EUROPEAN FOREST MACHINERY LIMITED

🌳Matureactive
SC206862 · ltd · incorporated 2000-05-05
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.
Opportunity decay
approaching window · 12-months
Approaching a transaction window — refinance or sale event plausible in the next 12 months.
  • · Oldest live charge 25.9y old — refinance window within 12 months
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Jan 2025
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 28302
Sector: Manufacturing
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 68-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 65/100. Strong seller-intent signal (63/100, director aged 68). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Discharge stale live charges. 3 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

4 live charges · 2 lenders · oldest 25.9y

50/100
clean up first

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

  • · Oldest live charge is 25.9 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: high (81/100)

Strong data coverage across all sections. AI outputs should be trusted with minimal caveats.

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
4 charges (4/4 with lender, 4/4 with type)
90
Directors & officers
7 officers (4 active, 7 linked, 5 with DOB)
84
Ownership & PSC
3 active PSC(s) of 5 total, 5 with control declared
90
Director network
6 connected companies via shared directors
63
Filing history
77 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.

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
—
Net Worth
—
Current Assets
—
Current Liabilities
—
£0£0£0£0£0£0Jan 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
Average employees00

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
0
filings
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (34 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-10-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-10-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  3. 2024-06-05
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  4. 2024-05-09
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  5. 2024-05-09
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  6. 2024-05-09
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  7. 2024-05-09
    📄
    cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
  8. 2024-05-09
    📄
    cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
  9. 2024-04-02
    📄
    change-account-reference-date-company-previous-shortened
    accounts · AA01
  10. 2023-06-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  11. 2023-06-06
    📄
    capital-cancellation-shares
    capital · SH06
  12. 2023-06-06
    📄
    capital-return-purchase-own-shares
    capital · SH03
  13. 2023-05-19
    📄
    resolution
    resolution · RESOLUTIONS
  14. 2023-05-18
    📄
    termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM01
  15. 2023-05-09
    ➖
    MORGAN, Stewart resigned
    director
  16. 2023-01-16
    📄
    termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM01
  17. 2022-12-02
    ➖
    MCVEY, Ewan George resigned
    director
  18. 2022-05-09
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  19. 2021-06-15
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  20. 2021-04-06
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  21. 2020-06-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  22. 2020-02-20
    🔒
    Charge registered #4
    Lender: Barclays Security Trustee Limited
  23. 2006-03-10
    🔒
    Charge registered #3
    Lender: The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland
  24. 2004-06-17
    ➕
    MORGAN, Stewart appointed
    director
  25. 2000-08-21
    🔒
    Charge registered #2
    Lender: The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland
  26. 2000-06-15
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland
  27. 2000-05-05
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As EUROPEAN FOREST MACHINERY LIMITED
  28. 2000-05-05
    ➕
    WILSON, William James appointed
    secretary
  29. 2000-05-05
    ➕
    WILSON, Iain Joseph appointed
    director
  30. 2000-05-05
    ➕
    WILSON, John appointed
    director
  31. 2000-05-05
    ➕
    WILSON, William James appointed
    director
  32. 2000-05-05
    ➕
    OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED appointed
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  33. 2000-05-05
    ➖
    OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED resigned
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  34. 2000-05-05
    ➕
    MCVEY, Ewan George appointed
    director

Owner dependency

83/100
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
  • +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 26 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 68 — succession pressure is live.
  • +Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

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 63+: Senior director is approximately 68. Approaching typical UK retirement age — succession thinking likely.
  • primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 26 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 26 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

3 active beneficial owners
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr William James Wilson
Individual · British · DOB 01/1963 · age 63
25–50%
25–50%25-50% shares · 25-50% voting01/07/2016
Mr John Wilson
Individual · British · DOB 04/1958 · age 68
25–50%
25–50%25-50% shares · 25-50% voting01/07/2016
Mr Iain Joseph Wilson
Individual · British · DOB 01/1973 · age 53
25–50%
25–50%25-50% shares · 25-50% voting01/07/2016
2 historic (ceased) PSCs
  • Mr Stewart Morganceased 09/05/2023· significant influence
  • Mr Ewan George Mcveyceased 02/12/2022· significant influence

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

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EWART ENGINEERING LIMITED→
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£1.94M
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£8.54M—790054y8762y
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SC379462 · est 2010 · no financials extracted
————15y8370y
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SC053292 · est 1973
———290052y8381y
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———4868y8360y
JAMES GORDON LIMITED→
SC293893 · est 2005
——£7.20M—20y8376y
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——£7.80M—26y8284y
CASTLE TECHNOLOGIES (STRANRAER) LIMITED→
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———1216y8258y
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——£11.1k—20y8267y
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———2549y8258y
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——£3.88M—79y8266y
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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
Incorporated2000-05-05
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC28302 — SIC 28302

Registered office

Unit 1 Industrial Site
Coast Road
Dalbeattie
DG5 4QU
United Kingdom

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-10-31
Last made up to: 2025-01-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-05-19
Last: 2025-05-05

Officers (4 active · 3 resigned)

WILSON, William James→
secretary · appointed 2000-05-05
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
WILSON, Iain Joseph→
director · ~53y · appointed 2000-05-05
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
WILSON, John→
director · ~68y · appointed 2000-05-05
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
WILSON, William James→
director · ~63y · appointed 2000-05-05
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED→
corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 2000-05-05 · resigned 2000-05-05
Resigned
MCVEY, Ewan George→
director · ~68y · appointed 2000-05-05 · resigned 2022-12-02
Resigned
MORGAN, Stewart→
director · ~50y · appointed 2004-06-17 · resigned 2023-05-09
Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

4
Total charges
4
Outstanding
2
Active lenders
Status:Lender:4 of 4 shown
TypeProperties
outstanding
Barclays
Barclays Security Trustee Limited
A registered charge—20/02/2020—
outstanding
Lloyds Banking Group
The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland
Standard security1 property10/03/2006—
outstanding
Lloyds Banking Group
The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland
Standard security1 property21/08/2000—
outstanding
Lloyds Banking Group
The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland
Bond & floating charge1 property15/06/2000—
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (77 total)

accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-10-29
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-05-19
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-10-31
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-06-05
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-05-09
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2024-05-09
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2024-05-09
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2024-05-09
cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
2024-05-09
cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
2024-05-09
change-account-reference-date-company-previous-shortened
accounts · AA01
2024-04-02
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-06-23
capital-cancellation-shares
capital · SH06
2023-06-06
capital-return-purchase-own-shares
capital · SH03
2023-06-06
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-05-19