H. S. RIDDELL TIMBER MERCHANTS LIMITED

💤Zombieactive

SC370070 · ltd · incorporated 2009-12-14

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 Dec 2024

Net worth

£2.61M

book net assets

Opportunity

80/100

Exceptional

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What this business does

Primary activity: Sawmilling and planing of wood

Sector: Manufacturing

Investor take

Pursue

Asset-holding vehicle with a 60-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 80/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (70/100, director aged 60). 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

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

Ownership & PSC

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

Director network

1 connected companies via shared directors

Filing history

33 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.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · FRS 102

Positive net assets

Net assets £2,606,422

Cash YoY

+10%

Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts

Cash

£2.7m

↑ 10% YoY

Net Worth

£2.6m

↑ 10% YoY

Current Assets

£3.0m

↑ 7.9% YoY

Current Liabilities

—

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102

Metric	2024-12-31	2023-12-31
Total assets	£2.84M	£2.43M
Current assets	£2.98M	£2.76M
Cash	£2.65M	£2.40M
Debtors	£312.5k	£346.6k
Net assets	£2.61M	£2.36M

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 officers

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (19 events)Click to expand

2026-02-12
➖
RIDDELL, Paddy Elizabeth resigned
secretary
2026-02-12
📄
termination-secretary-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM02
2025-10-01
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-09-28
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-09-28
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2022-09-30
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-09-29
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2020-12-30
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2019-09-25
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2018-09-28
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2017-09-27
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2016-09-28
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2016-01-06
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2015-09-24
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2015-01-06
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2014-09-29
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2009-12-14
🏢
Company incorporated
As H. S. RIDDELL TIMBER MERCHANTS LIMITED
2009-12-14
➕
RIDDELL, Harry Scott appointed
director
2009-12-14
➕
RIDDELL, Paddy Elizabeth appointed
secretary

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 "RIDDELL" — 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.
+Senior director age: Director aged approximately 60 — approaching natural succession window.

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 60. 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 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.)

Shareholders & ownership

1 active beneficial owner · dominant holder ≥75%

Name	Shares	Voting rights	Nature of control	Notified
Mr Harry Scott Riddell Individual · British · DOB 07/1966 · age 60	75–100%	75–100%	board control75-100% shares · 75-100% voting · board control	01/05/2016

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.

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HUTTON STONE CO. LTD.→ SC151439 · est 1994	—	—	£1.94M	—	32y	82	86y
J.T. INGLIS & SONS LIMITED→ SC315424 · est 2007	—	—	£100	—	19y	82	73y
KYLE DESIGN LIMITED→ SC235613 · est 2002	—	—	£12.0k	—	23y	82	66y
PEER-GROUP INTERNATIONAL LTD.→ SC236237 · est 2002	—	—	£17.2k	—	23y	82	63y
T & R KEDDIE LIMITED→ SC384705 · est 2010	—	—	—	900	15y	82	65y
ROBERTSON TIMBER LIMITED→ SC383264 · est 2010 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	15y	—	—
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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.

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Company details

Statusactive

Typeltd

Incorporated2009-12-14

Jurisdictionscotland

Primary SIC16100 — Sawmilling and planing of wood

Registered office

The Blainslie Sawmill

Blainslie

Galashiels

Selkirkshire

TD1 2PP

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2026-09-30

Last made up to: 2024-12-31

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2026-12-27

Last: 2025-12-13

Officers (1 active · 1 resigned)

RIDDELL, Harry Scott→

director · ~60y · appointed 2009-12-14

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

RIDDELL, Paddy Elizabeth→

secretary · appointed 2009-12-14 · resigned 2026-02-12

Resigned

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