STEVEN GOURLAY PHOTOGRAPHY LTD

💤Zombieactive
SC461677 · ltd · incorporated 2013-10-16
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 Mar 2025
Net worth
£1.1k
book net assets
Opportunity
73/100
Strong
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What this business does
Primary activity: Other specialist photography
Sector: Professional, scientific & technical
Investor take
Pursue
Strong opportunity: asset-holding vehicle with strong profile and bankable structure.

Opportunity 73/100 (strong), bankability 75/100. High owner-dependency — earn-out structure likely required for clean transition. Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Cash flow review and working-capital discipline. Cash down -60% YoY — forensic review of receivables, stock turns, and creditor days. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (58/100).

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
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
2 connected companies via shared directors
51
Filing history
26 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
73/100Strong
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional 

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

Business quality
70
Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.
Acquirability
50
Some acquirability indicators.
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
Positive net assets
Net assets £1,135
Cash draining
Cash down 60% YoY
Cash YoY
-60%
Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
£2k
↓ 60% YoY
Net Worth
£1k
↑ 126% YoY
Current Assets
£5k
↓ 35% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
-£4k-£2k£365£3k£5k£8kMar 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£8.8k£2.9k
Current assets£4.9k£7.5k
Cash£2.1k£5.3k
Debtors£2.8k£2.2k
Net assets£1.1k£-4.4k

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 accounts
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (17 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-12-09
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-12-20
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  3. 2023-12-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  4. 2022-12-21
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  5. 2021-12-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  6. 2021-11-11
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  7. 2020-12-07
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  8. 2020-01-22
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  9. 2018-12-20
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  10. 2017-12-18
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  11. 2016-12-16
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  12. 2015-11-10
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  13. 2015-07-08
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  14. 2014-12-23
    📄
    change-account-reference-date-company-current-extended
    accounts · AA01
  15. 2014-11-03
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  16. 2013-10-16
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As STEVEN GOURLAY PHOTOGRAPHY LTD
  17. 2013-10-16
    ➕
    GOURLAY, Steven appointed
    director

Owner dependency

95/100
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 "GOURLAY" — strong identity link between founder and business.
  • +No director turnover: Company is 13 years old with no director changes — suggests a very tight-knit founder team never broadened.

Succession & seller-readiness

58/100
Strong succession signal

Multiple signals suggest succession is on the horizon. Candidate for proactive outreach.

SIGNALS
  • primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
  • secondary12+ year tenure: Director in role 13 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 Steven Gourlay
Individual · British · DOB 11/1980 · age 46
75–100%
75–100%board control75-100% shares · 75-100% voting · board control06/04/2016

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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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.

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Company details

Statusactive
Typeltd
Incorporated2013-10-16
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC74202 — Other specialist photography

Registered office

Rathlin
North Road
Ullapool
Ross-Shire
IV26 2XL

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-12-31
Last made up to: 2025-03-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-10-30
Last: 2025-10-16

Officers (1 active · 0 resigned)

GOURLAY, Steven→
director · ~46y · appointed 2013-10-16
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active

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

Recent filings (26 total)

accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2025-12-09
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-10-28
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2024-12-20
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-10-23
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2023-12-29
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-10-20
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2022-12-21
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-10-20
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-12-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-11-11
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2021-11-11
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2020-12-07
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-10-22
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2020-01-22
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-10-21