E.C. TIMBER LIMITED

🌳Matureactive

SC170450 · ltd · incorporated 1996-12-05

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 25.3y old — refinance window within 12 months

🔒Estimated value

—

Upgrade to see

Turnover

—

year to Dec 2024

Net worth

—

book net assets

Opportunity

83/100

Exceptional

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What this business does

Primary activity: SIC 02400

Sector: Agriculture, forestry & fishing

Investor take

Pursue

Active trading company with a 99-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 83/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (63/100, director aged 99). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Discharge stale live charges. 2 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

3 live charges · 2 lenders · oldest 25.3y

50/100

clean up first

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

· Oldest live charge is 25.3 years old — likely at or near maturity.
· Two lenders — manageable, but coordination required.
· Legal-friction score 25/100 — workable, but lender will want more DD.

Data confidence

Overall: medium (77/100)

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

3 charges (3/3 with lender, 3/3 with type)

Directors & officers

11 officers (5 active, 11 linked, 7 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

1 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared

Director network

Network not yet resolved

Filing history

106 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

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	2024-12-31	2023-12-31

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

filings

Last 90 days

filings

Last 180 days

filings

• 3 officers
• 1 confirmation-statement
• 1 persons-with-significant-control

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (39 events)Click to expand

2025-11-27
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2025-11-27
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2025-11-17
📄
cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
2025-11-17
📄
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2025-10-26
➖
CHAPMAN, Shirley Courtenay resigned
director
2025-08-01
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-08-27
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-11-24
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2023-09-10
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2023-07-11
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-01-20
📍
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2022-08-17
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-09-28
➕
ATKINS, Jake Edward Peter appointed
director
2021-09-28
➕
HAGANS, Verity Jane appointed
director
2021-09-28
📄
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2021-09-28
📄
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2021-08-06
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2020-08-06
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2020-02-08
📍
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2019-09-24
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2017-07-26
🔓
Charge satisfied #3
2014-11-01
➕
ATKINS, Joanna appointed
director
2009-05-26
➕
CHAPMAN, Edward Robert, Cdr appointed
secretary
2009-05-26
➖
FIM SERVICES LIMITED resigned
corporate-secretary
2009-05-26
➖
CROSBIE DAWSON, Richard resigned
director
2002-04-08
🔒
Charge registered #3
Lender: Corbie Shank Wind Energy Limited
2002-03-15
➖
LESLIE, Michael Francis Bruce resigned
director
2001-09-13
🔒
Charge registered #2
Lender: The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland
2001-01-08
🔒
Charge registered #1
Lender: Corbie Shank Wind Energy Limited
1997-03-14
➕
LESLIE, Michael Francis Bruce appointed
director
1997-02-11
➕
CHAPMAN, Edward Robert, Cdr appointed
director
1997-02-11
➕
CHAPMAN, Shirley Courtenay appointed
director
1996-12-13
➕
FIM SERVICES LIMITED appointed
corporate-secretary
1996-12-13
➖
OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED resigned
corporate-nominee-secretary
1996-12-13
➕
CROSBIE DAWSON, Richard appointed
director
1996-12-13
➖
JORDANS (SCOTLAND) LIMITED resigned
corporate-nominee-director
1996-12-05
🏢
Company incorporated
As E.C. TIMBER LIMITED
1996-12-05
➕
OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED appointed
corporate-nominee-secretary
1996-12-05
➕
JORDANS (SCOTLAND) LIMITED appointed
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

-4 active directors: Broader management team in place — suggests transferable governance.
+Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 29 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
+Founder age: Director aged approximately 99 — 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 99 years old. Natural succession window is now.
primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 29 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 29 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
Cdr Edward Robert Chapman Individual · British · DOB 08/1927 · age 99	25–50%	—	25-50% shares	01/12/2016

1 historic (ceased) PSC

Mrs Shirley Courtenay Chapmanceased 26/10/2025· 50-75% shares

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

Similar companies

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Company	Est. value	Turnover	Net worth	Staff	Age	Opp	Director
CRAIGENGILLAN ESTATES (NO 1) COMPANY LIMITED→ SC124520 · est 1990	£3.87M £2.98M–£4.77M	—	—	0	36y	83	63y
APF INTERNATIONAL FOREST MACHINERY EXHIBITION LTD.→ SC228249 · est 2002	£278.2k £214.0k–£342.4k	—	—	500	24y	95	79y
ALDERSTON DAIRIES LIMITED→ SC241138 · est 2002	—	—	£114.4k	—	23y	83	74y
CAITHNESS POTATO BREEDERS LIMITED→ SC082730 · est 1983	—	—	£1.36M	—	43y	83	68y
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DENHOLM POTATO GROWERS LIMITED→ SC089295 · est 1984	—	—	£453.8k	—	41y	83	61y
DODS OF HADDINGTON LIMITED→ SC056452 · est 1974	—	—	£2.26M	—	51y	83	72y
DOUGLAS ORR & COMPANY LIMITED→ SC185757 · est 1998	—	—	—	1	27y	83	70y
EAST COAST ORGANICS LTD→ SC297585 · est 2006	—	—	£1.21M	—	20y	83	63y
EAST LOTHIAN PRODUCE LIMITED→ SC185473 · est 1998	—	—	£8.19M	—	27y	83	73y
GREENSHIELDS AGRI LIMITED→ SC381819 · est 2010	—	—	—	14	15y	83	70y
S & M GRUHAM LTD→ SC585555 · est 2018 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	8y	—	—

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

Incorporated1996-12-05

Jurisdictionscotland

Primary SIC02400 — SIC 02400

Registered office

C/O Brodies Llp Capital Square

58 Morrison Street

Edinburgh

EH3 8BP

Scotland

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2026-09-30

Last made up to: 2024-12-31

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2026-12-06

Last: 2025-11-22