MEARNS TRACTORS LIMITED

🌳Matureactive
SC261246 · ltd · incorporated 2003-12-23
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
approaching window · 12-months
Approaching a transaction window — refinance or sale event plausible in the next 12 months.
  • · Oldest live charge 22.1y old — refinance window within 12 months
🔒Estimated value
Upgrade to see
Turnover
year to Mar 2025
Net worth
book net assets
Opportunity
83/100
Exceptional
🔔
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What this business does
Primary activity: Support activities for crop production
Sector: Agriculture, forestry & fishing
ALSO REGISTERED FOR
  • 33170SIC 33170
  • 46610SIC 46610
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company. Family succession underway — not a classic acquisition target.

Opportunity 83/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Same-surname younger director in place — likely family handover, not open to sale. Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Discharge stale live charges. 1 live charge(s) created 15+ years ago — likely paid but undischarged. Clean register. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

2 live charges · 2 lenders · oldest 22.1y

50/100
clean up first

Refinance viable after a tidy-up — address the highlighted items first.

  • · Oldest live charge is 22.1 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Two lenders — manageable, but coordination required.
  • · Legal-friction score 25/100 — workable, but lender will want more DD.

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, 3 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
8 officers (5 active, 8 linked, 6 with DOB)
85
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
69 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
83/100Exceptional
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
85
Strong succession / seller-readiness signals.
Risk profile
85
Few red flags.
Signal strength
100
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£0Mar 2024Mar 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102
Metric2025-03-302024-03-30
Average employees1100

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
1
filing
  • 1 confirmation-statement
Last 180 days
2
filings
  • 1 confirmation-statement
  • 1 accounts
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (30 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-12-19
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2025-03-17
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  3. 2025-03-17
    📄
    appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
    officers · AP01
  4. 2025-03-17
    📄
    appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
    officers · AP01
  5. 2025-03-17
    📄
    appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
    officers · AP01
  6. 2025-03-17
    📄
    cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
  7. 2025-03-17
    📄
    termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM01
  8. 2025-03-06
    SMITH, Callum Andrew appointed
    director
  9. 2025-03-06
    SMITH, Craig James appointed
    director
  10. 2025-03-06
    SMITH, Jane Ina appointed
    director
  11. 2025-03-06
    SMITH, Shaun Jamie resigned
    director
  12. 2024-12-16
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  13. 2023-12-14
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  14. 2022-12-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  15. 2021-12-22
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  16. 2021-02-17
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  17. 2019-12-19
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  18. 2018-12-11
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  19. 2018-02-20
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  20. 2017-12-19
    📄
    change-account-reference-date-company-previous-shortened
    accounts · AA01
  21. 2014-07-07
    🔒
    Charge registered #2
    Lender: Clydesdale Bank PLC
  22. 2004-03-30
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: Clydesdale Bank Public Limited Company
  23. 2004-02-20
    SMITH, Jane Ina appointed
    secretary
  24. 2004-02-20
    SMITH, Andrew Farquharson appointed
    director
  25. 2004-02-20
    BLACKADDERS resigned
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  26. 2004-02-20
    CLARK, Campbell John Scott resigned
    nominee-director
  27. 2004-02-20
    SMITH, Shaun Jamie appointed
    director
  28. 2003-12-23
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As MEARNS TRACTORS LIMITED
  29. 2003-12-23
    BLACKADDERS appointed
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  30. 2003-12-23
    CLARK, Campbell John Scott appointed
    nominee-director

Owner dependency

66/100
High — earn-out structure required

Material founder dependency. Consider a 2-3 year earn-out and build in a handover plan before completion.

FACTORS
  • -4 active directors: Broader management team in place — suggests transferable governance.
  • +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 22 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Senior director age: Director aged approximately 62 — approaching natural succession window.
  • +Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

Succession & seller-readiness

20/100
No succession signal

No meaningful acquirability indicators from public data.

SIGNALS
  • primaryFamily succession underway: Not a takeover target — SMITH, Callum Andrew (same surname) appointed 2025-03-06. Pattern consistent with intra-family handover.
  • secondaryFounder aged 58+: Senior director is approximately 62. Early succession window.
  • primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 22 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
  • 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 Andrew Farquharson Smith
Individual · British · DOB 02/1964 · age 62
75100%
75–100%board control75-100% shares · 75-100% voting · board control06/04/2016
1 historic (ceased) PSC
  • Mr Shaun Jamie Smithceased 06/03/2025· 25-50% shares · 25-50% voting

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

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Peers ranked by estimated value, then turnover, then opportunity score.See all →
🔒Tailored diligence questions

6 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
Incorporated2003-12-23
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC01610 — Support activities for crop production

Registered office

East Drumhendry
East Drumhendry
Laurencekirk
Kincardineshire
AB30 1RL

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-12-30
Last made up to: 2025-03-30
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-01-05
Last: 2025-12-22

Officers (5 active · 3 resigned)

SMITH, Jane Ina
secretary · appointed 2004-02-20
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
SMITH, Andrew Farquharson
director · ~62y · appointed 2004-02-20
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
SMITH, Callum Andrew
director · ~30y · appointed 2025-03-06
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
SMITH, Craig James
director · ~26y · appointed 2025-03-06
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
SMITH, Jane Ina
director · ~59y · appointed 2025-03-06
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
BLACKADDERS
corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 2003-12-23 · resigned 2004-02-20
Resigned
CLARK, Campbell John Scott
nominee-director · ~55y · appointed 2003-12-23 · resigned 2004-02-20
Resigned
SMITH, Shaun Jamie
director · ~55y · appointed 2004-02-20 · resigned 2025-03-06
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
Virgin Money
Clydesdale Bank PLC
A registered charge07/07/2014
outstanding
Virgin Money
Clydesdale Bank Public Limited Company
Floating charge1 property30/03/2004
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (69 total)

confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-02-09
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-12-19
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2025-03-17
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2025-03-17
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2025-03-17
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2025-03-17
cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
2025-03-17
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2025-03-17
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-01-06
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-12-16
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-01-03
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-12-14
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-12-23
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-12-22
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-12-23