THE HOWAT FOUNDATION LIMITED

🌳Matureactive

SC356709 · private-limited-guarant-nsc · incorporated 2009-03-17

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 Aug 2025

Net worth

—

book net assets

Opportunity

80/100

Exceptional

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What this business does

Primary activity: Other business support service activities n.e.c.

Sector: Administrative & support services

Investor take

Pursue

Active trading company with a 79-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 80/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (63/100, director aged 79). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

Data confidence

Overall: medium (73/100)

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

5 officers (3 active, 5 linked, 4 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

No PSCs filed (unusual — worth investigating)

Director network

11 connected companies via shared directors

Filing history

57 filings on record

Gazette notices

No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)

Opportunity Score

80/100Exceptional

PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional

Strong composite across quality, acquirability, and risk. High-priority target — progress to serious diligence.

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 · FRS 102

Metric	2025-08-31	2024-08-31
Average employees	3	400

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

filings

• 1 confirmation-statement
• 1 officers

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (26 events)Click to expand

2026-01-05
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2025-11-12
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-full
accounts · AA
2025-04-01
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-full
accounts · AA
2024-05-22
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-full
accounts · AA
2023-12-04
📄
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2023-11-01
➖
HOWAT, Margaret resigned
director
2023-06-05
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-small
accounts · AA
2022-08-30
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-full
accounts · AA
2022-01-18
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-full
accounts · AA
2021-11-05
📄
gazette-filings-brought-up-to-date
gazette · DISS40
2021-10-26
📄
gazette-notice-compulsory
gazette · GAZ1
2020-04-30
📄
change-account-reference-date-company-current-extended
accounts · AA01
2020-02-05
📍
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2020-01-08
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-full
accounts · AA
2019-12-31
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2019-12-31
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2019-12-31
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2019-11-18
📍
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2019-04-05
📍
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2010-12-09
➕
HOWAT, Malcolm Shekleton appointed
director
2010-11-15
➕
MACPHERSON, Erin Julie appointed
director
2010-01-05
➖
NESS, Kenneth Mackenzie resigned
secretary
2009-03-17
🏢
Company incorporated
As THE HOWAT FOUNDATION LIMITED
2009-03-17
➕
HOWAT, Malcolm Newall appointed
director
2009-03-17
➕
NESS, Kenneth Mackenzie appointed
secretary
2009-03-17
➕
HOWAT, Margaret appointed
director

Owner dependency

98/100

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

+Founder name in company name: Company name contains director surname "HOWAT" — strong identity link between founder and business.
+Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 17 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
+Founder age: Director aged approximately 79 — 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 79 years old. Natural succession window is now.
secondary12+ year tenure: Director in role 17 years.
secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 17 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.)

🔒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 · Trade services · FK postcode area

Company	Est. value	Turnover	Net worth	Staff	Age	Opp	Director
GLOBAL VOICES LTD.→ SC270103 · est 2004	£2.08M £1.56M–£2.60M	—	—	52	21y	82	52y
DOLLAR ANTIQUES LTD→ SC742384 · est 2022	£32.8k £24.6k–£41.0k	£383.8k	—	500	3y	89	60y
CASTLE VIEW VENTURES LIMITED→ SC334617 · est 2007 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	18y	83	65y
CENTRAL RECYCLING LIMITED→ SC172120 · est 1997	—	—	£3.88M	—	29y	83	60y
POCKET ROCKET CREATIVE LTD.→ SC314831 · est 2007	—	—	£192.2k	—	19y	83	59y
THE LAW GROUP SCOTLAND LIMITED→ SC366593 · est 2009	—	—	£18.1k	—	16y	83	61y
ACF CLEANING LIMITED→ SC227534 · est 2002	—	—	£699.5k	—	24y	82	59y
ALBION VEHICLE WASH ENGINEERS (CENTRAL) LTD.→ SC319156 · est 2007	—	—	—	2	19y	82	61y
AQUAKLENZ LTD.→ SC257531 · est 2003	—	—	£3.6k	—	22y	82	74y
C E CONTRACTS LIMITED→ SC385639 · est 2010	—	—	£1.45M	—	15y	82	61y
CARBROOK PROPERTIES LIMITED→ SC234755 · est 2002	—	—	£79.1k	—	23y	82	70y
CLAIVER LIMITED→ SC293836 · est 2005	—	—	—	400	20y	82	67y

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

Typeprivate-limited-guarant-nsc

Incorporated2009-03-17

Jurisdictionscotland

Primary SIC82990 — Other business support service activities n.e.c.

Registered office

7 Melville Terrace

Stirling

FK8 2ND

United Kingdom

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2027-05-31

Last made up to: 2025-08-31

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2027-01-14

Last: 2025-12-31

Officers (3 active · 2 resigned)

HOWAT, Malcolm Shekleton→

director · ~48y · appointed 2010-12-09

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

HOWAT, Malcolm Newall→

director · ~79y · appointed 2009-03-17

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

MACPHERSON, Erin Julie→

director · ~45y · appointed 2010-11-15

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

NESS, Kenneth Mackenzie→

secretary · appointed 2009-03-17 · resigned 2010-01-05

Resigned

HOWAT, Margaret→

director · ~75y · appointed 2009-03-17 · resigned 2023-11-01

Resigned

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

Recent filings (57 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates

confirmation-statement · CS01

2026-01-09

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

officers · CH01

2026-01-05

accounts-with-accounts-type-full

accounts · AA

2025-11-12

accounts-with-accounts-type-full

accounts · AA

2025-04-01

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates

confirmation-statement · CS01

2025-01-06

accounts-with-accounts-type-full

accounts · AA

2024-05-22

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates

confirmation-statement · CS01

2024-01-15

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

officers · TM01

2023-12-04

accounts-with-accounts-type-small

accounts · AA

2023-06-05

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates

confirmation-statement · CS01

2023-01-13

accounts-with-accounts-type-full

accounts · AA

2022-08-30

accounts-with-accounts-type-full

accounts · AA

2022-01-18

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates

confirmation-statement · CS01

2022-01-12

gazette-filings-brought-up-to-date

gazette · DISS40

2021-11-05

gazette-notice-compulsory

gazette · GAZ1

2021-10-26