W G MCHARG & CO LTD.

💤Zombieactive
SC404050 · ltd · incorporated 2011-07-25
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.
Why now
Window closing · high confidence
Getting harder to buy cheaply — 3 signals strengthening over the last 30 days.
  • · Hygiene score: 70 → 90
  • · Opportunity score: 71 → 79
  • · Bankability: 70 → 80
  • · Distress / opportunity: exceptional → avoid
Opportunity decay
hardening · 6-months
Hardening — profile is tightening. If you want to act, do it before the window closes further.
  • · 3 recent signals strengthening vs 0 weakening
What changed my view
Last 30 days

Picture improved over the last 30 days — 3 positive signals vs 0 negative.

  • ↑Opportunity score: 71 → 79
  • ↑Hygiene score: 70 → 90
  • ↑Bankability: 70 → 80
  • ·Distress / opportunity: exceptional → avoid
Last 90 days

No snapshot from 90 days ago — start tracking from today.

Last 180 days

No snapshot from 180 days ago — start tracking from today.

🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Mar 2025
Net worth
£72.4k
book net assets
Opportunity
79/100
Strong
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What this business does
Primary activity: Accounting and auditing activities
Sector: Professional, scientific & technical
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 69-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 79/100 (strong), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (68/100, director aged 69). 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 9.0y

45/100
under pressure

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

  • · Oldest live charge is 9.0 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
  • · Distress signals active — lender appetite narrows.

Data confidence

Overall: high (80/100)

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
75
Lenders & charges
1 charges (1/1 with lender, 1/1 with type)
90
Directors & officers
2 officers (2 active, 2 linked, 1 with DOB)
80
Ownership & PSC
3 active PSC(s) of 3 total, 3 with control declared
90
Director network
6 connected companies via shared directors
63
Filing history
35 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
79/100Strong
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional 

Solid opportunity signal. Worth a dedicated memo and management meeting.

Business quality
70
Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.
Acquirability
70
Strong succession / seller-readiness signals.
Risk profile
85
Few red flags.
Signal strength
100
Good data coverage for analysis.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · accounting standard not declared
Positive net assets
Net assets £72,365

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
—
Net Worth
£72k
↑ 18% YoY
Current Assets
£130k
↑ 2.1% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
£0£26k£52k£78k£104k£130kMar 2024Mar 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2025-03-312024-03-31
Total assets£84.0k£83.2k
Current assets£129.6k£126.8k
Net assets£72.4k£61.6k

Amounts extracted automatically from iXBRL. Fields left blank were not reported or not mapped. Values in GBP unless stated.

Recent activity

Last 30 days
0
filings
Last 90 days
1
filing
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
Last 180 days
1
filing
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (19 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-09-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  2. 2025-04-15
    📄
    notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
  3. 2024-12-12
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  4. 2023-12-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  5. 2022-12-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  6. 2021-08-11
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  7. 2021-05-26
    📄
    notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
  8. 2020-11-17
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  9. 2019-11-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  10. 2018-12-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  11. 2017-12-11
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  12. 2017-06-14
    📄
    mortgage-create-with-deed-with-charge-number-charge-creation-date
    mortgage · MR01
  13. 2017-06-12
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: Bank of Scotland PLC
  14. 2016-11-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  15. 2016-06-09
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  16. 2015-12-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  17. 2012-04-01
    ➕
    MCHARG, Elizabeth appointed
    secretary
  18. 2011-07-25
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As W G MCHARG & CO LTD.
  19. 2011-07-25
    ➕
    MCHARG, William Gray 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.
  • +Founder name in company name: Company name contains director surname "MCHARG" — strong identity link between founder and business.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 69 — succession pressure is live.
  • +No director turnover: Company is 15 years old with no director changes — suggests a very tight-knit founder team never broadened.

Succession & seller-readiness

78/100
Likely off-market candidate

Strong acquirability signals converging. Worth approaching directly — this is how off-market deals start.

SIGNALS
  • primaryFounder aged 63+: Senior director is approximately 69. Approaching typical UK retirement age — succession thinking likely.
  • primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
  • secondary12+ year tenure: Director in role 15 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.)

Shareholders & ownership

3 active beneficial owners
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Lauren Mcharg
Individual · British · DOB 12/1993 · age 33
25–50%
—25-50% shares01/04/2025
Elizabeth Mcharg
Individual · British · DOB 08/1962 · age 64
25–50%
—25-50% shares01/04/2020
Mr William Gray Mcharg
Individual · British · DOB 08/1957 · age 69
25–50%
—25-50% shares06/04/2016

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 →

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——044y8261y
ARPL ARCHITECTS LTD.→
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———70037y8367y
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——£745.0k—21y8362y
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————18y8358y
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SC201429 · est 1999 · no financials extracted
————26y8359y
WEST COAST CAPITAL (RETAIL PARKS) LIMITED→
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———025y8377y
WEST COAST CAPITAL HOLDINGS LIMITED→
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———227y8377y
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——£2—20y8377y
ADAM WILSON & SONS (HOLDINGS) LIMITED→
SC230058 · est 2002 · no financials extracted
————24y8286y
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———223y8265y
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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.

See pricing →

Company details

Statusactive
Typeltd
Incorporated2011-07-25
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC69201 — Accounting and auditing activities

Registered office

Miller House
5 Miller Road
Ayr
KA7 2AX

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-12-31
Last made up to: 2025-03-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-04-29
Last: 2026-04-15

Officers (2 active · 0 resigned)

MCHARG, Elizabeth→
secretary · appointed 2012-04-01
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
MCHARG, William Gray→
director · ~69y · appointed 2011-07-25
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active

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
Lloyds Banking Group
Bank of Scotland PLC
A registered charge—12/06/2017—
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (35 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-05-11
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-09-30
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-04-15
notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
2025-04-15
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-12-12
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-06-20
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-12-28
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-06-12
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-12-28
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-06-13
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-08-11
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-06-11
notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
2021-05-26
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2020-11-17
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-06-08