S.JOHNSTON TRADING LIMITED

💤Zombieactive
SC343461 · ltd · incorporated 2008-05-27
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 Mar 2025
Net worth
£46.4k
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 45200
Sector: Wholesale & retail
Investor take
Pursue
Strong opportunity: active trading company with exceptional profile and bankable structure.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (70/100, director aged 58). 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 11.2y

45/100
under pressure

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

  • · Oldest live charge is 11.2 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
  • · Distress signals active — lender appetite narrows.

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
75
Lenders & charges
1 charges (1/1 with lender, 1/1 with type)
90
Directors & officers
1 officers (1 active, 1 linked, 1 with DOB)
90
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
41 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 £46,365
Cash YoY
-23%
Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
£16k
↓ 23% YoY
Net Worth
£46k
↑ 29% YoY
Current Assets
£106k
↓ 1.7% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
£0£22k£43k£65k£87k£108kMar 2024Mar 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2025-03-312024-03-31
Total assets£65.2k£73.3k
Current assets£106.3k£108.2k
Cash£16.5k£21.3k
Debtors£76.9k£73.9k
Net assets£46.4k£36.0k

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
1
filing
  • • 1 accounts
Last 90 days
1
filing
  • • 1 accounts
Last 180 days
2
filings
  • • 1 accounts
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (18 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-04-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2025-03-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  3. 2024-03-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  4. 2023-03-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  5. 2022-03-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  6. 2021-03-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  7. 2019-12-19
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  8. 2018-12-19
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  9. 2017-12-19
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  10. 2017-12-18
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  11. 2017-08-22
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  12. 2016-02-03
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  13. 2015-02-09
    📄
    mortgage-create-with-deed-with-charge-number-charge-creation-date
    mortgage · MR01
  14. 2015-02-06
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: National Westminster Bank PLC
  15. 2015-01-05
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  16. 2014-12-11
    ✏️
    certificate-change-of-name-company
    change-of-name · CERTNM
  17. 2008-05-27
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As S.JOHNSTON TRADING LIMITED
  18. 2008-05-27
    ➕
    JOHNSTON, Steven 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 18 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Senior director age: Director aged approximately 58 — approaching natural succession window.
  • +No director turnover: Company is 18 years old with no director changes — suggests a very tight-knit founder team never broadened.

Succession & seller-readiness

78/100
Likely off-market candidate

Strong acquirability signals converging. Worth approaching directly — this is how off-market deals start.

SIGNALS
  • secondaryFounder aged 58+: Senior director is approximately 58. Early succession window.
  • primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
  • secondary12+ year tenure: Director in role 18 years.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 18 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 Steven Johnston
Individual · British · DOB 02/1968 · age 58
75–100%
—75-100% shares06/04/2016

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

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
Incorporated2008-05-27
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC45200 — SIC 45200

Registered office

426 Glasgow Road
Paisley
Renfrewshire
PA1 3BE

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-12-31
Last made up to: 2025-03-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-01-17
Last: 2026-01-03

Officers (1 active · 0 resigned)

JOHNSTON, Steven→
director · ~58y · appointed 2008-05-27
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active

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
National Westminster Bank
National Westminster Bank PLC
A registered charge—06/02/2015—
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (41 total)

accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2026-04-29
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-01-20
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-03-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-02-06
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-03-28
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-01-03
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-03-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-02-12
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-03-29
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-02-28
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-03-30
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-01-19
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-01-16
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-12-19
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-02-28