FORTH WINES LIMITED

🌳Matureactive

SC371918 · ltd · incorporated 2010-01-28

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

hardening · 12-months

Already tight — no obvious softening catalysts on the horizon.

· Thesis: well-run, low negotiation leverage

🔒Estimated value

—

Upgrade to see

Turnover

—

year to Sept 2024

Net worth

—

book net assets

Opportunity

80/100

Exceptional

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What this business does

Primary activity: SIC 46342

Sector: Wholesale & retail

Investor take

Pursue

Active trading company with a 73-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 80/100 (exceptional), bankability 67/100. Strong seller-intent signal (73/100, director aged 73). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Consolidate lender relationships. 5 distinct lenders creates friction — refinance into single-lender structure for cleaner diligence. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

5 live charges · 5 lenders · oldest 15.8y

35/100

too messy

Refinance path is blocked by complexity. Rethink structure or expect bespoke, expensive terms.

· Oldest live charge is 15.8 years old — likely at or near maturity.
· 5 lenders named — inter-creditor friction likely.
· Legal-friction score 25/100 — workable, but lender will want more DD.

Data confidence

Overall: high (83/100)

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

Lenders & charges

5 charges (5/5 with lender, 5/5 with type)

Directors & officers

9 officers (4 active, 9 linked, 7 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

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

Director network

14 connected companies via shared directors

Filing history

71 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

100

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	2024-09-30	2023-09-30
Average employees	300	300

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

filing

• 1 confirmation-statement

Last 180 days

filing

• 1 confirmation-statement

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (39 events)Click to expand

2025-05-12
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-small
accounts · AA
2024-06-10
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-small
accounts · AA
2023-05-24
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-small
accounts · AA
2022-06-09
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-small
accounts · AA
2021-06-29
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-small
accounts · AA
2020-06-02
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-small
accounts · AA
2019-12-04
📄
termination-secretary-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM02
2019-12-04
📄
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2019-12-04
📄
appoint-person-secretary-company-with-name-date
officers · AP03
2019-11-15
➕
SHEARER, Ewan appointed
secretary
2019-11-15
➖
ROBERTSON, Brian Douglas resigned
secretary
2019-11-15
➖
ROBERTSON, Brian Douglas resigned
director
2019-06-24
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-small
accounts · AA
2018-05-04
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-small
accounts · AA
2017-06-29
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-small
accounts · AA
2017-03-14
📄
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2017-03-01
➖
CAMPBELL, Donald Mckinnon resigned
director
2016-06-25
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-full
accounts · AA
2016-01-28
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2014-06-20
➖
CRAMOND, William Alan resigned
director
2014-03-27
🔓
Charge satisfied #2
2014-02-12
🔒
Charge registered #5
Lender: Clydesdale Bank PLC
2013-10-24
🔓
Charge satisfied #4
2013-10-24
🔓
Charge satisfied #3
2013-10-22
➕
RUSSELL, Stephen Gerard appointed
director
2013-10-22
➕
ROBERTSON, Brian Douglas appointed
secretary
2013-10-22
➕
CAMPBELL, Donald Mckinnon appointed
director
2013-10-22
➕
ROBERTSON, Brian Douglas appointed
director
2013-10-22
➖
THOMSON, George Preston resigned
director
2012-07-12
🔓
Charge satisfied #1
2010-08-04
🔒
Charge registered #4
Lender: Scottish Enterprise
2010-08-04
🔒
Charge registered #3
Lender: Sir David Murray & Others
2010-08-04
🔒
Charge registered #2
Lender: Rbs Invoice Finance Limited
2010-08-04
🔒
Charge registered #1
Lender: Matthew Clark (Scotland) Limited Formerly Known as Forth Wines Limited
2010-08-02
➕
CUMMING, Ian appointed
director
2010-01-28
🏢
Company incorporated
As FORTH WINES LIMITED
2010-01-28
➕
CAMERON, Ewen Irving appointed
director
2010-01-28
➕
CRAMOND, William Alan appointed
director
2010-01-28
➕
THOMSON, George Preston appointed
director

Owner dependency

75/100

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 16 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
+Founder age: Director aged approximately 73 — succession pressure is live.

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 73 years old. Natural succession window is now.
secondary12+ year tenure: Director in role 16 years.
secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 16 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

1 med ·

Charge satisfaction-then-recreation pattern

medium

Multiple instances where a charge was satisfied and a new charge created within 6 months. Suggests active refinancing cycle.

Group structure

William Morton Ltd is the ultimate parent — holding 75%+ shares. This company sits inside their group.

