FORBES BESPOKE SHIRTS LTD

💤Zombieactive
SC410505 · ltd · incorporated 2011-11-02
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 Nov 2024
Net worth
£-4.7k
book net assets
Opportunity
78/100
Strong
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What this business does
Primary activity: Manufacture of other men's outerwear
Sector: Manufacturing
Investor take
Pass (distressed without resilience)
Distressed active trading company — structural issues outweigh the discount.

Opportunity 78/100 (strong), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (68/100, director aged 68). 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).

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
Confirmed no charges registered
85
Directors & officers
1 officers (1 active, 1 linked, 1 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
32 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
78/100Strong
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
90
Good data coverage for analysis.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · accounting standard not declared
Negative net assets
Liabilities exceed assets by £4,681

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
—
Net Worth
-£5k
↓ 50% YoY
Current Assets
£3k
↓ 68% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
-£5k-£2k£1k£4k£7k£10kNov 2023Nov 2024

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2024-11-302023-11-30
Total assets£3.1k£9.8k
Current assets£3.1k£9.8k
Net assets£-4.7k£-3.1k

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
1
filing
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (17 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-08-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-08-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  3. 2024-08-02
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  4. 2024-07-15
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  5. 2023-08-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  6. 2022-08-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  7. 2021-08-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  8. 2020-11-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  9. 2019-08-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  10. 2018-08-20
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  11. 2017-08-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  12. 2017-01-18
    📄
    gazette-filings-brought-up-to-date
    gazette · DISS40
  13. 2017-01-17
    📄
    gazette-notice-compulsory
    gazette · GAZ1
  14. 2016-08-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  15. 2015-12-01
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  16. 2011-11-02
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As FORBES BESPOKE SHIRTS LTD
  17. 2011-11-02
    ➕
    FORBES, 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.
  • +Founder name in company name: Company name contains director surname "FORBES" — strong identity link between founder and business.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 68 — succession pressure is live.
  • +No director turnover: Company is 14 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 68. 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 14 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

1 active beneficial owner · dominant holder ≥75%
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr James Forbes
Individual · British · DOB 04/1958 · age 68
75–100%
—75-100% shares06/04/2016

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

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
Incorporated2011-11-02
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC14131 — Manufacture of other men's outerwear

Registered office

141 Ingram Street
Glasgow
G1 1DW
Scotland

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-08-31
Last made up to: 2024-11-30
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-11-16
Last: 2025-11-02

Officers (1 active · 0 resigned)

FORBES, James→
director · ~68y · appointed 2011-11-02
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active

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

Recent filings (32 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-12-23
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-08-29
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-11-26
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-08-30
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2024-08-02
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2024-07-15
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-11-08
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-08-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-11-28
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-08-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-12-06
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-08-31
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2020-11-30
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-11-27
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-12-06