WILLIAM NICHOL LIMITED

🌳Matureactive
SC228686 · ltd · incorporated 2002-03-04
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
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Jan 2025
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
80/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: Freight transport by road
Sector: Transportation & storage
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 86-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 80/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 86). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

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
75
Lenders & charges
Confirmed no charges registered
85
Directors & officers
5 officers (3 active, 5 linked, 2 with DOB)
78
Ownership & PSC
2 active PSC(s) of 3 total, 3 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
64 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£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 employees26002800

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

🔒Filing-note intelligence

3 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
3
filings
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
  • • 1 officers
  • • 1 persons-with-significant-control
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (24 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-03-09
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  2. 2026-03-09
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  3. 2025-10-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  4. 2025-10-24
    📄
    notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
  5. 2025-10-24
    📄
    cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
  6. 2025-10-24
    📄
    notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
  7. 2024-08-16
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  8. 2023-10-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  9. 2023-06-12
    📄
    capital-allotment-shares
    capital · SH01
  10. 2022-10-25
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  11. 2021-10-18
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  12. 2020-10-05
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  13. 2020-10-01
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  14. 2019-10-24
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  15. 2018-10-16
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  16. 2017-10-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  17. 2002-03-04
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As WILLIAM NICHOL LIMITED
  18. 2002-03-04
    ➕
    MERCER, Christine Ann appointed
    secretary
  19. 2002-03-04
    ➕
    NICHOL, Colin William John appointed
    director
  20. 2002-03-04
    ➕
    NICHOL, William appointed
    director
  21. 2002-03-04
    ➕
    OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED appointed
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  22. 2002-03-04
    ➖
    OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED resigned
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  23. 2002-03-04
    ➕
    JORDANS (SCOTLAND) LIMITED appointed
    corporate-nominee-director
  24. 2002-03-04
    ➖
    JORDANS (SCOTLAND) LIMITED 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
  • +Two-director setup: Only two active directors — typical of owner-managed SMEs but limits succession.
  • +Founder name in company name: Company name contains director surname "NICHOL" — strong identity link between founder and business.
  • +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 24 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 86 — 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 86 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 24 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 24 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
Mr Colin William John Nichol
Individual · British · DOB 11/1962 · age 64
25–50%
25–50%25-50% shares · 25-50% voting14/03/2025
Mr William Nichol
Individual · British · DOB 04/1940 · age 86
25–50%
25–50%25-50% shares · 25-50% voting14/03/2025
1 historic (ceased) PSC
  • Mr William Nicholceased 14/03/2025· 75-100% shares · 75-100% voting

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

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———322y8259y
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———025y8266y
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———122y8267y
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SOLWAY TRANSPORT LIMITED→
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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
Incorporated2002-03-04
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC49410 — Freight transport by road

Registered office

Halleaths
Lochmaben
Lockerbie
DG11 1LS

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-10-31
Last made up to: 2025-01-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-03-18
Last: 2026-03-04

Officers (3 active · 2 resigned)

MERCER, Christine Ann→
secretary · appointed 2002-03-04
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
NICHOL, Colin William John→
director · ~64y · appointed 2002-03-04
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
NICHOL, William→
director · ~86y · appointed 2002-03-04
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED→
corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 2002-03-04 · resigned 2002-03-04
Resigned
JORDANS (SCOTLAND) LIMITED→
corporate-nominee-director · appointed 2002-03-04 · resigned 2002-03-04
Resigned

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

Recent filings (64 total)

confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-03-18
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2026-03-09
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2026-03-09
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-10-30
notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
2025-10-24
cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
2025-10-24
notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
2025-10-24
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-03-12
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-08-16
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-03-15
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-10-31
capital-allotment-shares
capital · SH01
2023-06-12
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-03-13
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-10-25
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-03-22