🏛️

William Morton Ltd

Corporate parent · holds 75-100% shares

ultimate parent

⬇

FORTH WINES LIMITED

This company · SC371918

Parent relationships inferred from Persons with Significant Control filings. Full subsidiary tree requires reverse-lookup (coming).

Shareholders & ownership

1 active beneficial owner · dominant holder ≥75%

Name	Shares	Voting rights	Nature of control	Notified
William Morton Ltd Corporate entity	75–100%	—	75-100% shares	06/04/2016

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 →

Similar companies

Active · Wholesale & distribution · G postcode area

Company	Est. value	Turnover	Net worth	Staff	Age	Opp	Director
ALLIANCE SANITARY PRODUCTS LIMITED→ SC261393 · est 2004	£8.86M £6.65M–£11.08M	—	—	2900	22y	86	69y
FAILTE FOOD SERVICE LIMITED→ SC275128 · est 2004	£7.59M £5.69M–£9.48M	—	—	71	21y	85	66y
WESTSIDE DISTRIBUTION HOLDINGS LIMITED→ SC648056 · est 2019	£5.77M £4.33M–£7.21M	—	—	27	6y	84	67y
WESTSIDE DISTRIBUTION LIMITED→ SC365971 · est 2009	£5.77M £4.33M–£7.21M	—	—	27	16y	88	67y
SOUTHEAST TRADERS LIMITED→ SC235763 · est 2002	£4.00M £3.00M–£5.01M	—	—	26	23y	88	67y
SCO-FRO GROUP LIMITED→ SC057644 · est 1975	£2.74M £2.06M–£3.43M	—	—	20	51y	95	72y
D MCNAIR (BUILDERS MERCHANTS) LIMITED→ SC089357 · est 1984	£2.35M £1.76M–£2.93M	—	—	69	41y	85	63y
ANDREW MCDICKEN LIMITED→ SC034095 · est 1959	—	—	£8.7k	—	66y	83	63y
ASTRA HYGIENE SUPPLIES LIMITED→ SC122088 · est 1989	—	—	£335.1k	—	36y	83	81y
BAYMED HEALTHCARE LTD.→ SC062673 · est 1977	—	—	£77.1k	—	48y	83	59y
CHAINBRIDGE STEEL (SCOTLAND) LIMITED→ SC320954 · est 2007 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	19y	83	63y
WILLIAMS CO. (HOLDINGS) LIMITED→ SC717165 · est 2021 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	4y	—	—

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

Incorporated2010-01-28

Jurisdictionscotland

Primary SIC46342 — SIC 46342

Registered office

7 Evanton Drive

Thornliebank Industrial Estate

Thornliebank

Glasgow

G46 8HL

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2026-06-30

Last made up to: 2024-09-30

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2027-02-11

Last: 2026-01-28

Officers (4 active · 5 resigned)

SHEARER, Ewan→

secretary · appointed 2019-11-15

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

CAMERON, Ewen Irving→

director · ~70y · appointed 2010-01-28

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

CUMMING, Ian→

director · ~64y · appointed 2010-08-02

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

RUSSELL, Stephen Gerard→

director · ~73y · appointed 2013-10-22

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

ROBERTSON, Brian Douglas→

secretary · appointed 2013-10-22 · resigned 2019-11-15

Resigned

CAMPBELL, Donald Mckinnon→

director · ~70y · appointed 2013-10-22 · resigned 2017-03-01

Resigned

CRAMOND, William Alan→

director · ~70y · appointed 2010-01-28 · resigned 2014-06-20

Resigned

ROBERTSON, Brian Douglas→

director · ~64y · appointed 2013-10-22 · resigned 2019-11-15

Resigned

THOMSON, George Preston→

director · ~72y · appointed 2010-01-28 · resigned 2013-10-22

Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

Total charges

Outstanding

Active lenders

Status:Lender:5 of 5 shown

		Type	Properties
outstanding	Virgin Money Clydesdale Bank PLC	A registered charge	1 property	12/02/2014	—
satisfied	Scottish Enterprise	Bond & floating charge	1 property	04/08/2010	24/10/2013
satisfied	Sir David Murray & Others	Bond & floating charge	1 property	04/08/2010	24/10/2013
satisfied	NatWest Group Rbs Invoice Finance Limited	Floating charge	1 property	04/08/2010	27/03/2014
satisfied	Matthew Clark (Scotland) Formerly Known as Forth Wines Matthew Clark (Scotland) Limited Formerly Known as Forth Wines Limited	Floating charge	1 property	04/08/2010	12/07/2012

Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.