ANCHORAGE FISH SUPPLIES LIMITED

🌳Matureactive
SC182505 · ltd · incorporated 1998-01-28
Investment thesis
Well-run mature business — low negotiation leverage; premium likely.
Why interesting: Textbook target; clean filings, stable trading.
Why risky: No pressure on seller; any deal likely at full price.
Why now
Window steady · low confidence
Steady and tidy — no seller pressure yet. Approach only if an angle opens.
Opportunity decay
hardening · 12-months
Already tight — no obvious softening catalysts on the horizon.
  • · Thesis: well-run, low negotiation leverage
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
—
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Turnover
—
year to Jan 2025
Net worth
£313.4k
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: Other retail sale not in stores, stalls or markets
Sector: Wholesale & retail
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 65-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 70/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 65). 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

5 live charges · oldest 22.4y

45/100
under pressure

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

  • · Oldest live charge is 22.4 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
  • · Cashflow trend is negative — lender view likely cautious.

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
75
Lenders & charges
5 charges (5/5 with lender, 5/5 with type)
90
Directors & officers
4 officers (3 active, 4 linked, 2 with DOB)
80
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
73 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 £313,442
Net assets shrinking
Down £5,090 YoY
Cash YoY
-21%
Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
£22k
↓ 21% YoY
Net Worth
£313k
↓ 1.6% YoY
Current Assets
£25k
↓ 34% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
£0£64k£127k£191k£255k£319kJan 2024Jan 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2025-01-312024-01-31
Total assets£348.3k£345.8k
Current assets£25.4k£38.6k
Cash£22.0k£27.9k
Debtors£3.3k£10.6k
Net assets£313.4k£318.5k

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
0
filings
Last 90 days
0
filings
Last 180 days
2
filings
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
  • • 1 accounts
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (30 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-01-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2025-09-01
    📄
    mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
    mortgage · MR04
  3. 2025-09-01
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #1
  4. 2025-01-20
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  5. 2023-11-14
    📄
    mortgage-create-with-deed-with-charge-number-charge-creation-date
    mortgage · MR01
  6. 2023-11-06
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  7. 2023-11-06
    🔒
    Charge registered #5
    Lender: The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
  8. 2023-08-22
    📄
    mortgage-create-with-deed-with-charge-number-charge-creation-date
    mortgage · MR01
  9. 2023-08-22
    📄
    mortgage-create-with-deed-with-charge-number-charge-creation-date
    mortgage · MR01
  10. 2023-08-07
    🔒
    Charge registered #4
    Lender: The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
  11. 2023-08-04
    🔒
    Charge registered #3
    Lender: The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
  12. 2022-11-22
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  13. 2022-01-16
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  14. 2021-05-06
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  15. 2021-04-16
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  16. 2019-10-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  17. 2019-04-17
    📄
    legacy
    miscellaneous · RP04CS01
  18. 2019-04-11
    📄
    resolution
    resolution · RESOLUTIONS
  19. 2019-04-11
    📄
    statement-of-companys-objects
    change-of-constitution · CC04
  20. 2019-04-01
    📄
    capital-name-of-class-of-shares
    capital · SH08
  21. 2019-04-01
    📄
    capital-variation-of-rights-attached-to-shares
    capital · SH10
  22. 2019-04-01
    📄
    capital-allotment-shares
    capital · SH01
  23. 2004-06-02
    🔒
    Charge registered #2
    Lender: The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
  24. 2004-01-15
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
  25. 1998-01-28
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As ANCHORAGE FISH SUPPLIES LIMITED
  26. 1998-01-28
    ➕
    HEPBURN, Pamela appointed
    secretary
  27. 1998-01-28
    ➕
    HEPBURN, Pamela appointed
    director
  28. 1998-01-28
    ➕
    HEPBURN, William appointed
    director
  29. 1998-01-28
    ➕
    OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED appointed
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  30. 1998-01-28
    ➖
    OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED resigned
    corporate-nominee-secretary

Owner dependency

91/100
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
  • +Two-director setup: Only two active directors — typical of owner-managed SMEs but limits succession.
  • +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 28 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 65 — succession pressure is live.
  • +Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

Succession & seller-readiness

86/100
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 65. Approaching typical UK retirement age — succession thinking likely.
  • secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
  • primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 28 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 28 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 Hepburn
Individual · British · DOB 04/1961 · age 65
75–100%
75–100%75-100% shares · 75-100% voting07/04/2016

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

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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
Incorporated1998-01-28
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC47990 — Other retail sale not in stores, stalls or markets

Registered office

Anchorage Macduff Road
Gardenstown
Banff
AB45 3YJ

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-10-31
Last made up to: 2025-01-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-01-29
Last: 2026-01-15

Officers (3 active · 1 resigned)

HEPBURN, Pamela→
secretary · appointed 1998-01-28
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
HEPBURN, Pamela→
director · ~60y · appointed 1998-01-28
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
HEPBURN, William→
director · ~65y · appointed 1998-01-28
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED→
corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 1998-01-28 · resigned 1998-01-28
Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

5
Total charges
4
Outstanding
1
Active lenders
Status:Lender:5 of 5 shown
TypeProperties
outstanding
Lloyds Banking Group
The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
A registered charge1 property06/11/2023—
outstanding
Lloyds Banking Group
The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
A registered charge1 property07/08/2023—
outstanding
Lloyds Banking Group
The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
A registered charge1 property04/08/2023—
outstanding
Lloyds Banking Group
The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
Mortgage1 property02/06/2004—
satisfied
Lloyds Banking Group
The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
Bond & floating charge1 property15/01/200401/09/2025
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (73 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-02-03
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2026-01-27
mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
mortgage · MR04
2025-09-01
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-01-20
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-01-15
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-01-22
mortgage-create-with-deed-with-charge-number-charge-creation-date
mortgage · MR01
2023-11-14
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-11-06
mortgage-create-with-deed-with-charge-number-charge-creation-date
mortgage · MR01
2023-08-22
mortgage-create-with-deed-with-charge-number-charge-creation-date
mortgage · MR01
2023-08-22
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-01-17
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-11-22
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-01-17
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-01-16
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2021-05-06