RECOVERY FIRST LIMITED

🌳Matureactive
SC396353 · ltd · incorporated 2011-03-25
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 3.9y old — refinance window within 12 months
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Mar 2025
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
83/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: Accounting and auditing activities
Sector: Professional, scientific & technical
ALSO REGISTERED FOR
  • 69202Bookkeeping activities
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 65-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 83/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (63/100, director aged 65). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

1 live charge · oldest 3.9y

75/100
ready

Refinance conversation should be productive — structure clean and timing right.

  • · Charge age ~3.9 years — mid-life; refi window approaching.
  • · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
  • · Legal-friction score 15/100 — clean.

Data confidence

Overall: high (84/100)

Strong data coverage across all sections. AI outputs should be trusted with minimal caveats.

Company profile
address, 2 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
6 officers (3 active, 6 linked, 6 with DOB)
90
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
14 connected companies via shared directors
87
Filing history
44 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
83/100Exceptional
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
85
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 accounts
Cash
—
Net Worth
—
Current Assets
—
Current Liabilities
—
£0£0£0£0£0£0Mar 2024Mar 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102
Metric2025-03-312024-03-31
Average employees9001000

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
1
filing
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
Last 180 days
2
filings
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
  • • 1 accounts
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (26 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-12-08
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-12-03
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  3. 2023-12-18
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  4. 2022-12-20
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  5. 2022-06-08
    📄
    mortgage-create-with-deed-with-charge-number-charge-creation-date
    mortgage · MR01
  6. 2022-06-07
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: Clydesdale Bank PLC (Trading as Both Clydesdale Bank and Yorkshire Bank)
  7. 2021-12-17
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  8. 2021-01-21
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  9. 2019-11-05
    📄
    appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
    officers · AP01
  10. 2019-10-24
    ➕
    WALLACE, Louisa Kirsteen appointed
    director
  11. 2019-09-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  12. 2018-12-21
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  13. 2017-12-15
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  14. 2016-11-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  15. 2016-04-08
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  16. 2015-10-16
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  17. 2015-04-10
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  18. 2014-07-01
    ➕
    DUNSCOMBE, Sally Margaret appointed
    director
  19. 2014-02-28
    ➖
    KLIMKOWSKI, Nicola resigned
    director
  20. 2014-02-17
    ➖
    KIRK-BLYTHE, Chris resigned
    director
  21. 2013-05-08
    ➕
    KIRK-BLYTHE, Chris appointed
    director
  22. 2013-05-08
    ➕
    KLIMKOWSKI, Nicola appointed
    director
  23. 2013-05-08
    ➖
    WALLACE, Louisa Kirsteen resigned
    director
  24. 2011-03-25
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As RECOVERY FIRST LIMITED
  25. 2011-03-25
    ➕
    JOHNSTONE, David Grant appointed
    director
  26. 2011-03-25
    ➕
    WALLACE, Louisa Kirsteen 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 15 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 65 — 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 63+: Senior director is approximately 65. Approaching typical UK retirement age — succession thinking likely.
  • secondary12+ year tenure: Director in role 15 years.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 15 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
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
David Johnstone
Individual · British · DOB 09/1962 · age 64
25–50%
—25-50% shares01/11/2016

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 →

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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.

See pricing →

Company details

Statusactive
Typeltd
Incorporated2011-03-25
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC69201 — Accounting and auditing activities

Registered office

North Torfoot Farm
Drumclog
Strathaven
South Lanarkshire
ML10 6QG

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-12-31
Last made up to: 2025-03-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-04-03
Last: 2026-03-20

Officers (3 active · 3 resigned)

DUNSCOMBE, Sally Margaret→
director · ~65y · appointed 2014-07-01
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
JOHNSTONE, David Grant→
director · ~64y · appointed 2011-03-25
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
WALLACE, Louisa Kirsteen→
director · ~45y · appointed 2019-10-24
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
KIRK-BLYTHE, Chris→
director · ~56y · appointed 2013-05-08 · resigned 2014-02-17
Resigned
KLIMKOWSKI, Nicola→
director · ~52y · appointed 2013-05-08 · resigned 2014-02-28
Resigned
WALLACE, Louisa Kirsteen→
director · ~45y · appointed 2011-03-25 · resigned 2013-05-08
Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

1
Total charges
1
Outstanding
1
Active lenders
Status:Lender:1 of 1 shown
TypeProperties
outstanding
Virgin Money
Clydesdale Bank PLC (Trading as Both Clydesdale Bank and Yorkshire Bank)
A registered charge—07/06/2022—
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (44 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-03-27
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-12-08
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-04-10
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-12-03
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-04-03
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-12-18
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-03-23
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-12-20
mortgage-create-with-deed-with-charge-number-charge-creation-date
mortgage · MR01
2022-06-08
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-03-25
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-12-17
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-05-06
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-01-21
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-04-13
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2019-11-05