A MCPHERSON (BLACKSMITHS) LIMITED

🌳Matureactive
SC089569 · ltd · incorporated 1984-09-06
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
hardening · 12-months
Already tight — no obvious softening catalysts on the horizon.
  • · Thesis: well-run, low negotiation leverage
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Oct 2025
Net worth
£27.4k
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: Manufacture of metal structures and parts of structures
Sector: Manufacturing
Investor take
Pursue
Asset-holding vehicle with a 87-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 85/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 87). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Cash flow review and working-capital discipline. Cash down -51% YoY — forensic review of receivables, stock turns, and creditor days. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

1 live charge · oldest 37.5y

45/100
under pressure

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

  • · Oldest live charge is 37.5 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
  • · Cashflow trend is negative — lender view likely cautious.

Data confidence

Overall: high (84/100)

Strong data coverage across all sections. AI outputs should be trusted with minimal caveats.

Company profile
address, 1 SIC codes, incorporation date
100
Financials
3 years of iXBRL accounts extracted + narrative notes parsed
95
Lenders & charges
1 charges (1/1 with lender, 1/1 with type)
90
Directors & officers
4 officers (3 active, 4 linked, 3 with DOB)
85
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
93 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.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · accounting standard not declared
Positive net assets
Net assets £27,400
Net assets shrinking
Down £5,437 YoY
Cash draining
Cash down 51% YoY
Cash YoY
-51%
Year on year

Key financials

3 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
£11k
↓ 51% YoY
Net Worth
£27k
↓ 17% YoY
Current Assets
£35k
↓ 34% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
£0£13k£26k£39k£53k£66kOct 2023Oct 2024Oct 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2025-10-312024-10-312023-10-31
Total assets£27.4k£32.8k£45.5k
Current assets£35.5k£53.5k£65.7k
Cash£11.0k£22.7k£33.3k
Debtors£23.2k£29.6k£31.1k
Net assets£27.4k£32.8k£45.5k

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
1
filing
  • • 1 accounts
Last 90 days
1
filing
  • • 1 accounts
Last 180 days
3
filings
  • • 1 accounts
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
  • • 1 officers
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (20 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-05-13
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2026-01-30
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  3. 2025-09-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  4. 2024-08-08
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  5. 2023-04-17
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  6. 2022-07-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  7. 2021-06-09
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  8. 2021-01-19
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  9. 2020-08-11
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  10. 2019-04-02
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  11. 2018-03-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  12. 2017-05-06
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  13. 2016-03-18
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  14. 2015-11-23
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  15. 2015-08-06
    📄
    mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
    mortgage · MR04
  16. 2015-08-06
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #1
  17. 2006-07-26
    ➕
    MCPHERSON, Stuart appointed
    director
  18. 2006-02-28
    ➖
    MCPHERSON, Alexander resigned
    director
  19. 1988-11-22
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: National Westminster Bank PLC
  20. 1984-09-06
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As A MCPHERSON (BLACKSMITHS) 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
  • +Two-director setup: Only two active directors — typical of owner-managed SMEs but limits succession.
  • +Founder name in company name: Company name contains director surname "MCPHERSON" — strong identity link between founder and business.
  • +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 20 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 87 — succession pressure is live.
  • +Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

Succession & seller-readiness

89/100
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 87 years old. Natural succession window is now.
  • secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
  • secondary12+ year tenure: Director in role 20 years.
  • 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
Mrs Margaret Mcpherson
Individual · British · DOB 02/1939 · age 87
75–100%
—75-100% shares14/11/2016

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

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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
Incorporated1984-09-06
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC25110 — Manufacture of metal structures and parts of structures

Registered office

West Fulton
By Johnstone
Renfrewshire
PA6 7EH

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2027-07-31
Last made up to: 2025-10-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-11-26
Last: 2025-11-12

Officers (3 active · 1 resigned)

MCPHERSON, Margaret→
secretary
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
MCPHERSON, Margaret→
director · ~87y
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
MCPHERSON, Stuart→
director · ~64y · appointed 2006-07-26
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
MCPHERSON, Alexander→
director · ~98y · resigned 2006-02-28
Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

1
Total charges
0
Outstanding
0
Active lenders
Status:Lender:1 of 1 shown
TypeProperties
satisfied
National Westminster Bank
National Westminster Bank PLC
Floating charge1 property22/11/198806/08/2015

Recent filings (93 total)

accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2026-05-13
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-02-03
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2026-01-30
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-09-23
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-12-03
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-08-08
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-11-23
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-04-17
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-11-22
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-07-26
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-12-01
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-06-09
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-01-19
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2021-01-19
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-08-11