H.B.G. INTERNATIONAL LIMITED

💤Zombieactive

SC148482 · ltd · incorporated 1994-01-19

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 Jan 2025

Net worth

—

book net assets

Opportunity

82/100

Exceptional

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What this business does

Primary activity: Other engineering activities

Sector: Professional, scientific & technical

Investor take

Pursue

Active trading company with a 76-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. 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 (65/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

1 live charge · oldest 26.7y

45/100

under pressure

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

· Oldest live charge is 26.7 years old — likely at or near maturity.
· Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
· Distress signals active — lender appetite narrows.

Data confidence

Overall: medium (76/100)

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

Lenders & charges

1 charges (1/1 with lender, 1/1 with type)

Directors & officers

8 officers (3 active, 8 linked, 3 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared

Director network

Network not yet resolved

Filing history

78 filings on record

Gazette notices

No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)

Opportunity Score

82/100Exceptional

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

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts

Cash

—

Net Worth

—

Current Assets

—

Current Liabilities

—

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown

Metric	2025-01-31	2024-01-31

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

filing

• 1 confirmation-statement

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (30 events)Click to expand

2025-10-30
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2024-10-31
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2023-10-25
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2022-10-27
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2021-10-29
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2020-10-27
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2019-10-10
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2018-11-05
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2017-11-01
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2016-11-04
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2016-02-14
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2015-11-10
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2015-03-09
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2014-11-03
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2014-02-20
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2003-01-01
➕
MCGARRY, Isabella appointed
secretary
2001-09-01
➕
MCGARRY, Joseph John appointed
secretary
2001-09-01
➖
MCGARRY, Isabella resigned
secretary
1999-08-31
🔒
Charge registered #1
Lender: The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland
1997-02-02
➕
MCGARRY, Isabella appointed
secretary
1997-02-01
➖
MCGARRY, Isabella resigned
director
1997-02-01
➖
MCGARRY, Lee-Ann resigned
director
1994-01-19
🏢
Company incorporated
As H.B.G. INTERNATIONAL LIMITED
1994-01-19
➕
MCGARRY, Joseph John appointed
director
1994-01-19
➕
REID, Brian appointed
nominee-secretary
1994-01-19
➖
REID, Brian resigned
nominee-secretary
1994-01-19
➕
MCGARRY, Isabella appointed
director
1994-01-19
➕
MCGARRY, Lee-Ann appointed
director
1994-01-19
➕
REID, Brian appointed
nominee-director
1994-01-19
➖
REID, Brian resigned
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 32 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 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

1 active beneficial owner

Name	Shares	Voting rights	Nature of control	Notified
Mr Joseph John Mcgarry Individual · British · DOB 03/1950 · age 76	50–75%	—	50-75% shares	06/04/2016

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

Similar companies

Active · Professional services · EH postcode area

Company	Est. value	Turnover	Net worth	Staff	Age	Opp	Director
CHARLES RIVER LABORATORIES EDINBURGH LIMITED→ SC091725 · est 1985	£131.60M £96.97M–£166.24M	£135.39M	—	135900	41y	85	67y
ROBERTSON EDUCATION (ABERDEENSHIRE) HOLDINGS LIMITED→ SC209010 · est 2000	£5.47M £4.03M–£6.91M	—	—	0	25y	85	60y
DSF (2003) LIMITED→ SC144009 · est 1993	£4.70M £3.46M–£5.93M	—	—	7	33y	87	61y
FCC (EAST AYRSHIRE) HOLDINGS LIMITED→ SC300470 · est 2006	£3.99M £2.94M–£5.03M	—	—	0	20y	87	60y
BLYTH & BLYTH CONSULTING ENGINEERS LIMITED→ SC241155 · est 2002	£2.78M £2.05M–£3.52M	—	—	93	23y	87	85y
SIBCAS LIMITED→ SC052604 · est 1973	£1.88M £1.39M–£2.38M	—	—	165	53y	88	68y
HORIZON (GP) LIMITED→ SC493523 · est 2014	£45.2k £33.3k–£57.1k	—	—	6	11y	95	66y
BURNDENE INVESTMENTS LIMITED→ SC015613 · est 1929	£14.3k £10.5k–£18.0k	—	—	0	96y	83	63y
3 ED HOLDINGS 2 LIMITED→ SC328040 · est 2007 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	18y	83	65y
ABACUS FINANCIAL MARKETING LIMITED→ SC197503 · est 1999	—	—	£3.4k	—	26y	83	59y
ACCOUNTING & TAXATION SERVICE LTD→ SC360357 · est 2009 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	16y	83	58y
BRINDLEY ASSOCIATES LIMITED→ SC290803 · est 2005	—	—	—	1300	20y	83	59y

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

Incorporated1994-01-19

Jurisdictionscotland

Primary SIC71129 — Other engineering activities

Registered office

1 Park Road

Bonnyrigg

Midlothian

EH19 2AW

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2026-10-31

Last made up to: 2025-01-31

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2027-01-05

Last: 2025-12-22

Officers (3 active · 5 resigned)

MCGARRY, Isabella→

secretary · appointed 2003-01-01

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

MCGARRY, Joseph John→

secretary · appointed 2001-09-01

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

MCGARRY, Joseph John→

director · ~76y · appointed 1994-01-19

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

MCGARRY, Isabella→

secretary · appointed 1997-02-02 · resigned 2001-09-01

Resigned

REID, Brian→

nominee-secretary · appointed 1994-01-19 · resigned 1994-01-19

Resigned

MCGARRY, Isabella→

director · ~75y · appointed 1994-01-19 · resigned 1997-02-01

Resigned

MCGARRY, Lee-Ann→

director · ~51y · appointed 1994-01-19 · resigned 1997-02-01

Resigned

REID, Brian→

nominee-director · appointed 1994-01-19 · resigned 1994-01-19

Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

Total charges

Outstanding

Active lenders

Status:Lender:1 of 1 shown

			Type	Properties
	outstanding	Lloyds Banking Group The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland	Bond & floating charge	1 property	31/08/1999	—

Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.