FRANK WILLIAMSON LIMITED

🌳Matureactive

SC263009 · ltd · incorporated 2004-02-05

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 22.2y old — refinance window within 12 months

🔒Estimated value

—

Upgrade to see

Turnover

—

year to Feb 2026

Net worth

—

book net assets

Opportunity

82/100

Exceptional

🔒Generate AI memo →🔒Outreach pack →🔒Corporate story →📑 Reports →Sign in to watch

What this business does

Primary activity: Retail sale of electrical household appliances in specialised stores

Sector: Wholesale & retail

Investor take

Pursue

Active trading company with a 72-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 72). 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 22.2y

50/100

clean up first

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

· Oldest live charge is 22.2 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: high (83/100)

Strong data coverage across all sections. AI outputs should be trusted with minimal caveats.

Company profile

address, 1 SIC codes, incorporation date

100

Financials

3 years of iXBRL accounts extracted + narrative notes parsed

Lenders & charges

2 charges (2/2 with lender, 2/2 with type)

Directors & officers

6 officers (3 active, 6 linked, 3 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

3 active PSC(s) of 3 total, 3 with control declared

Director network

Network not yet resolved

Filing history

59 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.

Key financials

3 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts

Cash

—

Net Worth

—

Current Assets

—

Current Liabilities

—

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102

Metric	2026-02-28	2025-02-28	2024-02-29
Average employees	10	1100	1100

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

filing

• 1 accounts

Last 90 days

filing

• 1 accounts

Last 180 days

filings

• 1 accounts
• 1 confirmation-statement

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (27 events)Click to expand

2026-05-05
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-09-02
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-09-25
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-08-15
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-11-18
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-10-27
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-11-18
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-10-07
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2018-10-10
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2018-04-17
📄
notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
2018-04-17
📄
notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
2018-04-17
📄
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2017-10-12
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2016-11-28
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2016-11-21
📍
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2014-10-08
🔒
Charge registered #2
Lender: Bank of Scotland PLC
2012-10-23
➕
SINCLAIR, Allan William appointed
director
2010-12-23
➕
FRASER AND MULLIGAN appointed
corporate-secretary
2010-12-23
➖
WILLIAMSON, James Robert Cogle resigned
secretary
2010-12-23
➖
WILLIAMSON, James Robert Cogle resigned
director
2004-03-03
🔒
Charge registered #1
Lender: The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland
2004-02-05
🏢
Company incorporated
As FRANK WILLIAMSON LIMITED
2004-02-05
➕
SINCLAIR, Alison appointed
director
2004-02-05
➕
WILLIAMSON, James Robert Cogle appointed
secretary
2004-02-05
➕
OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED appointed
corporate-nominee-secretary
2004-02-05
➖
OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED resigned
corporate-nominee-secretary
2004-02-05
➕
WILLIAMSON, James Robert Cogle appointed
director

Owner dependency

91/100

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 22 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
+Founder age: Director aged approximately 72 — succession pressure is live.
+Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

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 72 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 22 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 22 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

3 active beneficial owners

Name	Shares	Voting rights	Nature of control	Notified
Mr Allan William Sinclair Individual · Scottish · DOB 08/1981 · age 45	25–50%	—	25-50% shares	31/10/2017
Mr Sydney Allan Sinclair Individual · Scottish · DOB 12/1953 · age 73	25–50%	—	25-50% shares	31/10/2017
Mrs Alison Sinclair Individual · British · DOB 10/1954 · age 72	25–50%	—	25-50% shares	05/02/2017

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

Similar companies

Active · Retail · ZE postcode area

Company	Est. value	Turnover	Net worth	Staff	Age	Opp	Director
BLYDOIT FISH LIMITED→ SC243849 · est 2003	—	—	£248.7k	—	23y	83	65y
CEE & JAYS LIMITED→ SC335262 · est 2007	—	—	—	800	18y	83	64y
GTS CENTRAL LTD→ SC361392 · est 2009	—	—	£1.76M	—	16y	83	69y
LINKSHOUSE STORES LIMITED→ SC314571 · est 2007	—	—	—	0	19y	82	71y
HARRY'S DEPARTMENT STORE LIMITED→ SC242309 · est 2003	—	—	£775.2k	—	23y	80	58y
AYWICK SHOP LTD→ SC466305 · est 2013	—	—	£172.0k	—	12y	79	84y
BOLTS SHETLAND LIMITED→ SC033840 · est 1959	—	—	—	—	67y	79	65y
HILLSWICK SHOP LTD→ SC366918 · est 2009	—	—	—	11	16y	79	71y
D H MARINE (MERGI) LIMITED→ SC285528 · est 2005	—	—	£699.7k	—	20y	78	53y
HOULLS HORSES AND HOUNDS LIMITED→ SC469404 · est 2014	—	—	—	1	12y	78	63y
BURNS LANE CLOTHING LTD→ SC577615 · est 2017	—	—	—	300	8y	77	64y
CALLIEU FAMILY BUTCHERS LIMITED→ SC685277 · est 2021	—	—	—	-300	5y	76	74y

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

Incorporated2004-02-05

Jurisdictionscotland

Primary SIC47540 — Retail sale of electrical household appliances in specialised stores

Registered office

30 North Road

Lerwick

Shetland

ZE1 0NT

Scotland

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2027-11-30

Last made up to: 2026-02-28

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2027-02-19

Last: 2026-02-05

Officers (3 active · 3 resigned)

FRASER AND MULLIGAN→

corporate-secretary · appointed 2010-12-23

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

SINCLAIR, Alison→

director · ~72y · appointed 2004-02-05

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

SINCLAIR, Allan William→

director · ~45y · appointed 2012-10-23

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

WILLIAMSON, James Robert Cogle→

secretary · appointed 2004-02-05 · resigned 2010-12-23

Resigned

OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED→

corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 2004-02-05 · resigned 2004-02-05

Resigned

WILLIAMSON, James Robert Cogle→

director · ~63y · appointed 2004-02-05 · resigned 2010-12-23

Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

Total charges

Outstanding

Active lenders

Status:Lender:2 of 2 shown

			Type	Properties
	outstanding	Lloyds Banking Group Bank of Scotland PLC	A registered charge	1 property	08/10/2014	—
	outstanding	Lloyds Banking Group The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland	Bond & floating charge	1 property	03/03/2004	—

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