STONE COUNTRY PRESS LIMITED

💤Zombieactive
SC263162 · ltd · incorporated 2004-02-09
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 Feb 2025
Net worth
£-17.5k
book net assets
Opportunity
75/100
Strong
🔔
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What this business does
Primary activity: Book publishing
Sector: Information & communication
Investor take
Pass (distressed without resilience)
Distressed active trading company — structural issues outweigh the discount.

Opportunity 75/100 (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: Broaden director team. Sole director creates succession risk and reduces buyer comfort. Appoint a second director or strong #2. Most likely exit: strategic trade sale (65/100).

Data confidence

Overall: medium (77/100)

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 (1 active, 4 linked, 1 with DOB)
75
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
1 connected companies via shared directors
48
Filing history
52 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
75/100Strong
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
90
Good data coverage for analysis.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · FRS 105 (micro)
Negative net assets
Liabilities exceed assets by £17,483

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
—
Net Worth
-£17k
↑ 14% YoY
Current Assets
£4k
↓ 5.4% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
-£20k-£15k-£11k-£6k-£965£4kFeb 2024Feb 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 105 (micro)
Metric2025-02-282024-02-29
Total assets£-16.9k£-19.7k
Current assets£3.6k£3.9k
Net assets£-17.5k£-20.3k

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
1
filing
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (23 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-04-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  2. 2025-02-04
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  3. 2024-04-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  4. 2023-07-18
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  5. 2023-04-18
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  6. 2022-07-12
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  7. 2022-02-04
    📄
    termination-secretary-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM02
  8. 2021-12-06
    ➖
    SPENCE, Sandra resigned
    secretary
  9. 2021-04-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  10. 2020-08-05
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  11. 2019-05-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  12. 2018-05-24
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  13. 2017-06-06
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  14. 2016-05-06
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  15. 2016-02-10
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  16. 2015-04-16
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  17. 2004-02-23
    ➕
    WATSON, John Stewart appointed
    director
  18. 2004-02-23
    ➕
    SPENCE, Sandra appointed
    secretary
  19. 2004-02-23
    ➖
    @UKPLC CLIENT SECRETARY LTD resigned
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  20. 2004-02-23
    ➖
    @UKPLC CLIENT DIRECTOR LTD resigned
    corporate-nominee-director
  21. 2004-02-09
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As STONE COUNTRY PRESS LIMITED
  22. 2004-02-09
    ➕
    @UKPLC CLIENT SECRETARY LTD appointed
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  23. 2004-02-09
    ➕
    @UKPLC CLIENT DIRECTOR LTD 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 22 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 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

1 active beneficial owner · dominant holder ≥75%
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr John Stewart Watson
Individual · British · DOB 04/1969 · age 57
75–100%
75–100%board controlsig. influence75-100% shares · 75-100% voting · board control · significant influence · trust interest · firm interest09/02/2017

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
Incorporated2004-02-09
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC58110 — Book publishing

Registered office

Suite 2/11 Pure Offices 1 Ainslie Road
Hillington Park
Glasgow
G52 4RU
Scotland

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-11-30
Last made up to: 2025-02-28
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-02-16
Last: 2026-02-02

Officers (1 active · 3 resigned)

WATSON, John Stewart→
director · ~57y · appointed 2004-02-23
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
SPENCE, Sandra→
secretary · appointed 2004-02-23 · resigned 2021-12-06
Resigned
@UKPLC CLIENT SECRETARY LTD→
corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 2004-02-09 · resigned 2004-02-23
Resigned
@UKPLC CLIENT DIRECTOR LTD→
corporate-nominee-director · appointed 2004-02-09 · resigned 2004-02-23
Resigned

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

Recent filings (52 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-02-05
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-04-30
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2025-02-04
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-02-03
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-04-23
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-02-05
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2023-07-18
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-04-18
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-02-02
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-07-12
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-02-04
termination-secretary-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM02
2022-02-04
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-04-26
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-02-04
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2020-08-05