GRAMPIAN STEEL SERVICES LIMITED

🌳Matureactive
SC088118 · ltd · incorporated 1984-05-23
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.
Why now
Window steady · low confidence
Stable recent picture — watch for any upcoming trigger event.
Opportunity decay
approaching window · 12-months
Approaching a transaction window — refinance or sale event plausible in the next 12 months.
  • · Oldest live charge 41.7y old — refinance window within 12 months
What changed my view
Last 30 days

No material changes in the last 30 days.

Last 90 days

No material changes in the last 90 days.

Last 180 days

No snapshot from 180 days ago — start tracking from today.

🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to May 2025
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
🔔
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What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 46720
Sector: Wholesale & retail
ALSO REGISTERED FOR
  • 46730SIC 46730
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 77-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (63/100, director aged 77). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Discharge stale live charges. 2 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

3 live charges · 2 lenders · oldest 41.7y

50/100
clean up first

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

  • · Oldest live charge is 41.7 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Two lenders — manageable, but coordination required.
  • · Legal-friction score 25/100 — workable, but lender will want more DD.

Data confidence

Overall: medium (79/100)

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

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
3 charges (3/3 with lender, 3/3 with type)
90
Directors & officers
7 officers (4 active, 7 linked, 4 with DOB)
81
Ownership & PSC
2 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared
90
Director network
1 connected companies via shared directors
48
Filing history
96 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.

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
—
Net Worth
—
Current Assets
—
Current Liabilities
—
£0£0£0£0£0£0May 2024May 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2025-05-312024-05-31
Average employees1400-1500

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

🔒Filing-note intelligence

3 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
0
filings
Last 90 days
0
filings
Last 180 days
1
filing
  • • 1 accounts
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (25 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-02-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2025-02-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  3. 2024-02-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  4. 2023-07-26
    📄
    second-filing-of-confirmation-statement-with-made-up-date
    confirmation-statement · RP04CS01
  5. 2023-02-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  6. 2022-02-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  7. 2020-12-10
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  8. 2020-06-12
    📄
    appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
    officers · AP01
  9. 2020-02-20
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  10. 2020-01-20
    ➕
    COUTTS, Soenaid appointed
    director
  11. 2019-02-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  12. 2018-02-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  13. 2017-02-20
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  14. 2016-02-22
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  15. 2015-12-01
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  16. 2010-06-10
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #1
  17. 2006-07-18
    🔒
    Charge registered #3
    Lender: The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
  18. 2002-07-17
    ➕
    DUNBAR, Irene Mildred appointed
    secretary
  19. 2002-07-17
    ➖
    GRANT, James Roy Mcculloch resigned
    secretary
  20. 2002-05-22
    🔒
    Charge registered #2
    Lender: The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
  21. 1998-06-01
    ➕
    DUNBAR, Irene Mildred appointed
    director
  22. 1998-01-19
    ➖
    BAIN, John resigned
    director
  23. 1989-11-03
    ➖
    ESSLEMONT, Charles James resigned
    director
  24. 1984-11-26
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: Clydesdale Bank Public Limited Company
  25. 1984-05-23
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As GRAMPIAN STEEL SERVICES 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
  • +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 28 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 77 — 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 77 years old. Natural succession window is now.
  • primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 28 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.)

Shareholders & ownership

2 active beneficial owners
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr Alexander John Dunbar
Individual · British · DOB 05/1949 · age 77
25–50%
—25-50% shares06/04/2016
Mrs Irene Mildred Dunbar
Individual · British · DOB 06/1950 · age 76
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 →

Similar companies

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S&JD ROBERTSON NORTH AIR LIMITED→
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£7.39M–£12.32M
£47.30M—4090053y8359y
QUALITY FOOD PRODUCTS (ABERDEEN) LIMITED→
SC046323 · est 1969
£7.30M
£5.48M–£9.13M
——6757y8359y
WELLHEAD ELECTRICAL SUPPLIES LIMITED→
SC123707 · est 1990
£993.4k
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——1536y8373y
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——210023y8286y
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——3925y8458y
APEX TUBULARS LIMITED→
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———60018y8363y
GPH BUILDERS MERCHANTS LIMITED→
SC378341 · est 2010 · no financials extracted
————16y8371y
D. RUDDIMAN LIMITED→
SC031624 · est 1956
——£15.2k—70y8296y
GOOD TASTE SCOTLAND LIMITED→
SC314261 · est 2007
——£50.0k—19y8270y
GPH BUILDERS MERCHANTS (2006) LIMITED→
SC208072 · est 2000 · no financials extracted
————26y8271y
GRAMPIAN PLANT AND MACHINERY LIMITED→
SC238020 · est 2002
——£489.0k—23y8272y
H & I CHEMICALS LIMITED→
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———1226y8271y
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
Incorporated1984-05-23
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC46720 — SIC 46720

Registered office

Greenford
Oldmeldrum
Aberdeenshire
AB51 0BH

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2027-02-28
Last made up to: 2025-05-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-11-21
Last: 2025-11-07

Officers (4 active · 3 resigned)

DUNBAR, Irene Mildred→
secretary · appointed 2002-07-17
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
COUTTS, Soenaid→
director · ~51y · appointed 2020-01-20
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
DUNBAR, Alexander John→
director · ~77y
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
DUNBAR, Irene Mildred→
director · ~76y · appointed 1998-06-01
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
GRANT, James Roy Mcculloch→
secretary · resigned 2002-07-17
Resigned
BAIN, John→
director · ~79y · resigned 1998-01-19
Resigned
ESSLEMONT, Charles James→
director · resigned 1989-11-03
Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

3
Total charges
2
Outstanding
1
Active lenders
Status:Lender:3 of 3 shown
TypeProperties
outstanding
Lloyds Banking Group
The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
Standard security1 property18/07/2006—
outstanding
Lloyds Banking Group
The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
Bond & floating charge1 property22/05/2002—
satisfied
Virgin Money
Clydesdale Bank Public Limited Company
Floating charge1 property26/11/198410/06/2010
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (96 total)

accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2026-02-27
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-12-04
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-02-26
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-12-08
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-02-28
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-11-20
second-filing-of-confirmation-statement-with-made-up-date
confirmation-statement · RP04CS01
2023-07-26
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-02-28
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-11-07
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-11-07
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-02-27
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-11-09
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-12-10
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-11-12
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2020-06-12