CANAL GARAGE LTD.

🌳Matureactive
SC221681 · ltd · incorporated 2001-07-30
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.
🔒Estimated value
—
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Turnover
—
year to Oct 2024
Net worth
£85.5k
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 45200
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: Cash flow review and working-capital discipline. Cash down -31% YoY — forensic review of receivables, stock turns, and creditor days. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

1 live charge · oldest 21.8y

45/100
under pressure

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

  • · Oldest live charge is 21.8 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 (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
75
Lenders & charges
1 charges (1/1 with lender, 1/1 with type)
90
Directors & officers
6 officers (3 active, 6 linked, 2 with DOB)
77
Ownership & PSC
2 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared
90
Director network
1 connected companies via shared directors
48
Filing history
61 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 £85,474
Net assets shrinking
Down £41,662 YoY
Cash YoY
-31%
Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
£121k
↓ 31% YoY
Net Worth
£85k
↓ 33% YoY
Current Assets
£137k
↓ 28% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
£0£38k£76k£114k£151k£189kOct 2023Oct 2024

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2024-10-312023-10-31
Total assets£85.5k£127.1k
Current assets£136.8k£189.2k
Cash£121.5k£175.6k
Debtors£12.8k£11.9k
Net assets£85.5k£127.1k

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 (26 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-07-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-07-03
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  3. 2023-07-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  4. 2022-07-20
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  5. 2021-07-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  6. 2020-10-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  7. 2019-07-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  8. 2018-07-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  9. 2017-07-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  10. 2016-08-10
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  11. 2016-08-10
    📄
    change-person-secretary-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH03
  12. 2016-08-10
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  13. 2016-07-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  14. 2015-08-27
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  15. 2015-07-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  16. 2004-07-06
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland
  17. 2001-07-30
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As CANAL GARAGE LTD.
  18. 2001-07-30
    ➕
    GRAHAM, John appointed
    secretary
  19. 2001-07-30
    ➕
    GRAHAM, Colette appointed
    director
  20. 2001-07-30
    ➕
    GRAHAM, John appointed
    director
  21. 2001-07-30
    ➕
    COSEC LIMITED appointed
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  22. 2001-07-30
    ➖
    COSEC LIMITED resigned
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  23. 2001-07-30
    ➕
    CODIR LIMITED appointed
    corporate-nominee-director
  24. 2001-07-30
    ➖
    CODIR LIMITED resigned
    corporate-nominee-director
  25. 2001-07-30
    ➕
    COSEC LIMITED appointed
    corporate-nominee-director
  26. 2001-07-30
    ➖
    COSEC LIMITED resigned
    corporate-nominee-director

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 25 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 80 — succession pressure is live.
  • +Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

Succession & seller-readiness

96/100
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.
  • secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
  • 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

2 active beneficial owners
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mrs Colette Graham
Individual · British · DOB 01/1946 · age 80
25–50%
25–50%board control25-50% shares · 25-50% voting · board control06/04/2016
Mr John Graham
Individual · British · DOB 04/1947 · age 79
25–50%
25–50%board control25-50% shares · 25-50% voting · board control06/04/2016

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 →

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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
Incorporated2001-07-30
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC45200 — SIC 45200

Registered office

Canal Road
Johnstone
Renfrewshire
PA5 8LA

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-07-31
Last made up to: 2024-10-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-08-13
Last: 2025-07-30

Officers (3 active · 3 resigned)

GRAHAM, John→
secretary · appointed 2001-07-30
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
GRAHAM, Colette→
director · ~80y · appointed 2001-07-30
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
GRAHAM, John→
director · ~79y · appointed 2001-07-30
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
COSEC LIMITED→
corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 2001-07-30 · resigned 2001-07-30
Resigned
CODIR LIMITED→
corporate-nominee-director · appointed 2001-07-30 · resigned 2001-07-30
Resigned
COSEC LIMITED→
corporate-nominee-director · appointed 2001-07-30 · resigned 2001-07-30
Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

1
Total charges
1
Outstanding
1
Active lenders
Status:Lender:1 of 1 shown
TypeProperties
outstanding
Lloyds Banking Group
The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland
Bond & floating charge1 property06/07/2004—
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (61 total)

accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-07-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-07-30
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-09-11
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-07-03
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-07-31
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-07-28
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-08-02
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-07-20
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-08-04
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-07-27
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-10-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-08-07
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-07-30
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-07-30
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2018-09-03