JAMES BROWN (PETROL) LIMITED

💤Zombieactive
SC091899 · ltd · incorporated 1985-02-28
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
£58.3k
book net assets
Opportunity
79/100
Strong
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What this business does
Primary activity: Other letting and operating of own or leased real estate
Sector: Real estate
Investor take
Pursue
Asset-holding vehicle with a 80-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 79/100 (strong), bankability 85/100. Strong seller-intent signal (78/100, director aged 80). 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).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

2 live charges · 2 lenders · oldest 28.3y

30/100
under pressure

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

  • · Oldest live charge is 28.3 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Two lenders — manageable, but coordination required.
  • · Distress signals active — lender appetite narrows.

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, 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
5 officers (1 active, 5 linked, 4 with DOB)
86
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
1 connected companies via shared directors
48
Filing history
102 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
🔒Estimated company valuation

Sector-multiple EBITDA, turnover, and NAV-proxy valuation range with confidence tier — derived from extracted iXBRL financials.

Available from the Pro tier upwards.

See pricing →
Opportunity Score
79/100Strong
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional 

Solid opportunity signal. Worth a dedicated memo and management meeting.

Business quality
70
Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.
Acquirability
70
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 · FRS 105 (micro)
Positive net assets
Net assets £58,339
Net assets shrinking
Down £367 YoY

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
—
Net Worth
£58k
~ YoY
Current Assets
£59k
~ YoY
Current Liabilities
—
£0£12k£24k£36k£47k£59kMar 2024Mar 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 105 (micro)
Metric2025-03-312024-03-31
Total assets£58.3k£58.7k
Current assets£58.9k£59.2k
Net assets£58.3k£58.7k

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
0
filings
Last 90 days
0
filings
Last 180 days
1
filing
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (25 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-06-13
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-06-25
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  3. 2023-05-22
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  4. 2022-05-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  5. 2021-06-14
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  6. 2020-07-22
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  7. 2019-11-06
    📄
    mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
    mortgage · MR04
  8. 2019-11-06
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #2
  9. 2019-10-17
    📄
    mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
    mortgage · MR04
  10. 2019-10-17
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #1
  11. 2019-05-15
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  12. 2018-05-24
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  13. 2017-05-15
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  14. 2016-05-09
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  15. 2015-12-18
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  16. 2015-06-17
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  17. 2014-12-15
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  18. 2012-09-20
    ➖
    BROWN, Michael Rain Henry resigned
    secretary
  19. 2012-09-20
    ➖
    BROWN, Patricia Janet Jack resigned
    director
  20. 1998-02-05
    🔒
    Charge registered #2
    Lender: Michael Rain Henry Brown
  21. 1997-12-24
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: Bp Oil UK Limited
  22. 1997-04-01
    ➖
    BROWN, Louise Alma resigned
    director
  23. 1996-12-11
    ➕
    BROWN, Patricia Janet Jack appointed
    director
  24. 1996-02-08
    ➖
    ROBSON, Catherine resigned
    director
  25. 1985-02-28
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As JAMES BROWN (PETROL) 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.
  • +Founder name in company name: Company name contains director surname "BROWN" — strong identity link between founder and business.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 80 — succession pressure is live.

Succession & seller-readiness

85/100
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.
  • primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 41 years old and no new directors in the last 3 years — succession not yet being planned internally.

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
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Michael Rain Henry Brown
Individual · British · DOB 11/1946 · age 80
——board controlboard control06/04/2016

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
Incorporated1985-02-28
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC68209 — Other letting and operating of own or leased real estate

Registered office

19 Dunmuir Road
Castle Douglas
Kirkcudbrightshire
DG7 1LQ

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-12-31
Last made up to: 2025-03-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-12-22
Last: 2025-12-08

Officers (1 active · 4 resigned)

BROWN, Michael Rain Henry→
director · ~80y
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
BROWN, Michael Rain Henry→
secretary · resigned 2012-09-20
Resigned
BROWN, Louise Alma→
director · ~109y · resigned 1997-04-01
Resigned
BROWN, Patricia Janet Jack→
director · ~80y · appointed 1996-12-11 · resigned 2012-09-20
Resigned
ROBSON, Catherine→
director · ~106y · resigned 1996-02-08
Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

2
Total charges
0
Outstanding
0
Active lenders
Status:Lender:2 of 2 shown
TypeProperties
satisfied
Michael Rain Henry Brown
Standard security1 property05/02/199806/11/2019
satisfied
Bp Oil UK
Bp Oil UK Limited
Standard security1 property24/12/199717/10/2019

Recent filings (102 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-12-15
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-06-13
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-12-10
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-06-25
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-12-12
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-05-22
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-12-08
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-05-23
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-12-09
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-06-14
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-12-11
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2020-07-22
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-12-12
mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
mortgage · MR04
2019-11-06
mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
mortgage · MR04
2019-10-17