BROWNS ASR LIMITED

💤Zombieactive
SC282865 · ltd · incorporated 2005-04-07
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 Sept 2024
Net worth
book net assets
Opportunity
74/100
Strong
🔔
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What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 47791
Sector: Wholesale & retail
ALSO REGISTERED FOR
  • 49410Freight transport by road
  • 52103SIC 52103
Investor take
Pursue
Strong opportunity: active trading company with strong profile and acceptable with review structure.

Opportunity 74/100 (strong), bankability 67/100. High owner-dependency — earn-out structure likely required for clean transition. Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Consolidate lender relationships. 3 distinct lenders creates friction — refinance into single-lender structure for cleaner diligence. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (58/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

2 live charges · 2 lenders · oldest 12.9y

30/100
under pressure

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

  • · Oldest live charge is 12.9 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Two lenders — manageable, but coordination required.
  • · Distress signals active — lender appetite narrows.

Data confidence

Overall: high (80/100)

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

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
3 officers (2 active, 3 linked, 2 with DOB)
83
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
4 connected companies via shared directors
57
Filing history
59 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
74/100Strong
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
77
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£0Sept 2023Sept 2024

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2024-09-302023-09-30
Average employees10001000

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
1
filing
  • 1 incorporation
Last 90 days
2
filings
  • 1 incorporation
  • 1 confirmation-statement
Last 180 days
2
filings
  • 1 incorporation
  • 1 confirmation-statement
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (21 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-05-11
    📄
    memorandum-articles
    incorporation · MA
  2. 2025-08-22
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  3. 2025-06-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  4. 2024-06-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  5. 2024-06-05
    ✏️
    certificate-change-of-name-company
    change-of-name · CERTNM
  6. 2023-06-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  7. 2022-06-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  8. 2021-06-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  9. 2020-09-24
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  10. 2019-06-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  11. 2019-04-08
    📄
    termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM01
  12. 2019-03-31
    BROWN, Lorne Sinclair resigned
    director
  13. 2018-10-12
    📄
    accounts-amended-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AAMD
  14. 2018-06-21
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  15. 2017-06-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  16. 2014-06-13
    🔒
    Charge registered #2
    Lender: Ronan Brown as Trustee of the Storage Express Pension Scheme
  17. 2013-06-10
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
  18. 2005-04-07
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As BROWNS ASR LIMITED
  19. 2005-04-07
    BROWN, Ronan Sinclair appointed
    secretary
  20. 2005-04-07
    BROWN, Ronan Sinclair appointed
    director
  21. 2005-04-07
    BROWN, Lorne Sinclair appointed
    director

Owner dependency

100/100
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.
  • +Founder name in company name: Company name contains director surname "BROWN" — strong identity link between founder and business.
  • +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 21 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 21 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 21 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

1 med ·
Name changed recently
medium

Name changes can be benign (rebrand) but can also precede distress, phoenix activity, or buyer concealment.

Evidence: 2024-06-05: certificate-change-of-name-company

Shareholders & ownership

1 active beneficial owner · dominant holder ≥75%
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr Ronan Sinclair Brown
Individual · British · DOB 08/1974 · age 52
75100%
75–100%board control75-100% shares · 75-100% 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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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
Incorporated2005-04-07
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC47791 — SIC 47791

Registered office

The Granary, Wester Fodderlie
Bonchester Bridge
Hawick
TD9 8JE
Scotland

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-06-30
Last made up to: 2024-09-30
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-03-20
Last: 2026-03-06

Officers (2 active · 1 resigned)

BROWN, Ronan Sinclair
secretary · appointed 2005-04-07
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
BROWN, Ronan Sinclair
director · ~52y · appointed 2005-04-07
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
BROWN, Lorne Sinclair
director · ~84y · appointed 2005-04-07 · resigned 2019-03-31
Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

2
Total charges
2
Outstanding
2
Active lenders
Status:Lender:2 of 2 shown
TypeProperties
outstanding
Ronan Brown as Trustee of the Storage Express Pension Scheme / Morgan Lloyd Trustees as Trustee of the Storage Express Pension Scheme
Ronan Brown as Trustee of the Storage Express Pension Scheme / Morgan Lloyd Trustees Limited as Trustee of the Storage Express Pension Scheme
A registered charge9 properties13/06/2014
outstanding
Lloyds Banking Group
The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
A registered charge1 property10/06/2013
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (59 total)

memorandum-articles
incorporation · MA
2026-05-11
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-03-06
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2025-08-22
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-07-09
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-06-23
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-07-02
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-06-27
certificate-change-of-name-company
change-of-name · CERTNM
2024-06-05
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-07-03
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-06-29
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-06-30
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-06-30
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-06-30
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-06-30
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-04-07