G.T. DOWNIE LIMITED
🌳Matureactive
SC384069 · ltd · incorporated 2010-08-23
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
—
year to Aug 2024
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 45310
Sector: Wholesale & retail
Investor take
PursueActive trading company with a 61-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.
Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 85/100. Strong seller-intent signal (70/100, director aged 61). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (73/100).
🏦
Refinance opportunity
1 live charge · oldest 15.5y
85/100
ready
Refinance conversation should be productive — structure clean and timing right.
- · Oldest live charge is 15.5 years old — likely at or near maturity.
- · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
- · Legal-friction score 15/100 — clean.
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
75
Lenders & charges
1 charges (1/1 with lender, 1/1 with type)
90
Directors & officers
3 officers (2 active, 3 linked, 3 with DOB)
90
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
35 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
82/100Exceptional
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional
Strong composite across quality, acquirability, and risk. High-priority target — progress to serious diligence.
Business quality
70
Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.
Acquirability
80
Strong succession / seller-readiness signals.
Risk profile
85
Few red flags.
Signal strength
100
Good data coverage for analysis.
Key financials
2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accountsCash
—
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 | 2024-08-31 | 2023-08-31 |
|---|---|---|
| Profit before tax | — | £41.5k |
| Average employees | 100 | 100 |
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
0
filings
Last 90 days
0
filings
Last 180 days
0
filings
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (22 events)Click to expand
- 2025-05-20📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2024-05-27📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2023-05-26📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2022-09-27➕CAMPBELL, Rosemary Margaret appointeddirector
- 2022-09-27📄appoint-person-director-company-with-name-dateofficers · AP01
- 2022-05-26📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2021-08-19📄mortgage-satisfy-charge-fullmortgage · MR04
- 2021-08-19🔓Charge satisfied #1
- 2021-05-27📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2020-04-21📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2019-05-28📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2018-05-30📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2017-05-30📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-smallaccounts · AA
- 2016-05-20📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-smallaccounts · AA
- 2015-09-18📄annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholdersannual-return · AR01
- 2015-06-02📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-smallaccounts · AA
- 2014-09-24📄annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholdersannual-return · AR01
- 2010-10-27🔒Charge registered #1Lender: Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
- 2010-08-23🏢Company incorporatedAs G.T. DOWNIE LIMITED
- 2010-08-23➕DOWNIE, Graeme appointeddirector
- 2010-08-23➕HOGG, Raymond Stewart appointeddirector
- 2010-08-23➖HOGG, Raymond Stewart resigneddirector
Owner dependency
91/100
Critical — business is the founderThe business appears inseparable from the founder. Acquisition without a serious earn-out or meaningful transition period would likely destroy value.
FACTORS
- +Two-director setup: Only two active directors — typical of owner-managed SMEs but limits succession.
- +Founder name in company name: Company name contains director surname "DOWNIE" — strong identity link between founder and business.
- +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 16 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
- +Senior director age: Director aged approximately 61 — approaching natural succession window.
Succession & seller-readiness
69/100
Strong succession signalMultiple signals suggest succession is on the horizon. Candidate for proactive outreach.
SIGNALS
- secondaryFounder aged 58+: Senior director is approximately 61. Early succession window.
- secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
- 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
cleanNo 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 Graeme Downie Individual · British · DOB 04/1965 · age 61 | 75–100% | — | 75-100% shares | 01/07/2016 |
From Companies House Persons with Significant Control filings. Share ranges are banded per the public PSC regime.
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Peers ranked by estimated value, then turnover, then opportunity score.See all →
🔒Tailored diligence questions
6 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
Incorporated2010-08-23
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC45310 — SIC 45310
Registered office
19 Rutland Square
Edinburgh
EH1 2BB
Filing status
Accounts
Next due: 2026-05-31
Last made up to: 2024-08-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-09-06
Last: 2025-08-23
Officers (2 active · 1 resigned)
CAMPBELL, Rosemary Margaret→
Activedirector · ~53y · appointed 2022-09-27
View their other companies + combined net worth →
DOWNIE, Graeme→
Activedirector · ~61y · appointed 2010-08-23
View their other companies + combined net worth →
HOGG, Raymond Stewart→
Resigneddirector · ~63y · appointed 2010-08-23 · resigned 2010-08-23
Click a director name to see their full track record across all companies.
Mortgages & charges
1
Total charges
0
Outstanding
0
Active lenders
Status:Lender:1 of 1 shown
| Type | Properties | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| satisfied | Lloyds Banking Group Royal Bank of Scotland PLC | Floating charge | 1 property | 27/10/2010 | 19/08/2021 |
Recent filings (35 total)
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-10-01
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-05-20
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-09-16
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-05-27
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-09-07
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-05-26
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2022-09-27
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-09-21
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-05-26
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-09-28
mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
mortgage · MR04
2021-08-19
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-05-27
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-09-15
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-04-21
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-09-06