MCCARTNEY (DUMFRIES) LIMITED

💤Zombieactive
SC139555 · ltd · incorporated 1992-08-04
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
—
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Turnover
—
year to Aug 2024
Net worth
£540.8k
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: Painting
Sector: Construction
ALSO REGISTERED FOR
  • 43991Scaffold erection
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 68-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 68). 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

1 live charge · oldest 33.7y

45/100
under pressure

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

  • · Oldest live charge is 33.7 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
  • · Distress signals active — lender appetite narrows.

Data confidence

Overall: high (81/100)

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

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
1 charges (1/1 with lender, 1/1 with type)
90
Directors & officers
7 officers (1 active, 7 linked, 2 with DOB)
76
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
10 connected companies via shared directors
75
Filing history
79 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 £540,760
Cash YoY
+26%
Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
£373k
↑ 26% YoY
Net Worth
£541k
↑ 2.3% YoY
Current Assets
£507k
↑ 22% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
£0£108k£216k£324k£433k£541kAug 2023Aug 2024

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2024-08-312023-08-31
Total assets£579.8k£577.1k
Current assets£507.1k£414.4k
Cash£373.3k£296.6k
Debtors£112.2k£106.8k
Net assets£540.8k£528.5k

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
0
filings
Last 90 days
0
filings
Last 180 days
0
filings
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (30 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-05-14
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-05-02
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  3. 2023-05-11
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  4. 2022-05-24
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  5. 2021-05-20
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  6. 2020-05-05
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  7. 2019-05-15
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  8. 2018-05-21
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  9. 2017-05-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  10. 2016-05-24
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  11. 2015-09-01
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  12. 2015-05-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  13. 2014-08-12
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  14. 2014-05-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  15. 2013-08-19
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  16. 2008-10-07
    ➖
    WELLS, Yvonne Linda resigned
    secretary
  17. 2003-02-28
    ➖
    MCKEAN, William Stewart resigned
    secretary
  18. 2003-02-28
    ➕
    WELLS, Yvonne Linda appointed
    secretary
  19. 2000-07-20
    ➖
    HEWITSON, William James resigned
    secretary
  20. 2000-07-20
    ➕
    MCKEAN, William Stewart appointed
    secretary
  21. 2000-07-20
    ➖
    CROSBIE, Dennis resigned
    director
  22. 1992-08-10
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
  23. 1992-08-04
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As MCCARTNEY (DUMFRIES) LIMITED
  24. 1992-08-04
    ➕
    HEWITSON, William James appointed
    director
  25. 1992-08-04
    ➕
    HEWITSON, William James appointed
    secretary
  26. 1992-08-04
    ➕
    COMBINED SECRETARIAL SERVICES LIMITED appointed
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  27. 1992-08-04
    ➖
    COMBINED SECRETARIAL SERVICES LIMITED resigned
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  28. 1992-08-04
    ➕
    CROSBIE, Dennis appointed
    director
  29. 1992-08-04
    ➕
    COMBINED NOMINEES LIMITED appointed
    corporate-nominee-director
  30. 1992-08-04
    ➖
    COMBINED NOMINEES LIMITED resigned
    corporate-nominee-director

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 34 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 68 — succession pressure is live.

Succession & seller-readiness

95/100
Likely off-market candidate

Strong acquirability signals converging. Worth approaching directly — this is how off-market deals start.

SIGNALS
  • primaryFounder aged 63+: Senior director is approximately 68. Approaching typical UK retirement age — succession thinking likely.
  • primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
  • primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 34 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 34 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 William James Hewitson
Individual · Scottish · DOB 08/1958 · age 68
75–100%
75–100%board controlsig. influence75-100% shares · 75-100% voting · board control · significant influence06/04/2016

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
Incorporated1992-08-04
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC43341 — Painting

Registered office

The Hollies
Peatford
Lockerbie
DG11 1BJ

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-05-31
Last made up to: 2024-08-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-08-18
Last: 2025-08-04

Officers (1 active · 6 resigned)

HEWITSON, William James→
director · ~68y · appointed 1992-08-04
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
HEWITSON, William James→
secretary · appointed 1992-08-04 · resigned 2000-07-20
Resigned
MCKEAN, William Stewart→
secretary · appointed 2000-07-20 · resigned 2003-02-28
Resigned
WELLS, Yvonne Linda→
secretary · appointed 2003-02-28 · resigned 2008-10-07
Resigned
COMBINED SECRETARIAL SERVICES LIMITED→
corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 1992-08-04 · resigned 1992-08-04
Resigned
CROSBIE, Dennis→
director · ~88y · appointed 1992-08-04 · resigned 2000-07-20
Resigned
COMBINED NOMINEES LIMITED→
corporate-nominee-director · appointed 1992-08-04 · resigned 1992-08-04
Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

1
Total charges
1
Outstanding
1
Active lenders
Status:Lender:1 of 1 shown
TypeProperties
outstanding
Lloyds Banking Group
The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
Floating charge1 property10/08/1992—
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (79 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-08-13
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-05-14
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-08-08
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-05-02
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-08-15
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-05-11
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-08-04
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-05-24
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-08-17
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-05-20
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-08-18
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-05-05
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-08-07
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-05-15
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2018-08-20