DOUGAL PHILIP LIMITED

🌳Matureactive

SC188029 · ltd · incorporated 1998-07-29

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.

Why now

Window steady · low confidence

Stable recent picture — watch for any upcoming trigger event.

Opportunity decay

approaching window · 12-months

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

· Oldest live charge 27.6y old — refinance window within 12 months

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 Oct 2025

Net worth

—

book net assets

Opportunity

82/100

Exceptional

🔒Generate AI memo →🔒Outreach pack →🔒Corporate story →📑 Reports →Sign in to watch

What this business does

Primary activity: Other retail sale of new goods in specialised stores (other than commercial art galleries and opticians)

Sector: Wholesale & retail

Investor take

Pursue

Active trading company with a 73-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (63/100, director aged 73). 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

2 live charges · oldest 27.6y

65/100

clean up first

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

· Oldest live charge is 27.6 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 (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

Lenders & charges

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

Directors & officers

14 officers (7 active, 14 linked, 10 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

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

Director network

2 connected companies via shared directors

Filing history

113 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 · FRS 102

Metric	2025-10-31	2024-10-31
Average employees	40	3700

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

filing

• 1 accounts

Last 180 days

filing

• 1 accounts

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (41 events)Click to expand

2026-03-31
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-10-29
➕
COCHRANE, Iain appointed
director
2025-10-29
📄
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2025-10-29
📄
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2025-10-28
➖
WILLIAMSON, Nicola resigned
director
2025-06-26
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-03-14
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-03-03
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-03-03
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-12-01
➕
BROWN, Claire appointed
director
2021-12-01
➕
WILLIAMSON, Nicola appointed
director
2021-12-01
📄
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2021-12-01
📄
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2021-03-19
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-02-25
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-09-23
📄
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2019-09-20
➕
PITT, Timothy appointed
director
2019-08-12
📄
notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC02
2019-07-09
📄
resolution
resolution · RESOLUTIONS
2019-03-04
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2018-04-27
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2018-01-10
📄
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2018-01-01
➕
MACRAE, Morag Alison Elizabeth appointed
director
2009-08-14
➕
WATSON, Ann Lesley appointed
director
2007-11-26
➕
AS COMPANY SERVICES LIMITED appointed
corporate-secretary
2007-11-26
➖
ANDERSON STRATHERN WS resigned
corporate-secretary
2006-08-30
➖
PHILIP, Sally Anne resigned
director
1999-12-08
➖
PHILIP, Sally Anne resigned
secretary
1999-12-08
➕
ANDERSON STRATHERN WS appointed
corporate-secretary
1998-11-27
🔒
Charge registered #2
Lender: Tsb Bank Scotland PLC
1998-11-09
🔒
Charge registered #1
Lender: Tsb Bank Scotland PLC
1998-08-06
➕
PHILIP, Dougal Ramsay George, Mr. appointed
director
1998-08-06
➕
PHILIP, Sally Anne appointed
secretary
1998-08-06
➖
ORR MACQUEEN WS resigned
corporate-nominee-secretary
1998-08-06
➖
NASH, Derek Andrew resigned
director
1998-08-06
➖
ORR, Pauline Anne resigned
director
1998-08-06
➕
PHILIP, Sally Anne appointed
director
1998-07-29
🏢
Company incorporated
As DOUGAL PHILIP LIMITED
1998-07-29
➕
ORR MACQUEEN WS appointed
corporate-nominee-secretary
1998-07-29
➕
NASH, Derek Andrew appointed
director
1998-07-29
➕
ORR, Pauline Anne appointed
director

Owner dependency

80/100

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

-6 active directors: Broader management team in place — suggests transferable governance.
+Founder name in company name: Company name contains director surname "PHILIP" — strong identity link between founder and business.
+Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 28 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
+Founder age: Director aged approximately 73 — succession pressure is live.

Succession & seller-readiness

80/100

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 73 years old. Natural succession window is now.
primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 28 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
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.)

Group structure

Dougal Philip Employee Ownership Trustees Ltd holds majority control (50-75%). Likely parent but not wholly-owned.

🏛️

Dougal Philip Employee Ownership Trustees Ltd

Corporate parent · holds 50-75% shares

majority

⬇

DOUGAL PHILIP LIMITED

This company · SC188029

Parent relationships inferred from Persons with Significant Control filings. Full subsidiary tree requires reverse-lookup (coming).

Shareholders & ownership

3 active beneficial owners · dominant holder ≥75%

Name	Shares	Voting rights	Nature of control	Notified
Mr. Dougal Ramsay George Philip Individual · British · DOB 05/1953 · age 73	75–100%	75–100%	board controlsig. influence75-100% shares · 75-100% voting · board control · significant influence	28/07/2016
Dougal Philip Employee Ownership Trustees Ltd Corporate entity	50–75%	—	50-75% shares · trust interest	24/06/2019
Ms Ann Lesley Watson Individual · British · DOB 03/1953 · age 73	—	—	sig. influencesignificant influence	28/07/2016

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 · Retail · EH postcode area

Company	Est. value	Turnover	Net worth	Staff	Age	Opp	Director
PENTLAND KITCHENS LIMITED→ SC307579 · est 2006	£710.4k £532.8k–£888.0k	—	—	2000	19y	83	63y
M&F FUNERAL SERVICES LIMITED→ SC365033 · est 2009	£671.4k £503.6k–£839.3k	—	—	1400	16y	88	61y
LYON & TURNBULL LIMITED→ SC191166 · est 1998	£551.7k £413.8k–£689.6k	—	—	75	27y	85	77y
FESTIVAL FRINGE TRADING LIMITED→ SC130813 · est 1991	£497.4k £373.1k–£621.8k	—	—	0	35y	85	77y
DRINX.COM LIMITED→ SC203859 · est 2000	—	—	£353.7k	—	26y	83	63y
GLASGOW ARCHITECTURAL SALVAGE LIMITED→ SC248258 · est 2003 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	23y	83	58y
GLENTERRIN LIMITED→ SC116076 · est 1989	—	—	—	7100	37y	83	64y
GRAHAM TISO LIMITED→ SC081944 · est 1983 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	43y	83	60y
NGS TRADING COMPANY LIMITED→ SC312797 · est 2006 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	19y	83	68y
PLANET FLOWERS LTD.→ SC212761 · est 2000	—	—	£208.8k	—	25y	83	78y
THE DORMANT DISTILLERY COMPANY LIMITED→ SC172078 · est 1997	—	—	—	64	29y	83	62y
THE GREAT GROG COMPANY LIMITED→ SC194873 · est 1999	—	—	£501.5k	—	27y	83	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.

See pricing →

Company details

Statusactive

Typeltd

Incorporated1998-07-29

Jurisdictionscotland

Primary SIC47789 — Other retail sale of new goods in specialised stores (other than commercial art galleries and opticians)

Registered office

New Hopetoun Gardens

Newton Village

Broxburn

West Lothian

EH52 6QZ

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2027-07-31

Last made up to: 2025-10-31

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2026-08-12

Last: 2025-07-29