SAM DORNAN MOTORS LIMITED

💤Zombieactive

SC215860 · ltd · incorporated 2001-02-16

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 Mar 2025

Net worth

—

book net assets

Opportunity

82/100

Exceptional

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What this business does

Primary activity: SIC 45112

Sector: Wholesale & retail

Investor take

Pursue

Active trading company with a 80-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

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

1 live charge · oldest 25.0y

45/100

under pressure

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

· Oldest live charge is 25.0 years old — likely at or near maturity.
· Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
· Distress signals active — lender appetite narrows.

Data confidence

Overall: medium (76/100)

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

1 charges (1/1 with lender, 1/1 with type)

Directors & officers

4 officers (1 active, 4 linked, 1 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

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

Director network

Network not yet resolved

Filing history

60 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	2025-03-31	2024-03-31
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

filings

Last 180 days

filings

• 1 officers
• 1 confirmation-statement

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (24 events)Click to expand

2026-03-05
➖
GRAY, Williamina Farrar resigned
secretary
2026-03-05
📄
termination-secretary-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM02
2025-09-03
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2024-09-25
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2023-08-18
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2022-06-15
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2021-06-16
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2020-09-16
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2019-06-11
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2018-06-19
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2017-06-13
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2016-05-06
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2016-03-02
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2015-05-05
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2015-03-03
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2014-12-11
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2002-06-30
➖
LAIDLAW, Isobel Jones resigned
secretary
2002-02-03
➕
GRAY, Williamina Farrar appointed
secretary
2001-06-28
🔒
Charge registered #1
Lender: The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
2001-02-16
🏢
Company incorporated
As SAM DORNAN MOTORS LIMITED
2001-02-16
➕
DORNAN, Samuel Patrick Smith appointed
director
2001-02-16
➕
LAIDLAW, Isobel Jones appointed
secretary
2001-02-16
➕
OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED appointed
corporate-nominee-secretary
2001-02-16
➖
OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED resigned
corporate-nominee-secretary

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 "DORNAN" — strong identity link between founder and business.
+Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 25 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
+Founder age: Director aged approximately 80 — 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 80 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 25 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 25 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 Samuel Patrick Smith Dornan Individual · British · DOB 07/1946 · age 80	75–100%	—	75-100% shares	06/04/2016

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

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Active · Automotive · ML postcode area

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COOPER BROS LTD.→ SC376259 · est 2010	£994.7k £795.8k–£1.19M	—	—	63	16y	83	82y
BROWNSBURN GARAGE LIMITED→ SC242933 · est 2003	—	—	—	600	23y	83	58y
GOPAL MOTORS LIMITED→ SC132600 · est 1991	—	—	£29.5k	—	34y	83	78y
J.M.T. MANUFACTURING LIMITED→ SC099682 · est 1986	—	—	—	400	39y	83	75y
A. GRAY & SONS LTD.→ SC239040 · est 2002	—	—	£252.5k	—	23y	82	89y
AUTO-TEK LIMITED→ SC085669 · est 1983	—	—	—	6	42y	82	78y
B & B COMMERCIALS LIMITED→ SC371046 · est 2010	—	—	—	600	16y	82	70y
CANDERRIGG SERVICES LIMITED→ SC063543 · est 1977	—	—	£40.0k	—	48y	82	61y
GRANT MILLER VEHICLES LIMITED→ SC266620 · est 2004	—	—	£382.7k	—	22y	82	72y
HAMILTON TRACTORS (CARNWATH) LIMITED→ SC349764 · est 2008	—	—	£568.9k	—	17y	82	67y
PARKS OF HAMILTON LIMITED→ SC103161 · est 1987	—	—	—	—	39y	82	77y
ROSS BROWNLIE (SCOTLAND) LIMITED→ SC380812 · est 2010	—	—	—	0	15y	82	59y

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

Incorporated2001-02-16

Jurisdictionscotland

Primary SIC45112 — SIC 45112

Registered office

141 Main Street

Forth

Lanark

Lanarkshire

ML11 8AB

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2026-12-31

Last made up to: 2025-03-31

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2027-03-02

Last: 2026-02-16

Officers (1 active · 3 resigned)

DORNAN, Samuel Patrick Smith→

director · ~80y · appointed 2001-02-16

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

GRAY, Williamina Farrar→

secretary · appointed 2002-02-03 · resigned 2026-03-05

Resigned

LAIDLAW, Isobel Jones→

secretary · appointed 2001-02-16 · resigned 2002-06-30

Resigned

OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED→

corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 2001-02-16 · resigned 2001-02-16

Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

Total charges

Outstanding

Active lenders

Status:Lender:1 of 1 shown

			Type	Properties
	outstanding	Lloyds Banking Group The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC	Bond & floating charge	1 property	28/06/2001	—

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