WILLOWS BROUGHTY FERRY LIMITED

💤Zombieactive
SC464138 · ltd · incorporated 2013-11-20
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 Feb 2025
Net worth
book net assets
Opportunity
78/100
Strong
🔔
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What this business does
Primary activity: Licenced restaurants
Sector: Accommodation & food service
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 79-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 78/100 (strong), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (68/100, director aged 79). 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: high (81/100)

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
7 connected companies via shared directors
66
Filing history
34 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.

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
Net Worth
Current Assets
Current Liabilities
£0£0£0£0£0£0Feb 2024Feb 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2025-02-282024-02-29
Average employees13001200

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

🔒Filing-note intelligence

3 signals 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 accounts
Last 180 days
1
filing
  • 1 accounts
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (17 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-02-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2025-02-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  3. 2023-11-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  4. 2023-02-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  5. 2022-02-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  6. 2021-02-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  7. 2019-11-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  8. 2019-11-27
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  9. 2019-04-09
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  10. 2018-11-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  11. 2018-11-14
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  12. 2018-09-03
    📄
    change-account-reference-date-company-previous-extended
    accounts · AA01
  13. 2017-08-25
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  14. 2017-06-07
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  15. 2017-03-04
    📄
    gazette-filings-brought-up-to-date
    gazette · DISS40
  16. 2013-11-20
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As WILLOWS BROUGHTY FERRY LIMITED
  17. 2013-11-20
    STIRRAT, Ian Rae 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 age: Director aged approximately 79 — succession pressure is live.
  • +No director turnover: Company is 13 years old with no director changes — suggests a very tight-knit founder team never broadened.

Succession & seller-readiness

88/100
Likely off-market candidate

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

SIGNALS
  • primaryFounder aged 70+: Senior director is approximately 79 years old. Natural succession window is now.
  • 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 Ian Rae Stirrat
Individual · British · DOB 09/1947 · age 79
75100%
75-100% 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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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
Incorporated2013-11-20
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC56101 — Licenced restaurants

Registered office

29 Commercial Street
Dundee
DD1 3DG
Scotland

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-11-30
Last made up to: 2025-02-28
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-12-01
Last: 2025-11-17

Officers (1 active · 0 resigned)

STIRRAT, Ian Rae
director · ~79y · appointed 2013-11-20
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active

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

Recent filings (34 total)

accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2026-02-28
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-11-17
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-02-28
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-12-03
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-11-30
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-11-30
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-02-28
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-11-28
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-02-28
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-11-24
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-02-28
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-01-04
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-11-29
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-11-27
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2019-11-27