R & J JOHNSTON LTD

💤Zombieactive
SC294700 · ltd · incorporated 2005-12-20
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 Dec 2024
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: Freight transport by road
Sector: Transportation & storage
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 68-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 68). 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: share sale to pe / searcher (73/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

1 live charge · oldest 0.0y

10/100
under pressure

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

  • · Newest facility, 0.0 years old — likely still in initial term.
  • · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
  • · Distress signals active — lender appetite narrows.

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
1 charges (1/1 with lender, 1/1 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
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
45 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
82/100Exceptional
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
80
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£0Dec 2023Dec 2024

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102
Metric2024-12-312023-12-31
Average employees11001100

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
1
filing
  • • 1 mortgage
Last 90 days
1
filing
  • • 1 mortgage
Last 180 days
2
filings
  • • 1 mortgage
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (21 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-04-28
    📄
    mortgage-create-with-deed-with-charge-number-charge-creation-date
    mortgage · MR01
  2. 2026-04-21
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: Nationwide Building Society (Trading as Virgin Money)
  3. 2025-07-10
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  4. 2024-12-24
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  5. 2024-09-19
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  6. 2023-09-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  7. 2022-09-14
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  8. 2021-09-24
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  9. 2020-08-20
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  10. 2019-06-11
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  11. 2018-07-02
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  12. 2017-05-13
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  13. 2016-04-19
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  14. 2016-01-12
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  15. 2015-05-11
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  16. 2015-01-06
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  17. 2006-01-07
    ➖
    JOHNSTON, Robert resigned
    director
  18. 2005-12-20
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As R & J JOHNSTON LTD
  19. 2005-12-20
    ➕
    JOHNSTON, Christina Margaret appointed
    secretary
  20. 2005-12-20
    ➕
    JOHNSTON, John appointed
    director
  21. 2005-12-20
    ➕
    JOHNSTON, Robert 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 "JOHNSTON" — strong identity link between founder and business.
  • +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 20 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 68 — succession pressure is live.

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 68. 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 20 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 20 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 Johnston
Individual · British · DOB 05/1958 · age 68
75–100%
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.

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

8 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
Incorporated2005-12-20
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC49410 — Freight transport by road

Registered office

Herdshill Farm, Bogside
Newmains
Lanarkshire
ML2 8HA

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-09-30
Last made up to: 2024-12-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-01-03
Last: 2025-12-20

Officers (2 active · 1 resigned)

JOHNSTON, Christina Margaret→
secretary · appointed 2005-12-20
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
JOHNSTON, John→
director · ~68y · appointed 2005-12-20
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
JOHNSTON, Robert→
director · ~99y · appointed 2005-12-20 · resigned 2006-01-07
Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

1
Total charges
1
Outstanding
1
Active lenders
Status:Lender:1 of 1 shown
TypeProperties
outstanding
Nationwide
Nationwide Building Society (Trading as Virgin Money)
A registered charge—21/04/2026—
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (45 total)

mortgage-create-with-deed-with-charge-number-charge-creation-date
mortgage · MR01
2026-04-28
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-01-20
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2025-07-10
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-12-24
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2024-12-24
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2024-09-19
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-12-27
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2023-09-26
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-12-28
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2022-09-14
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-12-30
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2021-09-24
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-12-23
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2020-08-20
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-12-23