CENTRAL GARAGE (STIRLING) LTD

💤Zombieactive

SC378947 · ltd · incorporated 2010-05-21

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 Jul 2025

Net worth

£126.3k

book net assets

Opportunity

82/100

Exceptional

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What this business does

Primary activity: SIC 45200

Sector: Wholesale & retail

Investor take

Pursue

Active trading company with a 72-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 72). 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).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

1 live charge · oldest 11.5y

45/100

under pressure

Refinance would be pressure-driven, not opportunity-driven. Expect tighter margins and covenant scrutiny.

· Oldest live charge is 11.5 years old — likely at or near maturity.
· Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
· Distress signals active — lender appetite narrows.

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

3 years of iXBRL accounts extracted + narrative notes parsed

Lenders & charges

1 charges (1/1 with lender, 1/1 with type)

Directors & officers

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

Ownership & PSC

2 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared

Director network

Network not yet resolved

Filing history

34 filings on record

Gazette notices

No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)

Opportunity Score

82/100Exceptional

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.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · FRS 102

Positive net assets

Net assets £126,311

Cash YoY

-11%

Year on year

Key financials

3 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts

Cash

£116k

↓ 11% YoY

Net Worth

£126k

↑ 6.5% YoY

Current Assets

£119k

↓ 12% YoY

Current Liabilities

—

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102

Metric	2025-07-31	2024-07-31	2023-07-31
Total assets	£158.1k	£159.8k	£93.6k
Current assets	£118.9k	£135.5k	£143.6k
Cash	£116.3k	£130.6k	£85.4k
Debtors	£800	£1.9k	£53.9k
Net assets	£126.3k	£118.7k	£78.9k

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

filing

• 1 accounts

Last 90 days

filing

• 1 accounts

Last 180 days

filing

• 1 accounts

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (20 events)Click to expand

2026-04-30
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-04-23
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accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-04-25
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-04-20
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-04-26
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-04-29
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-02-26
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-04-08
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2018-04-30
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2017-04-18
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2016-05-31
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2016-05-31
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2016-04-27
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2015-06-15
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2015-04-29
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2014-11-21
📄
mortgage-create-with-deed-with-charge-number-charge-creation-date
mortgage · MR01
2014-11-11
🔒
Charge registered #1
Lender: The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
2010-05-21
🏢
Company incorporated
As CENTRAL GARAGE (STIRLING) LTD
2010-05-21
➕
MCDIARMID, Stewart appointed
secretary
2010-05-21
➕
MCPAKE, James appointed
director

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.
+Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 16 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
+Founder age: Director aged approximately 72 — succession pressure is live.
+No director turnover: Company is 16 years old with no director changes — suggests a very tight-knit founder team never broadened.

Succession & seller-readiness

98/100

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 72 years old. Natural succession window is now.
primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
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

clean

No red flags detected from available public data. (This is not a clean bill of health — detailed accounts review still recommended.)

Shareholders & ownership

2 active beneficial owners

Name	Shares	Voting rights	Nature of control	Notified
Mr Jake Mcpake Individual · British · DOB 12/1954 · age 72	50–75%	—	50-75% shares	06/04/2016
Mr Stewart Mcdiarmid Individual · British · DOB 05/1969 · age 57	25–50%	—	25-50% shares	06/04/2016

From Companies House Persons with Significant Control filings. Share ranges are banded per the public PSC regime.

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J K TYRES AND AUTOCENTRE (STENHOUSEMUIR) LIMITED→ SC661261 · est 2020 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	5y	—	—
NORTHEND GARAGE LIMITED→ SC484855 · est 2014 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	11y	—	—
PRO-DIVISION CAR SALES LTD→ SC606097 · est 2018 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	7y	—	—
REDHOUSE GARAGE (SCOTLAND) LIMITED→ SC348251 · est 2008 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	17y	—	—
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Peers ranked by estimated value, then turnover, then opportunity score.See all →

🔒Tailored diligence questions

8 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

Incorporated2010-05-21

Jurisdictionscotland

Primary SIC45200 — SIC 45200

Registered office

23 Borestone Crescent

Stirling

FK7 9BG

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2027-04-30

Last made up to: 2025-07-31

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2026-06-04

Last: 2025-05-21

Officers (2 active · 0 resigned)

MCDIARMID, Stewart→

secretary · appointed 2010-05-21

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

MCPAKE, James→

director · ~72y · appointed 2010-05-21

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

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

Mortgages & charges

Total charges

Outstanding

Active lenders

Status:Lender:1 of 1 shown

			Type	Properties
	outstanding	Lloyds Banking Group The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC	A registered charge	—	11/11/2014	—

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