THISTLE PHARMA LIMITED

🌳Matureactive

SC481884 · ltd · incorporated 2014-07-09

Investment thesis

Well-run mature business — low negotiation leverage; premium likely.

Why interesting: Textbook target; clean filings, stable trading.

Why risky: No pressure on seller; any deal likely at full price.

Opportunity decay

hardening · 12-months

Already tight — no obvious softening catalysts on the horizon.

· Thesis: well-run, low negotiation leverage

🔒Estimated value

—

Upgrade to see

Turnover

—

year to Mar 2025

Net worth

—

book net assets

Opportunity

80/100

Exceptional

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What this business does

Primary activity: SIC 47749

Sector: Wholesale & retail

Investor take

Pursue

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

Opportunity 80/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. High owner-dependency — earn-out structure likely required for clean transition. Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (73/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

1 live charge · oldest 1.8y

50/100

clean up first

Refinance viable after a tidy-up — address the highlighted items first.

· Newest facility, 1.8 years old — likely still in initial term.
· Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
· Legal-friction score 15/100 — clean.

Data confidence

Overall: medium (79/100)

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

Lenders & charges

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

Directors & officers

3 officers (2 active, 3 linked, 2 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

1 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared

Director network

1 connected companies via shared directors

Filing history

34 filings on record

Gazette notices

No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)

Opportunity Score

80/100Exceptional

PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional

Strong composite across quality, acquirability, and risk. High-priority target — progress to serious diligence.

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.

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts

Cash

—

Net Worth

—

Current Assets

—

Current Liabilities

—

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102

Metric	2025-03-31	2024-03-31
Average employees	44	200

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

🔒Filing-note intelligence

2 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

filings

Last 90 days

filings

Last 180 days

filing

• 1 accounts

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (23 events)Click to expand

2025-12-19
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-08-21
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-07-08
📄
mortgage-create-with-deed-with-charge-number-charge-creation-date
mortgage · MR01
2024-07-04
🔒
Charge registered #1
Lender: Hsbc UK Bank PLC
2024-05-21
📄
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2024-04-01
➕
DUCKWORTH, Alexander James appointed
director
2023-12-04
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-05-10
📄
memorandum-articles
incorporation · MA
2023-05-10
📄
resolution
resolution · RESOLUTIONS
2023-05-10
📄
notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC02
2023-05-09
📄
cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
2022-05-31
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-05-13
📄
change-account-reference-date-company-previous-shortened
accounts · AA01
2022-05-12
📄
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2022-05-12
📄
termination-secretary-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM02
2022-05-11
➖
APPLEYARD, Paul resigned
secretary
2022-01-04
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-03-08
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-04-24
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-05-30
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2018-02-14
➕
APPLEYARD, Paul appointed
secretary
2014-07-09
🏢
Company incorporated
As THISTLE PHARMA LIMITED
2014-07-09
➕
BARDSLEY, John Steven appointed
director

Owner dependency

66/100

High — earn-out structure required

Material founder dependency. Consider a 2-3 year earn-out and build in a handover plan before completion.

FACTORS

+Two-director setup: Only two active directors — typical of owner-managed SMEs but limits succession.
+Senior director age: Director aged approximately 58 — approaching natural succession window.

Succession & seller-readiness

51/100

Moderate signal

Some succession indicators present. Worth watching; approach if sector/strategy fits.

SIGNALS

secondaryFounder aged 58+: Senior director is approximately 58. Early succession window.
secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
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.)

Group structure

Brancaster Health Limited is the ultimate parent — holding 75%+ shares. This company sits inside their group.

🏛️

Brancaster Health Limited

Corporate parent · holds 75-100% shares

ultimate parent

⬇

THISTLE PHARMA LIMITED

This company · SC481884

Parent relationships inferred from Persons with Significant Control filings. Full subsidiary tree requires reverse-lookup (coming).

Shareholders & ownership

1 active beneficial owner · dominant holder ≥75%

Name	Shares	Voting rights	Nature of control	Notified
Brancaster Health Limited Corporate entity	75–100%	75–100%	75-100% shares · 75-100% voting	30/03/2023

1 historic (ceased) PSC

Mr John Steven Bardsleyceased 30/03/2023· 75-100% shares · 75-100% voting · board control

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 · IV postcode area

Company	Est. value	Turnover	Net worth	Staff	Age	Opp	Director
DECORA LIMITED→ SC080155 · est 1982	£956.8k £717.6k–£1.20M	£4.97M	—	7800	43y	87	82y
BEN WYVIS KILTS LIMITED→ SC272661 · est 2004	—	—	£400.8k	—	21y	83	72y
BONK & CO. LIMITED→ SC064104 · est 1978	—	—	—	18	48y	83	65y
INVERNESS GOLF CENTRE LIMITED→ SC187445 · est 1998	—	—	£293.8k	—	27y	83	63y
PHOENIX FINDHORN C.I.C.→ SC155512 · est 1995 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	31y	83	70y
AC & IC FRASER & SON LIMITED→ SC216589 · est 2001	—	—	£1.79M	—	25y	82	75y
AVCO INDUSTRIAL SUPPLIES LIMITED→ SC259260 · est 2003	—	—	£63.6k	—	22y	82	72y
BISHOPMILL PHARMACY LTD.→ SC196876 · est 1999	—	—	£615.4k	—	26y	82	68y
C.D.L.T. MANAGEMENT SERVICES LIMITED→ SC117333 · est 1989 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	37y	82	79y
DALLAS DESIGNS LTD→ SC319375 · est 2007	—	—	—	500	19y	82	65y
FARR END ENTERPRISES LTD.→ SC299366 · est 2006	—	—	—	200	20y	82	66y
V&C RODGERS LTD→ SC865986 · est 2025 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	—	—	—

Peers ranked by estimated value, then turnover, then opportunity score.See all →

🔒Tailored diligence questions

6 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

Incorporated2014-07-09

Jurisdictionscotland

Primary SIC47749 — SIC 47749

Registered office

10 Ardross Street

Inverness

IV3 5NS

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2026-12-31

Last made up to: 2025-03-31

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2026-07-23

Last: 2025-07-09

Officers (2 active · 1 resigned)

BARDSLEY, John Steven→

director · ~58y · appointed 2014-07-09

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

DUCKWORTH, Alexander James→

director · ~56y · appointed 2024-04-01

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

APPLEYARD, Paul→

secretary · appointed 2018-02-14 · resigned 2022-05-11

Resigned

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	HSBC Hsbc UK Bank PLC	A registered charge	1 property	04/07/2024	—

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

Recent filings (34 total)

accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full

accounts · AA

2025-12-19

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates

confirmation-statement · CS01

2025-07-18

accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity

accounts · AA

2024-08-21

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates

confirmation-statement · CS01

2024-07-15

mortgage-create-with-deed-with-charge-number-charge-creation-date

mortgage · MR01

2024-07-08

appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date

officers · AP01

2024-05-21

accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity

accounts · AA

2023-12-04

confirmation-statement-with-updates

confirmation-statement · CS01

2023-07-24

memorandum-articles

incorporation · MA

2023-05-10

resolution

resolution · RESOLUTIONS

2023-05-10

notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control

persons-with-significant-control · PSC02

2023-05-10

cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control

persons-with-significant-control · PSC07

2023-05-09

confirmation-statement-with-updates

confirmation-statement · CS01

2022-08-18

accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full

accounts · AA

2022-05-31

change-account-reference-date-company-previous-shortened

accounts · AA01

2022-05-13