HOPEBURN LIMITED

💤Zombieactive
SC316304 · ltd · incorporated 2007-02-12
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.
Why now
Window steady · low confidence
Steady and stalled — no momentum either way. Needs an approach trigger.
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 2025
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
🔔
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What this business does
Primary activity: Combined office administrative service activities
Sector: Administrative & support services
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 77-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 85/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 77). 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 15.1y

45/100
under pressure

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

  • · Oldest live charge is 15.1 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
  • · 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, 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
5 officers (1 active, 5 linked, 4 with DOB)
86
Ownership & PSC
0 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
2 connected companies via shared directors
51
Filing history
62 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 2024Dec 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2025-12-312024-12-31
Average employees300300

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
0
filings
Last 90 days
2
filings
  • • 2 persons-with-significant-control
Last 180 days
4
filings
  • • 2 persons-with-significant-control
  • • 1 accounts
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (29 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-04-29
    📄
    notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control-statement
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC08
  2. 2026-04-22
    📄
    cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
  3. 2026-03-11
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  4. 2025-08-01
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  5. 2024-09-06
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  6. 2024-05-14
    📄
    termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM01
  7. 2024-05-14
    📄
    termination-secretary-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM02
  8. 2024-05-13
    ➖
    MCCANN, John Lewis resigned
    secretary
  9. 2024-05-13
    ➖
    MCCANN, John Lewis resigned
    director
  10. 2024-03-16
    📄
    termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM01
  11. 2024-03-16
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  12. 2024-03-03
    ➖
    MCCANN, Peter John resigned
    director
  13. 2023-05-16
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  14. 2022-05-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  15. 2021-07-08
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  16. 2021-05-31
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  17. 2020-09-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  18. 2019-06-18
    📄
    mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
    mortgage · MR04
  19. 2019-06-18
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #1
  20. 2019-06-12
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  21. 2018-09-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  22. 2011-05-24
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: Lombard North Central PLC
  23. 2011-02-09
    ➕
    MCCANN, Margaret Ann, Dr appointed
    director
  24. 2011-02-09
    ➕
    MCCANN, Margaret Ann, Dr appointed
    director
  25. 2011-02-09
    ➖
    MCCANN, Margaret Ann, Dr resigned
    director
  26. 2009-10-01
    ➕
    MCCANN, John Lewis appointed
    director
  27. 2007-02-12
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As HOPEBURN LIMITED
  28. 2007-02-12
    ➕
    MCCANN, John Lewis appointed
    secretary
  29. 2007-02-12
    ➕
    MCCANN, Peter John 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.
  • +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 15 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 77 — succession pressure is live.

Succession & seller-readiness

98/100
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 77 years old. Natural succession window is now.
  • primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
  • secondary12+ year tenure: Director in role 15 years.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 19 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.)
🔒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

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
Incorporated2007-02-12
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC82110 — Combined office administrative service activities

Registered office

27 North Bridge Street
Hawick
Borders
TD9 9BD
Scotland

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2027-09-30
Last made up to: 2025-12-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-02-26
Last: 2026-02-12

Officers (1 active · 4 resigned)

MCCANN, Margaret Ann, Dr→
director · ~77y · appointed 2011-02-09
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
MCCANN, John Lewis→
secretary · appointed 2007-02-12 · resigned 2024-05-13
Resigned
MCCANN, John Lewis→
director · ~81y · appointed 2009-10-01 · resigned 2024-05-13
Resigned
MCCANN, Margaret Ann, Dr→
director · ~77y · appointed 2011-02-09 · resigned 2011-02-09
Resigned
MCCANN, Peter John→
director · ~86y · appointed 2007-02-12 · resigned 2024-03-03
Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

1
Total charges
0
Outstanding
0
Active lenders
Status:Lender:1 of 1 shown
TypeProperties
satisfied
Lombard North Central
Lombard North Central PLC
Marine mortgage1 property24/05/201118/06/2019

Recent filings (62 total)

notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control-statement
persons-with-significant-control · PSC08
2026-04-29
cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
2026-04-22
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2026-03-11
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-03-04
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-08-01
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-02-12
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-09-06
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2024-05-14
termination-secretary-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM02
2024-05-14
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2024-03-16
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2024-03-16
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-02-12
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-05-16
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-02-13
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-05-23