F.M.S. VEHICLE RENTAL LIMITED

💤Zombieactive

SC283861 · ltd · incorporated 2005-04-26

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 Mar 2025

Net worth

—

book net assets

Opportunity

82/100

Exceptional

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What this business does

Primary activity: Renting and leasing of cars and light motor vehicles

Sector: Administrative & support services

Investor take

Pursue

Active trading company with a 64-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (70/100, director aged 64). 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 (73/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

1 live charge · oldest 20.5y

45/100

under pressure

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

· Oldest live charge is 20.5 years old — likely at or near maturity.
· Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
· Distress signals active — lender appetite narrows.

Data confidence

Overall: medium (76/100)

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

Lenders & charges

1 charges (1/1 with lender, 1/1 with type)

Directors & officers

3 officers (2 active, 3 linked, 1 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared

Director network

Network not yet resolved

Filing history

46 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

2 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	2025-03-31	2024-03-31
Average employees	0	0

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

filing

• 1 confirmation-statement

Last 90 days

filing

• 1 confirmation-statement

Last 180 days

filings

• 1 confirmation-statement
• 1 accounts

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (21 events)Click to expand

2025-12-24
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-03-24
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-12-20
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-12-21
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-12-21
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-01-29
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-12-17
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2018-12-17
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2017-12-22
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2016-11-15
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2016-04-26
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2015-08-24
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2015-04-27
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2014-11-24
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2014-04-28
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2005-11-09
🔒
Charge registered #1
Lender: The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland
2005-04-26
🏢
Company incorporated
As F.M.S. VEHICLE RENTAL LIMITED
2005-04-26
➕
HOWIE, Allan appointed
secretary
2005-04-26
➕
HOWIE, June Margaret Graham appointed
director
2005-04-26
➕
OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED appointed
corporate-nominee-secretary
2005-04-26
➖
OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED resigned
corporate-nominee-secretary

Owner dependency

93/100

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 21 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
+Senior director age: Director aged approximately 64 — approaching natural succession window.

Succession & seller-readiness

95/100

Likely off-market candidate

Strong acquirability signals converging. Worth approaching directly — this is how off-market deals start.

SIGNALS

primaryFounder aged 63+: Senior director is approximately 64. Approaching typical UK retirement age — succession thinking likely.
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

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%

Name	Shares	Voting rights	Nature of control	Notified
Mrs June Howie Individual · British · DOB 11/1962 · age 64	75–100%	75–100%	board control75-100% shares · 75-100% voting · board control	06/04/2016

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

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

Incorporated2005-04-26

Jurisdictionscotland

Primary SIC77110 — Renting and leasing of cars and light motor vehicles

Registered office

Morelan, Station Road

Burghead

Moray

IV30 5UN

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2026-12-31

Last made up to: 2025-03-31

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2027-05-10

Last: 2026-04-26

Officers (2 active · 1 resigned)

HOWIE, Allan→

secretary · appointed 2005-04-26

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

HOWIE, June Margaret Graham→

director · ~64y · appointed 2005-04-26

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED→

corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 2005-04-26 · resigned 2005-04-26

Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

Total charges

Outstanding

Active lenders

Status:Lender:1 of 1 shown

			Type	Properties
	outstanding	Lloyds Banking Group The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland	Bond & floating charge	1 property	09/11/2005	—

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