THE JOHN MUIR COUNTRY STORE LIMITED

🌳Matureactive
SC258689 · ltd · incorporated 2003-11-04
Investment thesis
Well-run mature business — low negotiation leverage; premium likely.
Why interesting: Textbook target; clean filings, stable trading.
Why risky: No pressure on seller; any deal likely at full price.
Opportunity decay
hardening · 12-months
Already tight — no obvious softening catalysts on the horizon.
  • · Thesis: well-run, low negotiation leverage
🔒Estimated value
—
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Turnover
—
year to Mar 2025
Net worth
£2.5k
book net assets
Opportunity
80/100
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
Asset-holding vehicle with a 90-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 80/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 90). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

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 (3 active, 4 linked, 2 with DOB)
80
Ownership & PSC
2 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared
90
Director network
1 connected companies via shared directors
48
Filing history
60 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 £2,490
Cash YoY
+963%
Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
£24k
↑ 963% YoY
Net Worth
£2k
↑ 121% YoY
Current Assets
£49k
↑ 55% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
-£12k£376£13k£25k£37k£49kMar 2024Mar 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2025-03-312024-03-31
Total assets£10.2k£-5.1k
Current assets£49.1k£31.8k
Cash£23.6k£2.2k
Debtors£1.4k£6.3k
Net assets£2.5k£-11.8k

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
0
filings
Last 90 days
0
filings
Last 180 days
0
filings
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (21 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-08-07
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-11-18
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  3. 2024-07-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  4. 2023-11-20
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  5. 2022-12-13
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  6. 2022-01-06
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  7. 2021-03-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  8. 2019-12-24
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  9. 2018-12-18
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  10. 2017-12-21
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  11. 2016-12-13
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  12. 2016-05-18
    📄
    change-person-secretary-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH03
  13. 2016-05-18
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  14. 2016-05-18
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  15. 2016-05-03
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  16. 2009-04-01
    ➕
    ROBERTS, Fi Elizabeth appointed
    director
  17. 2003-11-04
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As THE JOHN MUIR COUNTRY STORE LIMITED
  18. 2003-11-04
    ➕
    STEWART, Gordon appointed
    secretary
  19. 2003-11-04
    ➕
    STEWART, Margaret Angela appointed
    director
  20. 2003-11-04
    ➕
    OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED appointed
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  21. 2003-11-04
    ➖
    OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED resigned
    corporate-nominee-secretary

Owner dependency

83/100
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.
  • +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 23 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 90 — succession pressure is live.

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 90 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 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 · dominant holder ≥75%
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Margaret Angela Stewart
Individual · British · DOB 10/1936 · age 90
75–100%
75–100%board control75-100% shares · 75-100% voting · board control06/04/2016
Gordon Stewart
Individual · British · DOB 07/1948 · age 78
——sig. influencesignificant influence06/04/2016

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

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
Incorporated2003-11-04
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC47290 — Other retail sale of food in specialised stores

Registered office

C/O Haines Watts, Q Court
3 Quality Street
Edinburgh
EH4 5BP

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-12-31
Last made up to: 2025-03-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-11-18
Last: 2025-11-04

Officers (3 active · 1 resigned)

STEWART, Gordon→
secretary · appointed 2003-11-04
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
ROBERTS, Fi Elizabeth→
director · ~49y · appointed 2009-04-01
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
STEWART, Margaret Angela→
director · ~90y · appointed 2003-11-04
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED→
corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 2003-11-04 · resigned 2003-11-04
Resigned

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

Recent filings (60 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-11-13
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-08-07
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-11-18
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2024-11-18
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-07-31
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-11-20
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-11-07
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-12-13
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-11-17
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-01-06
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-11-04
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-03-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-11-12
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-12-24
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-11-15