DOUGHBALLS LTD

💤Zombieactive
SC255426 · ltd · incorporated 2003-09-05
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 Apr 2025
Net worth
£70.8k
book net assets
Opportunity
77/100
Strong
🔔
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What this business does
Primary activity: Licenced restaurants
Sector: Accommodation & food service
Investor take
Special-situation opportunity
Distressed hospitality with salvageable qualities — special-situations priority.

Opportunity 77/100 (strong), bankability 75/100. High owner-dependency — earn-out structure likely required for clean transition. Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Cash flow review and working-capital discipline. Cash down -100% YoY — forensic review of receivables, stock turns, and creditor days. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (58/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

2 live charges · 2 lenders · oldest 22.5y

30/100
under pressure

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

  • · Oldest live charge is 22.5 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Two lenders — manageable, but coordination required.
  • · Distress signals active — lender appetite narrows.

Data confidence

Overall: medium (79/100)

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
2 charges (2/2 with lender, 2/2 with type)
90
Directors & officers
5 officers (2 active, 5 linked, 2 with DOB)
78
Ownership & PSC
2 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared
90
Director network
5 connected companies via shared directors
60
Filing history
70 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
77/100Strong
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional 

Solid opportunity signal. Worth a dedicated memo and management meeting.

Business quality
70
Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.
Acquirability
60
Some acquirability indicators.
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 £70,812
Very low cash
Cash position: £0
Net assets shrinking
Down £128 YoY
Cash draining
Cash down 100% YoY
Cash YoY
-100%
Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
£0
↓ 100% YoY
Net Worth
£71k
~ YoY
Current Assets
—
Current Liabilities
—
£0£14k£28k£43k£57k£71kApr 2024Apr 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2025-04-302024-04-30
Cash£0£52.3k
Net assets£70.8k£70.9k

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
2
filings
  • • 1 accounts
  • • 1 persons-with-significant-control
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (26 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-01-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2026-01-27
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  3. 2024-12-19
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  4. 2024-01-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  5. 2023-04-24
    📄
    notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
  6. 2023-04-24
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  7. 2023-01-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  8. 2022-01-24
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  9. 2021-01-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  10. 2020-01-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  11. 2019-02-05
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  12. 2018-08-02
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  13. 2018-01-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  14. 2017-01-20
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  15. 2016-01-15
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  16. 2011-09-19
    ➖
    CURLEY, Gillian resigned
    director
  17. 2007-09-18
    🔒
    Charge registered #2
    Lender: The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
  18. 2003-11-24
    ➕
    DOUGLAS, Neil Matthew appointed
    secretary
  19. 2003-11-24
    ➖
    D.W. COMPANY SERVICES LIMITED resigned
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  20. 2003-11-24
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland
  21. 2003-11-07
    ➕
    DOUGLAS, Neil Matthew appointed
    director
  22. 2003-11-07
    ➕
    CURLEY, Gillian appointed
    director
  23. 2003-11-07
    ➖
    D.W. DIRECTOR 1 LIMITED resigned
    corporate-nominee-director
  24. 2003-09-05
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As DOUGHBALLS LTD
  25. 2003-09-05
    ➕
    D.W. COMPANY SERVICES LIMITED appointed
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  26. 2003-09-05
    ➕
    D.W. DIRECTOR 1 LIMITED appointed
    corporate-nominee-director

Owner dependency

85/100
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.

Succession & seller-readiness

75/100
Likely off-market candidate

Strong acquirability signals converging. Worth approaching directly — this is how off-market deals start.

SIGNALS
  • 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

2 active beneficial owners
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mrs Julie Douglas
Individual · British · DOB 07/1987 · age 39
25–50%
25–50%board control25-50% shares · 25-50% voting · board control01/04/2023
Mr Neil Matthew Douglas
Individual · British · DOB 05/1976 · age 50
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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TEMPORARY EUPHORIA LTD→
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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
Incorporated2003-09-05
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC56101 — Licenced restaurants

Registered office

305 Sauchiehall Street
Glasgow
G2 3HQ
Scotland

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2027-01-31
Last made up to: 2025-04-30
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-05-08
Last: 2025-04-24

Officers (2 active · 3 resigned)

DOUGLAS, Neil Matthew→
secretary · appointed 2003-11-24
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
DOUGLAS, Neil Matthew→
director · ~50y · appointed 2003-11-07
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
D.W. COMPANY SERVICES LIMITED→
corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 2003-09-05 · resigned 2003-11-24
Resigned
CURLEY, Gillian→
director · ~54y · appointed 2003-11-07 · resigned 2011-09-19
Resigned
D.W. DIRECTOR 1 LIMITED→
corporate-nominee-director · appointed 2003-09-05 · resigned 2003-11-07
Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

2
Total charges
2
Outstanding
1
Active lenders
Status:Lender:2 of 2 shown
TypeProperties
outstanding
Lloyds Banking Group
The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
Bond & floating charge1 property18/09/2007—
outstanding
Lloyds Banking Group
The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland
Bond & floating charge1 property24/11/2003—
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (70 total)

accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2026-01-30
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2026-01-27
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-05-01
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-12-19
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-05-14
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-01-29
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-04-24
notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
2023-04-24
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2023-04-24
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-01-26
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-09-25
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-01-24
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-09-15
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-01-31
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-10-26