XOCOLATL LTD

💤Zombieactive
SC543486 · ltd · incorporated 2016-08-23
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 Aug 2025
Net worth
£-90.1k
book net assets
Opportunity
76/100
Strong
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What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 10821
Sector: Manufacturing
Investor take
Pass (distressed without resilience)
Distressed active trading company — structural issues outweigh the discount.

Opportunity 76/100 (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: 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
2 officers (1 active, 2 linked, 2 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
20 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
76/100Strong
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional 

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

Business quality
65
Adequate — check latest filings for context.
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 · FRS 102
Negative net assets
Liabilities exceed assets by £90,087
Cash YoY
+23%
Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
£1k
↑ 23% YoY
Net Worth
-£90k
↓ 2.0% YoY
Current Assets
£27k
↑ 3.6% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
-£90k-£67k-£43k-£20k£3k£27kAug 2024Aug 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102
Metric2025-08-312024-08-31
Total assets£-90.1k£-88.3k
Current assets£26.6k£25.7k
Cash£1.3k£1.1k
Debtors£22.1k£21.4k
Net assets£-90.1k£-88.3k

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 (15 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-01-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2025-08-15
    📄
    termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM01
  3. 2025-08-14
    ➖
    MCPHERSON, Jill resigned
    director
  4. 2025-04-01
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  5. 2024-04-24
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  6. 2023-05-24
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  7. 2022-05-10
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  8. 2021-02-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  9. 2020-05-22
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  10. 2019-05-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  11. 2018-05-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  12. 2016-08-23
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As XOCOLATL LTD
  13. 2016-08-23
    ➕
    MCPHERSON, Ian David appointed
    director
  14. 2016-08-23
    ➕
    MCPHERSON, Jill appointed
    director
  15. 2016-08-23
    📄
    incorporation-company
    incorporation · NEWINC

Owner dependency

83/100
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 59 — approaching natural succession window.

Succession & seller-readiness

55/100
Strong succession signal

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

SIGNALS
  • secondaryFounder aged 58+: Senior director is approximately 59. Early succession window.
  • primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.

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
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr Ian David Mcpherson
Individual · British · DOB 09/1967 · age 59
25–50%
25–50%board control25-50% shares · 25-50% voting · board control23/08/2016

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

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
Incorporated2016-08-23
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC10821 — SIC 10821

Registered office

31 North Gyle Road
Edinburgh
EH12 8EX
Scotland

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2027-05-31
Last made up to: 2025-08-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-09-05
Last: 2025-08-22

Officers (1 active · 1 resigned)

MCPHERSON, Ian David→
director · ~59y · appointed 2016-08-23
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
MCPHERSON, Jill→
director · ~52y · appointed 2016-08-23 · resigned 2025-08-14
Resigned

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

Recent filings (20 total)

accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2026-01-27
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-08-26
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2025-08-15
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-04-01
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-09-02
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2024-04-24
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-08-25
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2023-05-24
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-08-28
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2022-05-10
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-08-23
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2021-02-26
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-08-27
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2020-05-22
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-08-22