FERN JOINERY LIMITED

🌳Matureactive
SC323944 · ltd · incorporated 2007-05-17
Investment thesis
Looks cheap but ownership + security both unclear — probable value trap.
Why interesting: Headline metrics may be attractive.
Why risky: No PSC visibility combined with multiple live charges; transacting likely slow and expensive.
Opportunity decay
approaching window · 12-months
Approaching a transaction window — refinance or sale event plausible in the next 12 months.
  • · Oldest live charge 18.7y old — refinance window within 12 months
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to May 2025
Net worth
£85.3k
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: Joinery installation
Sector: Construction
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 74-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (63/100, director aged 74). 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 (65/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

2 live charges · 2 lenders · oldest 18.7y

50/100
clean up first

Refinance viable after a tidy-up — address the highlighted items first.

  • · Oldest live charge is 18.7 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Two lenders — manageable, but coordination required.
  • · Legal-friction score 25/100 — workable, but lender will want more DD.

Data confidence

Overall: medium (62/100)

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
1 year of iXBRL accounts extracted (no YoY comparison) + narrative notes parsed
50
Lenders & charges
2 charges (2/2 with lender, 2/2 with type)
90
Directors & officers
5 officers (5 active, 5 linked, 4 with DOB)
86
Ownership & PSC
No PSCs filed (unusual — worth investigating)
35
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
44 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.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · accounting standard not declared
Positive net assets
Net assets £85,288

Key financials

1 year extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
—
Net Worth
£85k
Current Assets
£86k
Current Liabilities
—

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2025-05-31
Total assets£85.3k
Current assets£86.2k
Net assets£85.3k

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

Recent activity

Last 30 days
0
filings
Last 90 days
1
filing
  • • 1 accounts
Last 180 days
1
filing
  • • 1 accounts
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (25 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-03-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  2. 2025-02-20
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  3. 2023-10-19
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  4. 2023-01-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  5. 2022-06-06
    📄
    mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
    mortgage · MR04
  6. 2022-06-06
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #1
  7. 2021-10-20
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  8. 2020-09-17
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  9. 2019-11-04
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  10. 2019-01-22
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  11. 2017-11-02
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  12. 2016-12-18
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  13. 2016-05-30
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  14. 2016-01-12
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  15. 2015-06-11
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  16. 2015-02-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  17. 2014-06-11
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  18. 2008-06-17
    🔒
    Charge registered #2
    Lender: Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
  19. 2007-08-28
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
  20. 2007-05-17
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As FERN JOINERY LIMITED
  21. 2007-05-17
    ➕
    FERN, Helen Jessie appointed
    secretary
  22. 2007-05-17
    ➕
    FERN, Helen Jessie appointed
    director
  23. 2007-05-17
    ➕
    FERN, John appointed
    director
  24. 2007-05-17
    ➕
    FERN, Margaret appointed
    director
  25. 2007-05-17
    ➕
    FERN, Michael appointed
    director

Owner dependency

88/100
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
  • -4 active directors: Broader management team in place — suggests transferable governance.
  • +Founder name in company name: Company name contains director surname "FERN" — strong identity link between founder and business.
  • +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 19 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 74 — succession pressure is live.
  • +Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

Succession & seller-readiness

83/100
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 74 years old. Natural succession window is now.
  • secondary12+ year tenure: Director in role 19 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.)

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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 →
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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.

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Company details

Statusactive
Typeltd
Incorporated2007-05-17
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC43320 — Joinery installation

Registered office

'schoolhouse', Old Cowie Road
Bannockburn
Stirling
FK7 8JW

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2027-02-28
Last made up to: 2025-05-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-05-31
Last: 2025-05-17

Officers (5 active · 0 resigned)

FERN, Helen Jessie→
secretary · appointed 2007-05-17
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
FERN, Helen Jessie→
director · ~72y · appointed 2007-05-17
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
FERN, John→
director · ~74y · appointed 2007-05-17
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
FERN, Margaret→
director · ~71y · appointed 2007-05-17
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
FERN, Michael→
director · ~71y · appointed 2007-05-17
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active

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

Mortgages & charges

2
Total charges
1
Outstanding
1
Active lenders
Status:Lender:2 of 2 shown
TypeProperties
outstanding
Lloyds Banking Group
Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
Standard security1 property17/06/2008—
satisfied
Lloyds Banking Group
The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
Bond & floating charge1 property28/08/200706/06/2022
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (44 total)

accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2026-03-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-05-28
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-02-20
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-05-28
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-10-19
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-05-30
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-01-30
mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
mortgage · MR04
2022-06-06
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-05-26
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-10-20
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-05-19
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-09-17
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-05-22
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-11-04
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-05-30