W. H. MCWILLIAM LIMITED

🌳Matureactive
SC352611 · ltd · incorporated 2008-12-16
Investment thesis
Well-run mature business — low negotiation leverage; premium likely.
Why interesting: Textbook target; clean filings, stable trading.
Why risky: No pressure on seller; any deal likely at full price.
Opportunity decay
approaching window · 12-months
Approaching a transaction window — refinance or sale event plausible in the next 12 months.
  • · Oldest live charge 17.1y old — refinance window within 12 months
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Apr 2025
Net worth
£474.4k
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: Freight transport by road
Sector: Transportation & storage
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 68-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 68). 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 · oldest 17.1y

65/100
clean up first

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

  • · Oldest live charge is 17.1 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
  • · Legal-friction score 25/100 — workable, but lender will want more DD.

Data confidence

Overall: medium (77/100)

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
2 charges (2/2 with lender, 2/2 with type)
90
Directors & officers
3 officers (3 active, 3 linked, 2 with DOB)
83
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
43 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 · FRS 102
Positive net assets
Net assets £474,415
Cash YoY
+53%
Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
£148k
↑ 53% YoY
Net Worth
£474k
↑ 16% YoY
Current Assets
£495k
↑ 13% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
£0£99k£198k£297k£396k£495kApr 2024Apr 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102
Metric2025-04-302024-04-30
Total assets£670.0k£568.7k
Current assets£494.9k£439.2k
Cash£148.2k£96.6k
Debtors£346.7k£342.6k
Net assets£474.4k£410.0k

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

🔒Filing-note intelligence

1 signal 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
0
filings
Last 180 days
2
filings
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
  • • 1 officers
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (21 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-01-22
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  2. 2025-12-18
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  3. 2024-12-06
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  4. 2023-12-14
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  5. 2022-12-08
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  6. 2021-09-08
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  7. 2020-09-16
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  8. 2019-10-14
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  9. 2018-08-21
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  10. 2017-12-14
    📄
    capital-allotment-shares
    capital · SH01
  11. 2017-11-06
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  12. 2016-11-17
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  13. 2015-12-14
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  14. 2015-11-19
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  15. 2014-12-15
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  16. 2013-12-16
    🔒
    Charge registered #2
    Lender: Clydesdale Bank PLC
  17. 2009-06-12
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: Clydesdale Bank PLC
  18. 2008-12-16
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As W. H. MCWILLIAM LIMITED
  19. 2008-12-16
    ➕
    THOMSON, Derek Hunter appointed
    secretary
  20. 2008-12-16
    ➕
    THOMSON, Derek Hunter appointed
    director
  21. 2008-12-16
    ➕
    THOMSON, Maybelle Janet Mckay appointed
    director

Owner dependency

91/100
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
  • +Two-director setup: Only two active directors — typical of owner-managed SMEs but limits succession.
  • +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 18 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 68 — succession pressure is live.
  • +Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

Succession & seller-readiness

79/100
Likely off-market candidate

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

SIGNALS
  • primaryFounder aged 63+: Senior director is approximately 68. Approaching typical UK retirement age — succession thinking likely.
  • secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
  • 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 Derek Hunter Thomson
Individual · British · DOB 09/1958 · age 68
75–100%
75–100%75-100% shares · 75-100% voting06/04/2016

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
Incorporated2008-12-16
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC49410 — Freight transport by road

Registered office

Farries Kirk & Mcvean Dumfries Enterprise Park
Heathhall
Dumfries
Dumfries & Galloway
DG1 3SJ

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2027-01-31
Last made up to: 2025-04-30
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-12-28
Last: 2025-12-14

Officers (3 active · 0 resigned)

THOMSON, Derek Hunter→
secretary · appointed 2008-12-16
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
THOMSON, Derek Hunter→
director · ~68y · appointed 2008-12-16
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
THOMSON, Maybelle Janet Mckay→
director · ~66y · appointed 2008-12-16
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
2
Outstanding
1
Active lenders
Status:Lender:2 of 2 shown
TypeProperties
outstanding
Virgin Money
Clydesdale Bank PLC
A registered charge1 property16/12/2013—
outstanding
Virgin Money
Clydesdale Bank PLC
Floating charge1 property12/06/2009—
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (43 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-01-23
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2026-01-22
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-12-18
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-12-14
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-12-06
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-12-14
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-12-14
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-12-14
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-12-08
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-12-14
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-09-08
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-12-14
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-09-16
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-12-15
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-10-14