LOTHIAN BRAKEWAYS LIMITED

🌳Matureactive

SC147590 · ltd · incorporated 1993-11-18

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.

Opportunity decay

approaching window · 12-months

Approaching a transaction window — refinance or sale event plausible in the next 12 months.

· Oldest live charge 32.3y old — refinance window within 12 months

🔒Estimated value

—

Upgrade to see

Turnover

—

year to Oct 2024

Net worth

—

book net assets

Opportunity

83/100

Exceptional

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What this business does

Primary activity: SIC 45310

Sector: Wholesale & retail

Investor take

Pursue

Active trading company with a 83-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 83/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (63/100, director aged 83). 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 (65/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

2 live charges · oldest 32.3y

65/100

clean up first

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

· Oldest live charge is 32.3 years old — likely at or near maturity.
· Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
· Legal-friction score 25/100 — workable, but lender will want more DD.

Data confidence

Overall: medium (72/100)

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

1 year of iXBRL accounts extracted (no YoY comparison) + narrative notes parsed

Lenders & charges

2 charges (2/2 with lender, 2/2 with type)

Directors & officers

8 officers (6 active, 8 linked, 5 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

3 active PSC(s) of 3 total, 3 with control declared

Director network

3 connected companies via shared directors

Filing history

88 filings on record

Gazette notices

No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)

Opportunity Score

83/100Exceptional

PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional

Strong composite across quality, acquirability, and risk. High-priority target — progress to serious diligence.

Business quality

Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.

Acquirability

Strong succession / seller-readiness signals.

Risk profile

Few red flags.

Signal strength

100

Good data coverage for analysis.

Key financials

1 year extracted from filed iXBRL accounts

Cash

—

Net Worth

—

Current Assets

—

Current Liabilities

—

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102

Metric	2024-10-31
Average employees	700

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

filings

Last 90 days

filings

Last 180 days

filings

• 5 officers
• 1 persons-with-significant-control
• 1 address

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (30 events)Click to expand

2025-12-11
📄
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2025-12-02
📍
default-companies-house-service-address-applied-officer
address · RP09
2025-11-20
📄
change-person-secretary-company-with-change-date
officers · CH03
2025-11-20
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2025-11-20
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2025-11-20
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2025-11-20
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2025-07-21
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-07-15
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-08-02
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-07-06
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-07-26
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-07-23
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-07-19
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2018-07-25
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2017-08-22
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2013-06-13
🔓
Charge satisfied #2
2007-02-01
➕
SHORT, David George appointed
director
2007-02-01
➕
SHORT, Ian Andrew appointed
director
2007-02-01
➕
SHORT, Marek William appointed
director
1995-11-18
➕
SHORT, Janina Margaret appointed
director
1994-03-07
🔒
Charge registered #2
Lender: The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
1994-01-19
🔒
Charge registered #1
Lender: The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
1993-11-18
🏢
Company incorporated
As LOTHIAN BRAKEWAYS LIMITED
1993-11-18
➕
SHORT, Janina Margaret appointed
secretary
1993-11-18
➕
SHORT, William John appointed
director
1993-11-18
➕
ALEXANDERS BUSINESS PRESS LTD appointed
corporate-nominee-secretary
1993-11-18
➖
ALEXANDERS BUSINESS PRESS LTD resigned
corporate-nominee-secretary
1993-11-18
➕
ALEXANDERS BUSINESS SERVICES LTD appointed
corporate-nominee-director
1993-11-18
➖
ALEXANDERS BUSINESS SERVICES LTD resigned
corporate-nominee-director

Owner dependency

73/100

High — earn-out structure required

Material founder dependency. Consider a 2-3 year earn-out and build in a handover plan before completion.

FACTORS

-5 active directors: Broader management team in place — suggests transferable governance.
+Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 32 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
+Founder age: Director aged approximately 83 — 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 83 years old. Natural succession window is now.
primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 32 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 32 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

3 active beneficial owners

Name	Shares	Voting rights	Nature of control	Notified
Mr William John Short Individual · British · DOB 01/1943 · age 83	25–50%	—	25-50% shares	18/10/2016
Mrs Janina Margaret Short Individual · British · DOB 10/1944 · age 82	25–50%	—	25-50% shares	18/10/2016
Mr David George Short Individual · Scottish · DOB 12/1964 · age 62	—	—	sig. influencesignificant influence · firm interest	18/10/2016

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 · Automotive · EH postcode area

Company	Est. value	Turnover	Net worth	Staff	Age	Opp	Director
FARMER AUTOCARE LIMITED→ SC246050 · est 2003	£9.60M £7.68M–£11.52M	—	—	182	23y	82	58y
ALLARDYCE & GOLDIE ENTERPRISES LIMITED→ SC076646 · est 1981	£65.3k £52.3k–£78.4k	£453.9k	—	500	44y	84	62y
AJM SPRAYING SERVICES LTD→ SC249637 · est 2003	—	—	£623.2k	—	22y	83	64y
BRAIDWOOD MOTOR COMPANY LIMITED→ SC235866 · est 2002	—	—	£599.8k	—	23y	83	64y
DALKEITH RETAIL CENTRE LIMITED→ SC324402 · est 2007	—	—	£7.49M	—	18y	83	83y
GOGETA LIMITED→ SC292487 · est 2005 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	20y	83	69y
KAIM PARK GARAGE LTD.→ SC262902 · est 2004	—	—	£2.66M	—	22y	83	62y
PENTLAND COMPONENT PARTS LIMITED→ SC082096 · est 1983 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	43y	83	86y
PERTH HONDA LIMITED→ SC366689 · est 2009 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	16y	83	69y
A F NOBLE & SON (PENICUIK) LIMITED→ SC337051 · est 2008	—	—	£2.56M	—	18y	82	64y
BALERNO GARAGE LIMITED→ SC106176 · est 1987	—	—	£76.3k	—	38y	82	77y
BRADBURY MOTORS LIMITED→ SC045969 · est 1968	—	—	—	900	57y	82	64y

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.

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Company details

Statusactive

Typeltd

Incorporated1993-11-18

Jurisdictionscotland

Primary SIC45310 — SIC 45310

Registered office

39/41 Bonnyrigg Road

Dalkeith

Midlothian

EH22 3HF

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2026-07-31

Last made up to: 2024-10-31

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2026-09-27

Last: 2025-09-13