BORDERS BOOK FESTIVAL

🌳Matureactive

SC296476 · private-limited-guarant-nsc-limited-exemption · incorporated 2006-02-02

Investment thesis

Established operating company — standard diligence applies, no dominant angle.

Why interesting: Live, filing, normal profile.

Why risky: No standout signals in either direction.

Why now

Window steady · low confidence

Stable recent picture — watch for any upcoming trigger event.

What changed my view

Last 30 days

No material changes in the last 30 days.

Last 90 days

No snapshot from 90 days ago — start tracking from today.

Last 180 days

No snapshot from 180 days ago — start tracking from today.

🔒Estimated value

—

Upgrade to see

Turnover

—

year to Dec 2024

Net worth

£33.3k

book net assets

Opportunity

81/100

Exceptional

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What this business does

Organising and delivering an annual literary and arts festival in the Scottish Borders region, likely involving day-to-day tasks such as event planning, artist coordination, venue management, sponsorship fundraising, and community engagement centred around the Melrose area.

Primary activity: Artistic creation

Sector: Arts, entertainment & recreation

Investor take

Pursue

Asset-holding vehicle with a 76-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 81/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (63/100, director aged 76). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

Data confidence

Overall: medium (71/100)

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

Confirmed no charges registered

Directors & officers

17 officers (8 active, 17 linked, 12 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

No PSCs filed (unusual — worth investigating)

Director network

4 connected companies via shared directors

Filing history

75 filings on record

Gazette notices

No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)

Opportunity Score

81/100Exceptional

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

Good data coverage for analysis.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · FRS 102

Positive net assets

Net assets £33,261

Cash YoY

+89%

Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts

Cash

£36k

↑ 89% YoY

Net Worth

£33k

↑ 61% YoY

Current Assets

£81k

↑ 92% YoY

Current Liabilities

—

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102

Metric	2024-12-31	2023-12-31
Total assets	£72.6k	£22.3k
Current assets	£81.1k	£42.2k
Cash	£36.3k	£19.2k
Debtors	£44.8k	£23.0k
Net assets	£33.3k	£20.6k

Amounts extracted automatically from iXBRL. Fields left blank were not reported or not mapped. Values in GBP unless stated.

🔒Filing-note intelligence

2 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

filings

Last 90 days

filings

Last 180 days

filings

• 1 confirmation-statement
• 1 officers

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (45 events)Click to expand

2026-02-26
📄
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2025-10-06
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2025-10-06
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2025-10-06
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2025-10-06
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2025-08-29
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-08-15
➕
MOFFAT, Susan Lynne appointed
director
2025-02-11
📄
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2025-02-10
📄
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2025-02-10
📄
change-person-director-company
officers · CH01
2025-02-10
📄
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2025-02-10
📄
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2024-12-07
➕
BROWN, Jennifer Ann appointed
director
2024-12-07
➕
RUTHERFORD, Joanne Nicol appointed
director
2024-12-07
➖
FRENCH, Vivian June Isoult resigned
director
2024-12-07
➖
WINDRAM, Susan resigned
director
2024-05-31
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-01-30
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2023-05-15
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-09-05
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-04-16
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-09-08
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-10-03
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-06-16
➖
HAMILTON, Francis Rowan Oldfield De Courcy resigned
director
2019-03-02
➕
FRENCH, Vivian June Isoult appointed
director
2017-09-16
➕
GRAHAM, Lynsey appointed
director
2017-09-16
➕
HUTCHISON, James appointed
director
2016-03-12
➕
WINDRAM, Susan appointed
director
2015-12-15
➕
MOORE, Michael Kevin appointed
director
2015-12-15
➖
HAMILTON, Francis Rowan Oldfield De Courcy resigned
secretary
2008-11-06
➖
GRIEVE, Eleanor Mary resigned
secretary
2008-11-06
➕
HAMILTON, Francis Rowan Oldfield De Courcy appointed
secretary
2008-11-06
➖
GRIEVE, Eleanor Mary resigned
director
2006-02-02
🏢
Company incorporated
As BORDERS BOOK FESTIVAL
2006-02-02
➕
MOFFAT, Alistair Murray appointed
director
2006-02-02
➕
OGILVIE, Paula Margaret appointed
director
2006-02-02
➕
GRIEVE, Eleanor Mary appointed
secretary
2006-02-02
➕
BRIAN REID LTD. appointed
corporate-nominee-secretary
2006-02-02
➖
BRIAN REID LTD. resigned
corporate-nominee-secretary
2006-02-02
➕
GRIEVE, Eleanor Mary appointed
director
2006-02-02
➕
HAMILTON, Francis Rowan Oldfield De Courcy appointed
director
2006-02-02
➕
BRIAN REID LTD. appointed
corporate-nominee-director
2006-02-02
➖
BRIAN REID LTD. resigned
corporate-nominee-director
2006-02-02
➕
STEPHEN MABBOTT LTD. appointed
corporate-nominee-director
2006-02-02
➖
STEPHEN MABBOTT LTD. resigned
corporate-nominee-director

Owner dependency

73/100

High — earn-out structure required

Material founder dependency. Consider a 2-3 year earn-out and build in a handover plan before completion.

FACTORS

-8 active directors: Broader management team in place — suggests transferable governance.
+Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 20 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
+Founder age: Director aged approximately 76 — succession pressure is live.
+Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

Succession & seller-readiness

80/100

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 76 years old. Natural succession window is now.
primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 20 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
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.)

🔒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 →

Similar companies

Active · Leisure & entertainment · TD postcode area

Company	Est. value	Turnover	Net worth	Staff	Age	Opp	Director
CAPERCAILLIE CRUISERS LIMITED→ SC245518 · est 2003	—	—	£127.1k	—	23y	82	69y
HENDERSONS TRAVEL AGENCIES LIMITED→ SC248866 · est 2003	—	—	£104.1k	—	23y	82	80y
LOYD & TOWNSEND-ROSE LIMITED→ SC191656 · est 1998	—	—	£3.3k	—	27y	82	67y
POT-A-DOODLE DO LIMITED→ 04652325 · est 2003	—	—	—	1100	23y	82	67y
BERWICK & DISTRICT RUGBY FOOTBALL FOUNDATION→ 05233736 · est 2004	—	—	—	0	21y	81	74y
BERWICK RUGBY FOOTBALL CLUB LIMITED→ 07034255 · est 2009	—	—	—	5	16y	81	65y
BERWICKSHIRE RECREATION EDUCATION SPORTS TRUST→ SC178735 · est 1997	—	—	—	1700	28y	81	71y
HAWICK & BORDER CAR CLUB LIMITED→ SC108694 · est 1988	—	—	£16.8k	—	38y	81	78y
THE BILL MCLAREN FOUNDATION→ SC372026 · est 2010	—	—	£128.3k	—	16y	81	81y
2247 LTD.→ 07146955 · est 2010	—	—	—	2	16y	80	70y
BEACON HILL LEISURE LIMITED→ 05366253 · est 2005	—	—	—	600	21y	80	73y
BERWICK-UPON-TWEED PRESERVATION TRUST→ 01912075 · est 1985	—	—	£4.98M	—	41y	80	77y

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

Typeprivate-limited-guarant-nsc-limited-exemption

Incorporated2006-02-02

Jurisdictionscotland

Primary SIC90030 — Artistic creation

Registered office

Harmony House

St Marys Road

Melrose

TD6 9LJ

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2026-09-30

Last made up to: 2024-12-31

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2027-02-11

Last: 2026-01-28