director
  18. 2001-06-22
    ➖
    DICK, Brian Booth resigned
    director
  19. 1983-12-09
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As HOWE SECURITIES LIMITED

Owner dependency

100/100
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
  • +Sole director: Only one active director — all governance concentrated on one person.
  • +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 22 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 72 — succession pressure is live.

Succession & seller-readiness

100/100
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 72 years old. Natural succession window is now.
  • primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
  • primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 22 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 42 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

2 corporate shareholders identified. Group structure is distributed.

🏛️
Noble Grossart Limited
Corporate parent · holds 25-50% shares
significant stake
🏛️
Noble Grossart Holdings Limited
Corporate parent · holds 25-50% shares
significant stake
⬇
HOWE SECURITIES LIMITED
This company · SC085892

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

Shareholders & ownership

2 active beneficial owners
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Noble Grossart Limited
Corporate entity
25–50%
—25-50% shares06/04/2016
Noble Grossart Holdings Limited
Corporate entity
25–50%
—25-50% shares06/04/2016

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 →

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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.

See pricing →

Company details

Statusactive
Typeltd
Incorporated1983-12-09
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC74990 — Non-trading company

Registered office

48 Queen Street
Edinburgh
EH2 3HR

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2027-10-31
Last made up to: 2026-01-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-04-13
Last: 2026-03-30

Officers (2 active · 2 resigned)

NOBLE GROSSART LIMITED→
corporate-secretary
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
BROWN, Roger Thomas→
director · ~72y · appointed 2003-12-19
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
BROWN, Ewan→
director · ~84y · resigned 2003-12-19
Resigned
DICK, Brian Booth→
director · ~83y · resigned 2001-06-22
Resigned

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

Recent filings (92 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-03-30
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2026-03-18
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-04-07
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2025-03-07
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-04-02
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2024-02-29
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-03-30
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2023-02-21
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-03-30
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2022-03-16
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2021-04-19
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-03-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-03-30
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2020-03-04
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2019-06-06