THE BOOK WHISPERERS COMMUNITY INTEREST COMPANY

🌳Matureactive
SC351517 · ltd · incorporated 2008-11-19
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.
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Sept 2024
Net worth
£-14.3k
book net assets
Opportunity
81/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: Book publishing
Sector: Information & communication
Investor take
Pass (distressed without resilience)
Distressed active trading company — structural issues outweigh the discount.

Opportunity 81/100 (exceptional), 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: Cash flow review and working-capital discipline. Cash down -69% YoY — forensic review of receivables, stock turns, and creditor days. Most likely exit: strategic trade sale (73/100).

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
Confirmed no charges registered
85
Directors & officers
5 officers (3 active, 5 linked, 5 with DOB)
90
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
3 connected companies via shared directors
54
Filing history
61 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
81/100Exceptional
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
85
Strong succession / seller-readiness signals.
Risk profile
85
Few red flags.
Signal strength
90
Good data coverage for analysis.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · FRS 102
Negative net assets
Liabilities exceed assets by £14,284
Cash draining
Cash down 69% YoY
Cash YoY
-69%
Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
£973
↓ 69% YoY
Net Worth
-£14k
↓ 47% YoY
Current Assets
£13k
↑ 38% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
-£14k-£9k-£3k£2k£8k£13kSept 2023Sept 2024

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102
Metric2024-09-302023-09-30
Total assets£-14.3k£3.6k
Current assets£13.4k£9.7k
Cash£973£3.2k
Debtors£12.4k£6.5k
Net assets£-14.3k£-9.7k

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
2
filings
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
  • • 1 officers
Last 180 days
2
filings
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
  • • 1 officers
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (28 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-03-25
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  2. 2025-10-21
    ➕
    KROGH, Paul James appointed
    director
  3. 2025-10-21
    📄
    appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
    officers · AP01
  4. 2025-07-01
    ➖
    TAYLOR, Lea resigned
    director
  5. 2025-07-01
    📄
    termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM01
  6. 2025-06-03
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  7. 2024-06-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  8. 2023-05-25
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  9. 2022-07-02
    📄
    appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
    officers · AP01
  10. 2022-07-01
    ➕
    ELLIS, Simon David Ronald appointed
    director
  11. 2022-06-29
    📄
    termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM01
  12. 2022-06-20
    ➖
    O'CONNOR, Mandy resigned
    director
  13. 2022-06-15
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  14. 2022-02-25
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  15. 2022-01-17
    📄
    change-account-reference-date-company-previous-shortened
    accounts · AA01
  16. 2021-12-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  17. 2021-10-20
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  18. 2021-10-18
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  19. 2021-10-01
    ✏️
    certificate-change-of-name-company
    change-of-name · CERTNM
  20. 2021-10-01
    ✏️
    change-of-name-community-interest-company
    change-of-name · CICCON
  21. 2021-10-01
    📄
    resolution
    resolution · RESOLUTIONS
  22. 2021-08-25
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  23. 2021-08-24
    ➕
    O'CONNOR, Mandy appointed
    director
  24. 2021-08-24
    📄
    appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
    officers · AP01
  25. 2021-08-24
    📄
    appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
    officers · AP01
  26. 2021-08-12
    ➕
    TAYLOR, Lea appointed
    director
  27. 2008-11-19
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As THE BOOK WHISPERERS COMMUNITY INTEREST COMPANY
  28. 2008-11-19
    ➕
    TURNER THOMSON, Mary Jennifer appointed
    director

Owner dependency

68/100
High — earn-out structure required

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

FACTORS
  • +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 17 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Senior director age: Director aged approximately 61 — approaching natural succession window.

Succession & seller-readiness

53/100
Moderate signal

Some succession indicators present. Worth watching; approach if sector/strategy fits.

SIGNALS
  • secondaryFounder aged 58+: Senior director is approximately 61. Early succession window.
  • secondary12+ year tenure: Director in role 17 years.
  • 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
Ms Mary Jennifer Turner Thomson
Individual · British · DOB 06/1965 · age 61
75–100%
75–100%board control75-100% shares · 75-100% voting · board control06/04/2016

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 →

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Peers ranked by estimated value, then turnover, then opportunity score.See all →
🔒Tailored diligence questions

6 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
Incorporated2008-11-19
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC58110 — Book publishing

Registered office

Eh20 Business Centre
6 Dryden Road
Loanhead
EH20 9LZ
Scotland

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-06-30
Last made up to: 2024-09-30
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-12-03
Last: 2025-11-19

Officers (3 active · 2 resigned)

ELLIS, Simon David Ronald→
director · ~53y · appointed 2022-07-01
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
KROGH, Paul James→
director · ~54y · appointed 2025-10-21
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
TURNER THOMSON, Mary Jennifer→
director · ~61y · appointed 2008-11-19
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
O'CONNOR, Mandy→
director · ~49y · appointed 2021-08-24 · resigned 2022-06-20
Resigned
TAYLOR, Lea→
director · ~66y · appointed 2021-08-12 · resigned 2025-07-01
Resigned

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

Recent filings (61 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-03-26
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2026-03-25
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2025-10-21
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2025-07-01
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-06-03
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-12-10
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-06-28
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-12-02
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-05-25
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-11-30
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2022-07-02
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2022-06-29
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-06-15
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2022-02-25
change-account-reference-date-company-previous-shortened
accounts · AA01
2022-01-17