HIGHLAND CLEARANCE LIMITED

💤Zombieactive
SC088323 · ltd · incorporated 1984-06-06
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
—
year to Mar 2025
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 46770
Sector: Wholesale & retail
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 76-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 76). 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 (73/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

2 live charges · 2 lenders · oldest 39.3y

30/100
under pressure

Refinance would be pressure-driven, not opportunity-driven. Expect tighter margins and covenant scrutiny.

  • · Oldest live charge is 39.3 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Two lenders — manageable, but coordination required.
  • · Distress signals active — lender appetite narrows.

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
75
Lenders & charges
2 charges (2/2 with lender, 2/2 with type)
90
Directors & officers
4 officers (2 active, 4 linked, 3 with DOB)
85
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
2 connected companies via shared directors
51
Filing history
98 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£0Mar 2024Mar 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102
Metric2025-03-312024-03-31
Average employees300300

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
0
filings
Last 90 days
1
filing
  • • 1 accounts
Last 180 days
2
filings
  • • 1 accounts
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (22 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-03-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-12-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  3. 2023-12-19
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  4. 2023-10-04
    📄
    mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
    mortgage · MR04
  5. 2023-10-04
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #2
  6. 2022-12-21
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  7. 2021-12-21
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  8. 2021-01-13
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  9. 2019-11-18
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  10. 2018-12-06
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  11. 2017-12-22
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  12. 2017-01-31
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  13. 2017-01-31
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  14. 2017-01-07
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  15. 2016-02-17
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  16. 2015-11-13
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  17. 1998-10-31
    🔒
    Charge registered #2
    Lender: The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland
  18. 1997-12-31
    ➖
    FOWLER, David Reid resigned
    director
  19. 1997-12-31
    ➖
    FOWLER, Morag Louise resigned
    director
  20. 1995-04-01
    ➕
    MACKENZIE, John Donald appointed
    director
  21. 1987-01-12
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: Clydesdale Bank Public Limited Company
  22. 1984-06-06
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As HIGHLAND CLEARANCE 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 31 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 76 — 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 76 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 31 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

1 active beneficial owner · dominant holder ≥75%
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr John Donald Mackenzie
Individual · British · DOB 04/1950 · age 76
75–100%
75–100%75-100% shares · 75-100% voting06/04/2016

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

Active · Wholesale & distribution · IV postcode area
CompanyEst. valueTurnoverNet worthStaffAgeOppDirector
GLEANER LIMITED→
SC030017 · est 1954
£4.05M
£3.04M–£5.06M
——19972y8862y
FRANK NICOL FARM AND GARDEN MACHINERY LIMITED→
SC139585 · est 1992
——£326.0k—33y8287y
MACGREGOR INDUSTRIAL SUPPLIES LIMITED→
SC173566 · est 1997 · no financials extracted
————29y8297y
INVERNESS WHISKY LTD→
SC697926 · est 2021 · no financials extracted
————4y——
ISLE OF SKYE CLOTHING COMPANY LTD→
SC816838 · est 2024 · no financials extracted
————1y——
JUST HOOKED LIMITED→
SC225375 · est 2001 · no financials extracted
————24y——
NORTH GREETINGS LTD→
SC519194 · est 2015 · no financials extracted
————10y——
OPTIMUM UNDERFLOOR HEATING LIMITED→
SC312531 · est 2006 · no financials extracted
————19y——
PILGRIM CARAVANS OUTDOORS LIMITED→
SC751221 · est 2022 · no financials extracted
————3y——
PRIDE OF BENGAL HIGHLAND LTD→
SC335251 · est 2007 · no financials extracted
————18y——
PRIDE OF BENGAL WHOLESALE LTD→
SC720677 · est 2022 · no financials extracted
————4y——
SABAR SOLUTIONS LIMITED→
SC735691 · est 2022 · no financials extracted
————3y——
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
Incorporated1984-06-06
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC46770 — SIC 46770

Registered office

Forbes House
36 Huntly Street
Inverness
IV3 5PR
United Kingdom

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-12-31
Last made up to: 2025-03-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-01-14
Last: 2025-12-31

Officers (2 active · 2 resigned)

FOWLER, Morag Louise→
secretary
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
MACKENZIE, John Donald→
director · ~76y · appointed 1995-04-01
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
FOWLER, David Reid→
director · ~74y · resigned 1997-12-31
Resigned
FOWLER, Morag Louise→
director · ~74y · resigned 1997-12-31
Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

2
Total charges
1
Outstanding
1
Active lenders
Status:Lender:2 of 2 shown
TypeProperties
satisfied
Lloyds Banking Group
The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland
Floating charge1 property31/10/199804/10/2023
outstanding
Virgin Money
Clydesdale Bank Public Limited Company
Standard security1 property12/01/1987—
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (98 total)

accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2026-03-27
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-01-13
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-01-28
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-12-23
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-01-15
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-12-19
mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
mortgage · MR04
2023-10-04
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-01-12
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-12-21
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-01-27
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-12-21
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-02-04
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-01-13
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-01-10
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-11-18