TASTE THE SEA LIMITED

💤Zombieactive

SC188344 · ltd · incorporated 1998-08-07

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 Aug 2025

Net worth

—

book net assets

Opportunity

82/100

Exceptional

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What this business does

Primary activity: SIC 10200

Sector: Manufacturing

Investor take

Pursue

Active trading company with a 71-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 71). 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 (73/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

2 live charges · oldest 27.6y

45/100

under pressure

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

· Oldest live charge is 27.6 years old — likely at or near maturity.
· Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
· Distress signals active — lender appetite narrows.

Data confidence

Overall: medium (78/100)

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

5 officers (2 active, 5 linked, 2 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

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

Director network

1 connected companies via shared directors

Filing history

64 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	2025-08-31	2024-08-31
Average employees	0	0

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 (27 events)Click to expand

2026-04-30
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-04-29
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-05-20
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-06-07
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-04-19
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-05-10
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-04-09
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-05-08
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2018-05-04
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2017-04-25
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2016-11-15
📄
mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
mortgage · MR04
2016-11-15
🔓
Charge satisfied #1
2016-05-27
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2015-09-01
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2015-05-30
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2014-09-19
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2001-04-02
➕
BROWN, Margaret Ann appointed
secretary
2001-04-02
➖
FINLAY, George Anthony resigned
secretary
2001-04-02
➖
CLARK, Thomas Joseph resigned
director
1999-01-15
🔒
Charge registered #2
Lender: The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland
1998-10-22
🔒
Charge registered #1
Lender: The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland
1998-08-07
🏢
Company incorporated
As TASTE THE SEA LIMITED
1998-08-07
➕
FINLAY, George Anthony appointed
director
1998-08-07
➕
FINLAY, George Anthony appointed
secretary
1998-08-07
➕
OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED appointed
corporate-nominee-secretary
1998-08-07
➖
OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED resigned
corporate-nominee-secretary
1998-08-07
➕
CLARK, Thomas Joseph 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.
+Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 28 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
+Founder age: Director aged approximately 71 — 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 71 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 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%

Name	Shares	Voting rights	Nature of control	Notified
Mr George Anthony Finlay Individual · British · DOB 11/1955 · age 71	75–100%	75–100%	board controlsig. influence75-100% shares · 75-100% voting · board control · significant influence · trust interest · firm interest	01/06/2016

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 · Food & drink · DG postcode area

Company	Est. value	Turnover	Net worth	Staff	Age	Opp	Director
VIVERS SCOTLAMB LIMITED→ SC340007 · est 2008	£1.43M £1.05M–£1.80M	—	—	70	18y	76	60y
WEST COAST SEA PRODUCTS LIMITED→ SC048969 · est 1971 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	54y	83	65y
BARONY COUNTRY FOODS LTD.→ SC181901 · est 1998	—	—	£72.4k	—	28y	82	67y
SOLWAY FARM DAIRIES LTD.→ SC224140 · est 2001	—	—	£713.8k	—	24y	82	66y
BROWNS MANUFACTURING LIMITED→ SC105710 · est 1987 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	38y	80	62y
IRVINGS HOMESTYLE BAKERY LIMITED→ SC261301 · est 2003	—	—	£804.3k	—	22y	80	88y
LACTALIS MCLELLAND LIMITED→ SC014583 · est 1927 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	99y	80	64y
CALEDONIAN PETFOODS LIMITED→ SC363194 · est 2009	—	—	—	2700	16y	79	66y
DARK SKY SPIRITS LTD→ SC576266 · est 2017	—	—	—	800	8y	79	67y
JOHN GILLESPIE & SONS. LIMITED→ SC015983 · est 1930	—	—	—	1900	95y	79	87y
THE COCOA BEAN COMPANY LIMITED→ SC285798 · est 2005	—	—	—	3600	20y	79	60y
ANNANDALE DISTILLERY COMPANY LIMITED→ SC316346 · est 2007 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	19y	78	72y

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

Incorporated1998-08-07

Jurisdictionscotland

Primary SIC10200 — SIC 10200

Registered office

Top Cottage Ross Farm

Borgue

Kirkcudbright

Kirkcudbrightshire

DG6 4TR

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2027-05-31

Last made up to: 2025-08-31

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2026-08-16

Last: 2025-08-02

Officers (2 active · 3 resigned)

BROWN, Margaret Ann→

secretary · appointed 2001-04-02

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

FINLAY, George Anthony→

director · ~71y · appointed 1998-08-07

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

FINLAY, George Anthony→

secretary · appointed 1998-08-07 · resigned 2001-04-02

Resigned

OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED→

corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 1998-08-07 · resigned 1998-08-07

Resigned

CLARK, Thomas Joseph→

director · ~65y · appointed 1998-08-07 · resigned 2001-04-02

Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

Total charges

Outstanding

Active lenders

Status:Lender:2 of 2 shown

			Type	Properties
	outstanding	Lloyds Banking Group The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland	Standard security	1 property	15/01/1999	—
	satisfied	Lloyds Banking Group The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland	Floating charge	1 property	22/10/1998	15/11/2016

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