BUCHAN + ASSOCIATES LIMITED

💤Zombieactive
SC241674 · ltd · incorporated 2002-12-30
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 Dec 2024
Net worth
£2.60M
book net assets
Opportunity
80/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: Other human health activities
Sector: Human health & social work
Investor take
Pursue
Asset-holding vehicle with a 66-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 80/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 66). 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 (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
Confirmed no charges registered
85
Directors & officers
4 officers (1 active, 4 linked, 1 with DOB)
75
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
3 connected companies via shared directors
54
Filing history
58 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.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · accounting standard not declared
Positive net assets
Net assets £2,604,206
Cash YoY
+29%
Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
£2.5m
↑ 29% YoY
Net Worth
£2.6m
↑ 21% YoY
Current Assets
—
Current Liabilities
—
£0£521k£1.0m£1.6m£2.1m£2.6mDec 2023Dec 2024

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2024-12-312023-12-31
Cash£2.50M£1.93M
Net assets£2.60M£2.15M

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
1
filing
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (23 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-09-09
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2025-01-31
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  3. 2024-09-04
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  4. 2023-09-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  5. 2022-12-19
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  6. 2022-09-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  7. 2021-12-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  8. 2020-11-09
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  9. 2019-06-14
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  10. 2018-09-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  11. 2017-09-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  12. 2016-09-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  13. 2016-01-25
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  14. 2015-09-25
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  15. 2015-02-02
    📄
    termination-secretary-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM02
  16. 2014-12-03
    ➖
    THE KELVIN PARTNERSHIP resigned
    corporate-secretary
  17. 2002-12-30
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As BUCHAN + ASSOCIATES LIMITED
  18. 2002-12-30
    ➕
    BUCHAN, Iain appointed
    director
  19. 2002-12-30
    ➕
    BRIAN REID LTD. appointed
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  20. 2002-12-30
    ➖
    BRIAN REID LTD. resigned
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  21. 2002-12-30
    ➕
    THE KELVIN PARTNERSHIP appointed
    corporate-secretary
  22. 2002-12-30
    ➕
    STEPHEN MABBOTT LTD. appointed
    corporate-nominee-director
  23. 2002-12-30
    ➖
    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 "BUCHAN" — strong identity link between founder and business.
  • +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 23 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 66 — succession pressure is live.

Succession & seller-readiness

95/100
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 66. Approaching typical UK retirement age — succession thinking likely.
  • primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
  • primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 23 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 23 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%
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr Iain Buchan
Individual · British · DOB 06/1960 · age 66
75–100%
75–100%board control75-100% shares · 75-100% 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

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
Incorporated2002-12-30
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC86900 — Other human health activities

Registered office

C/O Johnston Carmichael
227 West George Street
Glasgow
G2 2ND
Scotland

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-09-30
Last made up to: 2024-12-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-12-13
Last: 2025-11-29

Officers (1 active · 3 resigned)

BUCHAN, Iain→
director · ~66y · appointed 2002-12-30
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
BRIAN REID LTD.→
corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 2002-12-30 · resigned 2002-12-30
Resigned
THE KELVIN PARTNERSHIP→
corporate-secretary · appointed 2002-12-30 · resigned 2014-12-03
Resigned
STEPHEN MABBOTT LTD.→
corporate-nominee-director · appointed 2002-12-30 · resigned 2002-12-30
Resigned

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

Recent filings (58 total)

confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-12-05
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-09-09
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2025-01-31
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-12-12
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-09-04
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-01-11
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-09-29
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2022-12-19
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-12-19
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-09-30
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-01-05
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-12-23
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-02-02
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-11-09
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-12-19