BILLY BOWIE TANKER SERVICES LIMITED

💤Zombieactive
SC174588 · ltd · incorporated 1997-04-17
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.
Why now
Window steady · low confidence
Steady and stalled — no momentum either way. Needs an approach trigger.
What changed my view
Last 30 days

No material changes in the last 30 days.

Last 90 days

No snapshot from 90 days ago — start tracking from today.

Last 180 days

No snapshot from 180 days ago — start tracking from today.

🔒Estimated value
Upgrade to see
Turnover
year to Apr 2025
Net worth
book net assets
Opportunity
80/100
Exceptional
🔔
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What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 99999
Sector: Extraterritorial bodies
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 60-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 80/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (70/100, director aged 60). 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).

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
Confirmed no charges registered
85
Directors & officers
5 officers (2 active, 5 linked, 2 with DOB)
78
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
6 connected companies via shared directors
63
Filing history
65 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
80/100Exceptional
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
90
Good data coverage for analysis.

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
Net Worth
Current Assets
Current Liabilities
£0£0£0£0£0£0Apr 2024Apr 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102
Metric2025-04-302024-04-30
Average employees1200

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
1
filing
  • 1 confirmation-statement
Last 180 days
1
filing
  • 1 confirmation-statement
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (24 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-10-30
    📄
    change-person-secretary-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH03
  2. 2025-10-08
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  3. 2024-08-15
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  4. 2024-01-12
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  5. 2023-01-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  6. 2021-05-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  7. 2020-09-18
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  8. 2019-11-20
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  9. 2018-05-17
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  10. 2017-12-04
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  11. 2016-11-15
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  12. 2016-04-21
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  13. 2015-11-11
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  14. 2015-04-27
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  15. 2014-11-21
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  16. 2002-09-30
    BOWIE, Elaine appointed
    secretary
  17. 2002-09-30
    LAMBERT, Robert Adamson resigned
    secretary
  18. 1999-04-21
    LAMBERT, Robert Adamson appointed
    secretary
  19. 1999-04-20
    BOWIE, Gail Clark resigned
    secretary
  20. 1999-04-20
    BOWIE, Gail Clark resigned
    director
  21. 1997-04-17
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As BILLY BOWIE TANKER SERVICES LIMITED
  22. 1997-04-17
    BOWIE, William Davidson appointed
    director
  23. 1997-04-17
    BOWIE, Gail Clark appointed
    secretary
  24. 1997-04-17
    BOWIE, Gail Clark appointed
    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.
  • +Founder name in company name: Company name contains director surname "BOWIE" — strong identity link between founder and business.
  • +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 29 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Senior director age: Director aged approximately 60 — approaching natural succession window.

Succession & seller-readiness

85/100
Likely off-market candidate

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

SIGNALS
  • secondaryFounder aged 58+: Senior director is approximately 60. Early succession window.
  • primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
  • 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 · dominant holder ≥75%
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr William Davidson Bowie
Individual · British · DOB 02/1966 · age 60
75100%
75-100% shares06/04/2016

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

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
Incorporated1997-04-17
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC99999 — SIC 99999

Registered office

Moorfield Industrial Estate
Kilmarnock
Ayrshire
KA2 0BA

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2027-01-31
Last made up to: 2025-04-30
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-05-01
Last: 2026-04-17

Officers (2 active · 3 resigned)

BOWIE, Elaine
secretary · appointed 2002-09-30
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
BOWIE, William Davidson
director · ~60y · appointed 1997-04-17
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
BOWIE, Gail Clark
secretary · appointed 1997-04-17 · resigned 1999-04-20
Resigned
LAMBERT, Robert Adamson
secretary · appointed 1999-04-21 · resigned 2002-09-30
Resigned
BOWIE, Gail Clark
director · ~59y · appointed 1997-04-17 · resigned 1999-04-20
Resigned

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

Recent filings (65 total)

confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-04-17
change-person-secretary-company-with-change-date
officers · CH03
2025-10-30
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2025-10-08
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-04-17
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2024-08-15
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-04-18
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2024-01-12
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-04-17
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2023-01-26
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-04-19
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2021-05-27
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-04-19
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2020-09-18
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-04-22
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2019-11-20