HARBOUR FRY (KIRKWALL) LTD.

💤Zombieactive

SC248371 · ltd · incorporated 2003-04-25

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 Nov 2024

Net worth

£62.2k

book net assets

Opportunity

82/100

Exceptional

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What this business does

Primary activity: Other retail sale of food in specialised stores

Sector: Wholesale & retail

Investor take

Pursue

Active trading company with a 70-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 70). 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).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

1 live charge · oldest 10.6y

45/100

under pressure

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

· Oldest live charge is 10.6 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

5 officers (2 active, 5 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

56 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.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · accounting standard not declared

Positive net assets

Net assets £62,191

Net assets shrinking

Down £11,571 YoY

Cash YoY

-10%

Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts

Cash

£94k

↓ 9.8% YoY

Net Worth

£62k

↓ 16% YoY

Current Assets

£96k

↓ 12% YoY

Current Liabilities

—

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown

Metric	2024-11-30	2023-11-30
Total assets	£63.4k	£75.4k
Current assets	£95.9k	£108.5k
Cash	£93.9k	£104.2k
Debtors	£504	£2.8k
Net assets	£62.2k	£73.8k

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

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (26 events)Click to expand

2025-08-25
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-08-28
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-08-24
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-08-31
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-10-01
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-04-30
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-05-17
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2018-04-18
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2017-04-28
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2016-05-06
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2016-04-28
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2015-09-17
📄
mortgage-create-with-deed-with-charge-number-charge-creation-date
mortgage · MR01
2015-09-10
🔒
Charge registered #1
Lender: The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
2015-08-27
📍
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2015-08-27
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2015-06-03
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2015-04-29
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2003-04-25
🏢
Company incorporated
As HARBOUR FRY (KIRKWALL) LTD.
2003-04-25
➕
BAIN, Avril Cheyne appointed
secretary
2003-04-25
➕
MONKMAN, Evan Gerald appointed
director
2003-04-25
➕
PETER TRAINER COMPANY SECRETARIES LTD. appointed
corporate-nominee-secretary
2003-04-25
➖
PETER TRAINER COMPANY SECRETARIES LTD. resigned
corporate-nominee-secretary
2003-04-25
➕
PETER TRAINER COMPANY SECRETARIES LTD. appointed
corporate-nominee-director
2003-04-25
➖
PETER TRAINER COMPANY SECRETARIES LTD. resigned
corporate-nominee-director
2003-04-25
➕
PETER TRAINER CORPORATE SERVICES LTD. appointed
corporate-nominee-director
2003-04-25
➖
PETER TRAINER CORPORATE SERVICES 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.
+Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 23 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
+Founder age: Director aged approximately 70 — 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 70 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 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%

Name	Shares	Voting rights	Nature of control	Notified
Mr Evan Gerald Monkman Individual · British · DOB 06/1956 · age 70	75–100%	75–100%	board control75-100% shares · 75-100% voting · board control	06/04/2016

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

Similar companies

Active · Retail · KW postcode area

Company	Est. value	Turnover	Net worth	Staff	Age	Opp	Director
NORSEPHARM LIMITED→ SC354920 · est 2009	—	—	£862.2k	—	17y	83	61y
COLIN CHESSOR LIMITED→ SC293041 · est 2005	—	—	—	—	20y	82	70y
GEORGE MCBEATH LIMITED→ SC235751 · est 2002	—	—	£93.8k	—	23y	82	62y
J & S ALLAN LIMITED→ SC289795 · est 2005	—	—	—	1100	20y	82	61y
AS&CMS LIMITED→ SC504976 · est 2015	—	—	£88.4k	—	10y	80	58y
BRIDGNORTH IRONMONGERS LIMITED→ SC394882 · est 2011	—	—	£82.1k	—	15y	80	70y
JOHN M.F. GROAT & SONS LIMITED→ SC065141 · est 1978	—	—	—	15	47y	80	71y
KINGCRAIG FABRICS (BRORA) LIMITED→ SC356624 · est 2009	—	—	£94.9k	—	17y	80	69y
NORTH COAST BUTCHERS LTD→ SC686560 · est 2021 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	5y	—	—
NORTH ROAD GAMES LTD→ SC870600 · est 2025 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
ORKNEY TELEVISION ENTERPRISE→ SC158081 · est 1995 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	30y	—	—
ORTAK RETAIL (INVERNESS) LTD→ SC716797 · est 2021 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	4y	—	—

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

Incorporated2003-04-25

Jurisdictionscotland

Primary SIC47290 — Other retail sale of food in specialised stores

Registered office

Ingashowe

Firth

Kirkwall

Orkney

KW15 1TX

Scotland

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2026-08-31

Last made up to: 2024-11-30

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2026-05-09

Last: 2025-04-25

Officers (2 active · 3 resigned)

BAIN, Avril Cheyne→

secretary · appointed 2003-04-25

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

MONKMAN, Evan Gerald→

director · ~70y · appointed 2003-04-25

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

PETER TRAINER COMPANY SECRETARIES LTD.→

corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 2003-04-25 · resigned 2003-04-25

Resigned

PETER TRAINER COMPANY SECRETARIES LTD.→

corporate-nominee-director · appointed 2003-04-25 · resigned 2003-04-25

Resigned

PETER TRAINER CORPORATE SERVICES LTD.→

corporate-nominee-director · appointed 2003-04-25 · resigned 2003-04-25

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	A registered charge	—	10/09/2015	—

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