GPH BUILDERS MERCHANTS LIMITED

🌳Matureactive

SC378341 · ltd · incorporated 2010-05-11

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 15.5y old — refinance window within 12 months

🔒Estimated value

—

Upgrade to see

Turnover

—

not disclosed

Net worth

—

book net assets

Opportunity

83/100

Exceptional

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What this business does

Primary activity: SIC 46130

Sector: Wholesale & retail

ALSO REGISTERED FOR

77390Renting and leasing of other machinery, equipment and tangible goods n.e.c.

Investor take

Pursue

Active trading company with a 71-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 83/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (63/100, director aged 71). 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 15.5y

65/100

clean up first

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

· Oldest live charge is 15.5 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 (61/100)

Adequate coverage. AI outputs are reliable for the sections scored high; verify the rest in diligence.

Company profile

address, 2 SIC codes, incorporation date

100

Financials

No iXBRL financials extracted

Lenders & charges

2 charges (2/2 with lender, 2/2 with type)

Directors & officers

11 officers (7 active, 11 linked, 10 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

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

Director network

21 connected companies via shared directors

Filing history

57 filings on record

Gazette notices

No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)

Opportunity Score

83/100Exceptional

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.

Recent activity

Last 30 days

filings

Last 90 days

filings

Last 180 days

filings

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (34 events)Click to expand

2025-08-27
📄
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2025-08-01
➕
FRASER, Kevin appointed
director
2025-06-27
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-full
accounts · AA
2024-06-12
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-full
accounts · AA
2024-03-19
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2023-05-09
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-full
accounts · AA
2022-05-30
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-full
accounts · AA
2021-09-02
📄
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2021-08-02
➕
SHIELDS, Paul appointed
director
2021-06-02
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-full
accounts · AA
2020-02-10
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-full
accounts · AA
2019-03-04
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-full
accounts · AA
2018-02-28
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-full
accounts · AA
2018-02-09
📄
change-corporate-secretary-company-with-change-date
officers · CH04
2017-10-17
📍
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2017-10-17
📄
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC05
2017-04-25
📄
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2017-04-17
➕
SHEWAN, Grant William appointed
director
2017-03-31
➖
MACLELLAN, Michael James resigned
director
2017-03-31
➖
MORTIMER, Nicola Margaret resigned
director
2017-03-31
📄
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2016-04-04
➕
HAY, Graeme appointed
director
2012-08-02
🔒
Charge registered #2
Lender: Clydesdale Bank PLC
2011-12-06
➖
TAYLOR, Alfred John resigned
director
2010-10-13
🔒
Charge registered #1
Lender: Clydesdale Bank PLC
2010-09-27
➕
FINDLAY, Kenneth Morrison appointed
director
2010-09-27
➕
MACAULAY, Michael Thomas appointed
director
2010-09-27
➕
MACLELLAN, Michael James appointed
director
2010-09-27
➕
MORTIMER, Nicola Margaret appointed
director
2010-09-27
➖
NELSON, Ewan Craig resigned
director
2010-09-27
➕
TAYLOR, Alfred John appointed
director
2010-05-11
🏢
Company incorporated
As GPH BUILDERS MERCHANTS LIMITED
2010-05-11
➕
STRONACHS SECRETARIES LIMITED appointed
corporate-secretary
2010-05-11
➕
NELSON, Ewan Craig appointed
director

Owner dependency

65/100

High — earn-out structure required

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

FACTORS

-6 active directors: Broader management team in place — suggests transferable governance.
+Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 16 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
+Founder age: Director aged approximately 71 — succession pressure is live.

Succession & seller-readiness

73/100

Strong succession signal

Multiple signals suggest succession is on the horizon. Candidate for proactive outreach.

SIGNALS

primaryFounder aged 70+: Senior director is approximately 71 years old. Natural succession window is now.
secondary12+ year tenure: Director in role 16 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.)

Group structure

Findlay, Glover And Macaulay Limited is the ultimate parent — holding 75%+ shares. This company sits inside their group.

🏛️

Findlay, Glover And Macaulay Limited

Corporate parent · holds 75-100% shares

ultimate parent

⬇

GPH BUILDERS MERCHANTS LIMITED

This company · SC378341

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
Findlay, Glover And Macaulay Limited Corporate entity	75–100%	75–100%	75-100% shares · 75-100% voting	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 · AB postcode area

Company	Est. value	Turnover	Net worth	Staff	Age	Opp	Director
JOHN DAVIDSON (PIPES) LIMITED→ SC050397 · est 1972	£15.21M £11.41M–£19.01M	£79.83M	—	25000	54y	83	61y
QUALITY FOOD PRODUCTS (ABERDEEN) LIMITED→ SC046323 · est 1969	£7.30M £5.48M–£9.13M	—	—	67	57y	83	59y
S&JD ROBERTSON NORTH AIR LIMITED→ SC051614 · est 1972	£5.85M £4.39M–£7.31M	—	—	35100	53y	83	59y
KEITH BUILDERS MERCHANTS LIMITED→ SC217157 · est 2001	£155.6k £116.7k–£194.6k	—	—	39	25y	84	58y
APEX TUBULARS LIMITED→ SC331461 · est 2007	—	—	—	600	18y	83	63y
SEAFOOD TRADERS INTERNATIONAL LIMITED→ SC223363 · est 2001	—	—	—	9000	24y	83	78y
ABERDEEN OFFICE SUPPLIES LIMITED→ SC238550 · est 2002	—	—	£59.2k	—	23y	82	67y
CABER COFFEE LIMITED→ SC329912 · est 2007	—	—	£593.6k	—	18y	82	83y
CRAIGIEVAR TIMBER LIMITED→ SC357720 · est 2009	—	—	£227.4k	—	17y	82	74y
D. RUDDIMAN LIMITED→ SC031624 · est 1956	—	—	£15.2k	—	69y	82	96y
THE SPEYSIDE WHISKY SHOP LIMITED→ SC715550 · est 2021 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	4y	—	—
VACATIONS, LOGISTICS, CRAFTS AND MORE LTD→ SC867771 · est 2025 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	—	—	—

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

Incorporated2010-05-11

Jurisdictionscotland

Primary SIC46130 — SIC 46130

Registered office

28 Albyn Place

Aberdeen

AB10 1YL

United Kingdom

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2026-06-30

Last made up to: 2024-09-30

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2026-10-20

Last: 2025-10-06