THE SQUARIE NEWSAGENT LIMITED

💤Zombieactive

SC465469 · ltd · incorporated 2013-12-09

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 Dec 2025

Net worth

£93.2k

book net assets

Opportunity

79/100

Strong

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What this business does

Primary activity: Retail sale in non-specialised stores with food, beverages or tobacco predominating

Sector: Wholesale & retail

Investor take

Pursue

Strong opportunity: active trading company with strong profile and bankable structure.

Opportunity 79/100 (strong), bankability 80/100. High owner-dependency — earn-out structure likely required for clean transition. 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 12.4y

45/100

under pressure

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

· Oldest live charge is 12.4 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

Lenders & charges

1 charges (1/1 with lender, 1/1 with type)

Directors & officers

1 officers (1 active, 1 linked, 1 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared

Director network

1 connected companies via shared directors

Filing history

26 filings on record

Gazette notices

No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)

Opportunity Score

79/100Strong

PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional

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

Business quality

Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.

Acquirability

Strong succession / seller-readiness signals.

Risk profile

Few red flags.

Signal strength

100

Good data coverage for analysis.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · FRS 105 (micro)

Positive net assets

Net assets £93,222

Net assets shrinking

Down £18,423 YoY

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts

Cash

—

Net Worth

£93k

↓ 17% YoY

Current Assets

£66k

↓ 27% YoY

Current Liabilities

—

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 105 (micro)

Metric	2025-12-31	2024-12-31
Total assets	£93.2k	£111.6k
Current assets	£66.4k	£91.4k
Net assets	£93.2k	£111.6k

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

filings

Last 90 days

filing

• 1 accounts

Last 180 days

filings

• 1 accounts
• 1 confirmation-statement

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (18 events)Click to expand

2026-05-04
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-04-21
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-03-19
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-06-06
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-06-14
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-05-14
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2020-03-06
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-04-29
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2018-04-23
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2017-04-19
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2016-04-21
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2015-12-30
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2015-06-11
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2015-01-06
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2014-02-01
📄
mortgage-create-with-deed-with-charge-number
mortgage · MR01
2014-01-30
🔒
Charge registered #1
Lender: The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
2013-12-09
🏢
Company incorporated
As THE SQUARIE NEWSAGENT LIMITED
2013-12-09
➕
MCCOMBIE, Gordon Albert appointed
director

Owner dependency

88/100

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.
+Senior director age: Director aged approximately 60 — approaching natural succession window.
+No director turnover: Company is 13 years old with no director changes — suggests a very tight-knit founder team never broadened.

Succession & seller-readiness

68/100

Strong succession signal

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

SIGNALS

secondaryFounder aged 58+: Senior director is approximately 60. Early succession window.
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%

Name	Shares	Voting rights	Nature of control	Notified
Gordon Albert Mccombie Individual · British · DOB 09/1966 · age 60	75–100%	75–100%	board control75-100% shares · 75-100% voting · board control	06/04/2016

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 →

Similar companies

Active · Retail · DD postcode area

Company	Est. value	Turnover	Net worth	Staff	Age	Opp	Director
DIRECT SOCCER LIMITED→ SC331369 · est 2007	£3.48M £2.61M–£4.35M	—	—	3900	18y	82	66y
GILLIES OF BROUGHTY FERRY LIMITED→ SC026803 · est 1949	£3.30M £2.48M–£4.13M	—	—	200	77y	83	73y
THE PET FOOD STORE (SCOTLAND) LIMITED→ SC374396 · est 2010	£474.4k £355.8k–£593.0k	—	—	6	16y	82	70y
BRECHIN CASTLE CENTRE LIMITED→ SC154663 · est 1994	—	—	£1.79M	—	31y	83	78y
A. KELLY LIMITED→ SC081337 · est 1982	—	—	—	1600	43y	82	74y
ANDERSON BUTCHERS LIMITED→ SC268128 · est 2004	—	—	—	2200	22y	82	68y
BAG SUPPLIES (FIBC) LTD.→ SC222749 · est 2001	—	—	£195.0k	—	24y	82	77y
COLIN M SMITH LIMITED→ SC094396 · est 1985	—	—	—	2100	40y	82	71y
DUNRIC LIMITED→ SC175641 · est 1997	—	—	—	200	29y	82	73y
GARDEN FURNITURE SCOTLAND LIMITED→ SC306261 · est 2006	—	—	£463.3k	—	19y	82	59y
HAYAT BROTHERS LTD→ SC355228 · est 2009	—	—	£578.5k	—	17y	82	74y
JOHN KERR & SON (DAIRYMEN) LIMITED→ SC069602 · est 1979	—	—	—	7500	46y	82	66y

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

Incorporated2013-12-09

Jurisdictionscotland

Primary SIC47110 — Retail sale in non-specialised stores with food, beverages or tobacco predominating

Registered office

6 St Ninians Place

Brechin

Angus

DD9 7AH

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2027-09-30

Last made up to: 2025-12-31

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2026-12-24

Last: 2025-12-10

Officers (1 active · 0 resigned)

MCCOMBIE, Gordon Albert→

director · ~60y · appointed 2013-12-09

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

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

Mortgages & charges

Total charges

Outstanding

Active lenders

Status:Lender:1 of 1 shown

			Type	Properties
	outstanding	Lloyds Banking Group The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC	A registered charge	1 property	30/01/2014	—

Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.