F & B SERVICES LIMITED

💤Zombieactive

SC331416 · ltd · incorporated 2007-09-25

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 Mar 2025

Net worth

—

book net assets

Opportunity

78/100

Strong

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What this business does

Primary activity: Plumbing, heat and air-conditioning installation

Sector: Construction

Investor take

Pursue

Strong opportunity: active trading company with strong profile and bankable structure.

Opportunity 78/100 (strong), bankability 75/100. High owner-dependency — earn-out structure likely required for clean transition. 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).

Data confidence

Overall: medium (78/100)

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

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

Ownership & PSC

1 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared

Director network

1 connected companies via shared directors

Filing history

53 filings on record

Gazette notices

No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)

Opportunity Score

78/100Strong

PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional

Solid opportunity signal. Worth a dedicated memo and management meeting.

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.

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 · IFRS

Metric	2025-03-31	2024-03-31
Average employees	300	300

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

filing

• 1 accounts

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (23 events)Click to expand

2025-12-29
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-12-17
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-12-16
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-12-30
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-08-11
📄
cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
2022-08-11
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2022-08-11
📍
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2022-08-11
📄
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2022-08-11
📄
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2022-08-01
➖
FRET, Thorsten resigned
director
2021-12-30
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-03-31
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-12-31
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-07-17
📄
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2019-07-17
📄
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2019-07-17
📄
notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
2018-10-01
➕
STUART, David Lachlan appointed
director
2018-07-04
📍
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2018-06-05
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2014-05-20
➖
BENFIELD, Geoffrey Howard resigned
secretary
2007-09-25
🏢
Company incorporated
As F & B SERVICES LIMITED
2007-09-25
➕
BENFIELD, Geoffrey Howard appointed
secretary
2007-09-25
➕
FRET, Thorsten appointed
director

Owner dependency

83/100

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.
+Senior director age: Director aged approximately 61 — approaching natural succession window.

Succession & seller-readiness

65/100

Strong succession signal

Multiple signals suggest succession is on the horizon. Candidate for proactive outreach.

SIGNALS

secondaryFounder aged 58+: Senior director is approximately 61. Early succession window.
primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 19 years old and no new directors in the last 3 years — succession not yet being planned internally.

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
Mr David Stuart Individual · Scottish · DOB 10/1965 · age 61	75–100%	75–100%	75-100% shares · 75-100% voting	01/10/2018

1 historic (ceased) PSC

Mr Thorsten Fretceased 01/08/2022· 50-75% shares · 50-75% voting

From Companies House Persons with Significant Control filings. Share ranges are banded per the public PSC regime.

🔒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 · Construction · IV postcode area

Company	Est. value	Turnover	Net worth	Staff	Age	Opp	Director
COMPASS BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION SERVICES LTD→ SC355872 · est 2009	£8.17M £5.83M–£10.50M	—	—	128	17y	82	53y
G & A BARNIE GROUP LIMITED→ SC265415 · est 2004	£5.89M £4.21M–£7.58M	—	—	426	22y	84	68y
HIGHLAND METALS LIMITED→ SC061436 · est 1976	£3.87M £2.77M–£4.98M	—	—	35	49y	88	71y
HIGHLAND DEEPHAVEN LIMITED→ SC050016 · est 1972	£1.97M £1.41M–£2.54M	—	—	4	54y	83	71y
CRANLOCH LIMITED→ SC237023 · est 2002	—	—	£10.4k	—	23y	83	68y
DARROCH & ALLAN (JOINERS & BUILDERS) LIMITED→ SC227618 · est 2002	—	—	£2.04M	—	24y	83	65y
DUNELAND LIMITED→ SC174358 · est 1997	—	—	—	200	29y	83	74y
ERG (SCOTLAND) LIMITED→ SC195590 · est 1999	—	—	—	—	27y	83	59y
HIGHLAND HEATING MANAGEMENT LIMITED→ SC296985 · est 2006	—	—	—	20	20y	83	58y
LEWISTON ARMS LIMITED→ SC319673 · est 2007	—	—	£32.6k	—	19y	83	73y
ST BUILDING SERVICES (FORRES) LIMITED→ SC358458 · est 2009	—	—	—	1000	17y	83	64y
A. DINGWALL LTD.→ SC250022 · est 2003	—	—	£21.0k	—	23y	82	66y

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

Incorporated2007-09-25

Jurisdictionscotland

Primary SIC43220 — Plumbing, heat and air-conditioning installation

Registered office

The Byre Lairgmore Croft

Lochend

Inverness

IV3 8LA

Scotland

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2026-12-31

Last made up to: 2025-03-31

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2026-10-09

Last: 2025-09-25

Officers (1 active · 2 resigned)

STUART, David Lachlan→

director · ~61y · appointed 2018-10-01

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

BENFIELD, Geoffrey Howard→

secretary · appointed 2007-09-25 · resigned 2014-05-20

Resigned

FRET, Thorsten→

director · ~61y · appointed 2007-09-25 · resigned 2022-08-01

Resigned

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

Recent filings (53 total)

accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full

accounts · AA

2025-12-29

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates

confirmation-statement · CS01

2025-10-25

accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full

accounts · AA

2024-12-17

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates

confirmation-statement · CS01

2024-11-29

accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full

accounts · AA

2023-12-16

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates

confirmation-statement · CS01

2023-10-27

accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full

accounts · AA

2022-12-30

confirmation-statement-with-updates

confirmation-statement · CS01

2022-10-03

cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control

persons-with-significant-control · PSC07

2022-08-11

change-person-director-company-with-change-date

officers · CH01

2022-08-11

change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address

address · AD01

2022-08-11

change-to-a-person-with-significant-control

persons-with-significant-control · PSC04

2022-08-11

termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date

officers · TM01

2022-08-11

accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full

accounts · AA

2021-12-30

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates

confirmation-statement · CS01

2021-10-06