THE JAMES BOSWELL FOUNDATION

💤Zombieactive
SC222984 · private-limited-guarant-nsc-limited-exemption · incorporated 2001-09-07
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 Sept 2024
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
80/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 99999
Sector: Extraterritorial bodies
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 81-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 80/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 81). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Broaden director team. Sole director creates succession risk and reduces buyer comfort. Appoint a second director or strong #2. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (73/100).

Data confidence

Overall: medium (77/100)

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
Confirmed no charges registered
85
Directors & officers
6 officers (2 active, 6 linked, 2 with DOB)
77
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
1 connected companies via shared directors
48
Filing history
55 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
80/100Exceptional
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
90
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£0Sept 2023Sept 2024

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102
Metric2024-09-302023-09-30

Amounts extracted automatically from iXBRL. Fields left blank were not reported or not mapped. Values in GBP unless stated.

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. 2025-09-08
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-06-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  3. 2023-08-09
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  4. 2022-06-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  5. 2021-06-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  6. 2020-09-11
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  7. 2020-01-18
    📄
    gazette-filings-brought-up-to-date
    gazette · DISS40
  8. 2019-11-26
    📄
    gazette-notice-compulsory
    gazette · GAZ1
  9. 2019-06-17
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  10. 2018-06-20
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  11. 2017-06-21
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  12. 2016-06-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  13. 2015-09-28
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-no-member-list
    annual-return · AR01
  14. 2015-06-18
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  15. 2014-10-06
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-no-member-list
    annual-return · AR01
  16. 2005-04-13
    ➖
    BOSWELL, John Robert Douglas resigned
    director
  17. 2001-09-07
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As THE JAMES BOSWELL FOUNDATION
  18. 2001-09-07
    ➕
    BOSWELL, James Alexander Douglas appointed
    secretary
  19. 2001-09-07
    ➕
    BOSWELL, James Alexander Douglas appointed
    director
  20. 2001-09-07
    ➕
    BRIAN REID LTD. appointed
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  21. 2001-09-07
    ➖
    BRIAN REID LTD. resigned
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  22. 2001-09-07
    ➕
    BOSWELL, John Robert Douglas appointed
    director
  23. 2001-09-07
    ➕
    BRIAN REID LTD. appointed
    corporate-nominee-director
  24. 2001-09-07
    ➖
    BRIAN REID LTD. resigned
    corporate-nominee-director
  25. 2001-09-07
    ➕
    STEPHEN MABBOTT LTD. appointed
    corporate-nominee-director
  26. 2001-09-07
    ➖
    STEPHEN MABBOTT LTD. resigned
    corporate-nominee-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.
  • +Founder name in company name: Company name contains director surname "BOSWELL" — 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 81 — 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 81 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
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr James Alexander Douglas Boswell
Individual · British · DOB 10/1945 · age 81
——sig. influencesignificant influence07/09/2016

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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————25y8171y
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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
Typeprivate-limited-guarant-nsc-limited-exemption
Incorporated2001-09-07
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC99999 — SIC 99999

Registered office

Auchinleck Estate
Auchinleck
Ayrshire
KA18 2LR

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-06-30
Last made up to: 2024-09-30
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-09-09
Last: 2025-08-26

Officers (2 active · 4 resigned)

BOSWELL, James Alexander Douglas→
secretary · appointed 2001-09-07
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
BOSWELL, James Alexander Douglas→
director · ~81y · appointed 2001-09-07
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
BRIAN REID LTD.→
corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 2001-09-07 · resigned 2001-09-07
Resigned
BOSWELL, John Robert Douglas→
director · ~89y · appointed 2001-09-07 · resigned 2005-04-13
Resigned
BRIAN REID LTD.→
corporate-nominee-director · appointed 2001-09-07 · resigned 2001-09-07
Resigned
STEPHEN MABBOTT LTD.→
corporate-nominee-director · appointed 2001-09-07 · resigned 2001-09-07
Resigned

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

Recent filings (55 total)

accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2025-09-08
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-09-08
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-08-26
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2024-06-30
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-09-26
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2023-08-09
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-10-18
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2022-06-30
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-09-20
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2021-06-30
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-09-29
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2020-09-11
gazette-filings-brought-up-to-date
gazette · DISS40
2020-01-18
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-01-16
gazette-notice-compulsory
gazette · GAZ1
2019-11-26