JOHNSTON AND FARRELL LTD

🏛️Establishedactive

SC593053 · ltd · incorporated 2018-04-03

Investment thesis

Established operating company — standard diligence applies, no dominant angle.

Why interesting: Live, filing, normal profile.

Why risky: No standout signals in either direction.

Opportunity decay

approaching window · 12-months

Approaching a transaction window — refinance or sale event plausible in the next 12 months.

· Oldest live charge 7.9y old — refinance window within 12 months

🔒Estimated value

—

Upgrade to see

Turnover

—

year to Mar 2025

Net worth

£444.7k

book net assets

Opportunity

78/100

Strong

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What this business does

Primary activity: Veterinary activities

Sector: Professional, scientific & technical

Investor take

Pursue

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

Opportunity 78/100 (strong), 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 7.9y

85/100

ready

Refinance conversation should be productive — structure clean and timing right.

· Oldest live charge is 7.9 years old — likely at or near maturity.
· Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
· Legal-friction score 15/100 — clean.

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

Lenders & charges

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

Directors & officers

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

Ownership & PSC

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

Director network

Network not yet resolved

Filing history

21 filings on record

Gazette notices

No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)

Opportunity Score

78/100Strong

PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional

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

Business quality

Adequate — check latest filings for context.

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 102

Positive net assets

Net assets £444,739

Cash YoY

+44%

Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts

Cash

£325k

↑ 44% YoY

Net Worth

£445k

↑ 1.4% YoY

Current Assets

£450k

↑ 15% YoY

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
Total assets	£467.5k	£470.8k
Current assets	£450.4k	£391.1k
Cash	£325.1k	£226.1k
Debtors	£53.9k	£111.5k
Net assets	£444.7k	£438.6k

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

Recent activity

Last 30 days

filings

Last 90 days

filing

• 1 confirmation-statement

Last 180 days

filings

• 1 confirmation-statement
• 1 accounts

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (17 events)Click to expand

2025-12-31
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2024-12-31
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2023-09-04
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2022-11-02
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2021-09-23
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2020-09-16
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2020-02-14
➕
FARRELL, Connie Margaret appointed
director
2020-02-14
📄
capital-allotment-shares
capital · SH01
2020-02-14
📄
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2019-08-30
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2019-02-18
📍
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2018-08-19
📄
change-account-reference-date-company-current-shortened
accounts · AA01
2018-06-22
📄
mortgage-create-with-deed-with-charge-number-charge-creation-date
mortgage · MR01
2018-06-11
🔒
Charge registered #1
Lender: The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
2018-04-03
🏢
Company incorporated
As JOHNSTON AND FARRELL LTD
2018-04-03
➕
FARRELL, Colm appointed
director
2018-04-03
📄
incorporation-company
incorporation · NEWINC

Owner dependency

94/100

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

+Two-director setup: Only two active directors — typical of owner-managed SMEs but limits succession.
+Founder name in company name: Company name contains director surname "FARRELL" — strong identity link between founder and business.
+Senior director age: Director aged approximately 59 — approaching natural succession window.
+Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.
+No director turnover: Company is 8 years old with no director changes — suggests a very tight-knit founder team never broadened.

Succession & seller-readiness

46/100

Moderate signal

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

SIGNALS

secondaryFounder aged 58+: Senior director is approximately 59. Early succession window.
secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.

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
Mr Colm Farrell Individual · British · DOB 01/1967 · age 59	75–100%	75–100%	75-100% shares · 75-100% voting	03/04/2018

From Companies House Persons with Significant Control filings. Share ranges are banded per the public PSC regime.

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R MACLEOD & SON (HOLDINGS) LIMITED→ SC529757 · est 2016 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	10y	—	—
RAG TAG AND TEXTILE LTD→ SC380098 · est 2010 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	15y	—	—
RAPPEL SOLUTIONS LTD→ SC861809 · est 2025 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
RATLEY ROPE ACCESS LTD→ SC803005 · est 2024 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	2y	—	—
RDM FOOD CONSULTANCY LTD→ SC878297 · est 2026 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
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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.

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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.

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Company details

Statusactive

Typeltd

Incorporated2018-04-03

Jurisdictionscotland

Primary SIC75000 — Veterinary activities

Registered office

Veterinary Surgery

Victoria Road

Tain

Highland

IV19 1AU

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2026-12-31

Last made up to: 2025-03-31

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2027-02-28

Last: 2026-02-14

Officers (2 active · 0 resigned)

FARRELL, Colm→

director · ~59y · appointed 2018-04-03

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

FARRELL, Connie Margaret→

director · ~58y · appointed 2020-02-14

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	—	11/06/2018	—

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