PLOUGH TRADING LTD
🏛️Establishedactive
SC612379 · ltd · incorporated 2018-11-01
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.
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Nov 2024
Net worth
£-109.4k
book net assets
Opportunity
79/100
Strong
What this business does
Primary activity: Licenced restaurants
Sector: Accommodation & food service
Investor take
Pass (distressed without resilience)Distressed active trading company — structural issues outweigh the discount.
Opportunity 79/100 (strong), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (60/100, director aged 66). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Cash flow review and working-capital discipline. Cash down -40% YoY — forensic review of receivables, stock turns, and creditor days. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (73/100).
🏦
Refinance opportunity
1 live charge · oldest 7.3y
45/100
under pressure
Refinance would be pressure-driven, not opportunity-driven. Expect tighter margins and covenant scrutiny.
- · Oldest live charge is 7.3 years old — likely at or near maturity.
- · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
- · Cashflow trend is negative — lender view likely cautious.
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
75
Lenders & charges
1 charges (1/1 with lender, 1/1 with type)
90
Directors & officers
3 officers (2 active, 3 linked, 3 with DOB)
90
Ownership & PSC
2 active PSC(s) of 4 total, 4 with control declared
90
Director network
2 connected companies via shared directors
51
Filing history
21 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
79/100Strong
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional
Solid opportunity signal. Worth a dedicated memo and management meeting.
Business quality
65
Adequate — check latest filings for context.
Acquirability
75
Strong succession / seller-readiness signals.
Risk profile
85
Few red flags.
Signal strength
100
Good data coverage for analysis.
Signals from accounts
Derived from iXBRL accounts · accounting standard not declaredNegative net assets
Liabilities exceed assets by £109,406
Cash YoY
-40%
Year on year
Key financials
2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accountsCash
£8k
↓ 40% YoY
Net Worth
-£109k
↓ 22% YoY
Current Assets
£116k
↑ 168% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series
Financials
Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown| Metric | 2024-11-30 | 2023-11-30 |
|---|---|---|
| Total assets | £-25.7k | £-65.7k |
| Current assets | £115.8k | £43.1k |
| Cash | £7.6k | £12.7k |
| Debtors | £93.9k | £14.1k |
| Net assets | £-109.4k | £-89.5k |
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
0
filings
Last 90 days
0
filings
Last 180 days
0
filings
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (20 events)Click to expand
- 2025-09-12📄notification-of-a-person-with-significant-controlpersons-with-significant-control · PSC01
- 2025-09-12📄appoint-person-director-company-with-name-dateofficers · AP01
- 2025-09-12📄termination-director-company-with-name-termination-dateofficers · TM01
- 2025-09-12📄cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-controlpersons-with-significant-control · PSC07
- 2025-09-05➕COUTTS, Kenneth Charles appointeddirector
- 2025-09-05➖DORNAN, Alistair Weir resigneddirector
- 2025-08-06📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2024-07-15📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2023-08-30📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2022-06-02📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2021-08-24📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2020-09-14📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2019-10-31📄notification-of-a-person-with-significant-controlpersons-with-significant-control · PSC01
- 2019-10-30📄cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-controlpersons-with-significant-control · PSC07
- 2019-01-30📄mortgage-create-with-deed-with-charge-number-charge-creation-datemortgage · MR01
- 2019-01-24🔒Charge registered #1Lender: Bank of Scotland PLC
- 2018-11-01🏢Company incorporatedAs PLOUGH TRADING LTD
- 2018-11-01➕CRUICKSHANK, Simon appointeddirector
- 2018-11-01➕DORNAN, Alistair Weir appointeddirector
- 2018-11-01📄incorporation-companyincorporation · NEWINC
Owner dependency
73/100
High — earn-out structure requiredMaterial 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.
- +Founder age: Director aged approximately 66 — succession pressure is live.
Succession & seller-readiness
56/100
Strong succession signalMultiple signals suggest succession is on the horizon. Candidate for proactive outreach.
SIGNALS
- primaryFounder aged 63+: Senior director is approximately 66. Approaching typical UK retirement age — succession thinking likely.
- secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
Red flags
cleanNo red flags detected from available public data. (This is not a clean bill of health — detailed accounts review still recommended.)
Shareholders & ownership
2 active beneficial owners| Name | Shares | Voting rights | Nature of control | Notified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Mr Kenneth Charles Coutts Individual · British · DOB 05/1960 · age 66 | 25–50% | 25–50% | 25-50% shares · 25-50% voting | 05/09/2025 |
Mr Simon Cruickshank Individual · British · DOB 03/1962 · age 64 | 25–50% | 25–50% | board control25-50% shares · 25-50% voting · board control | 01/11/2018 |
2 historic (ceased) PSCs
- Mr Alistair Weir Dornanceased 05/09/2025· 25-50% shares · 25-50% voting · board control
- Mr Alistair Weir Dornanceased 02/11/2018· 25-50% shares · 25-50% 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 · Hospitality · AB postcode area| Company | Est. value | Turnover | Net worth | Staff | Age | Opp | Director |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PETERSVILLE LTD→ SC866064 · est 2025 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| PING'S KITCHEN LIMITED→ SC823385 · est 2024 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 1y | — | — |
| PITCAPLE LODGE RETREATS LTD→ SC761262 · est 2023 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 3y | — | — |
| PIZZA PLACE (STONEHAVEN) LTD→ SC668687 · est 2020 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 5y | — | — |
| PLATFORM 5 CAFE LTD→ SC667566 · est 2020 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 5y | — | — |
| PORTCULLIS COMPANY LTD→ SC724344 · est 2022 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 4y | — | — |
| PORTLETHEN FOODS LTD→ SC828100 · est 2024 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 1y | — | — |
| PR PARSA LTD→ SC868798 · est 2025 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| PRIME-KZ LTD→ SC801855 · est 2024 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 2y | — | — |
| PROPERTY PORTFOLIO (ABERDEEN) LIMITED→ SC319330 · est 2007 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 19y | — | — |
| PROTA INVESTMENTS LIMITED→ SC723230 · est 2022 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 4y | — | — |
| PUNJABI ROOTS FOOD LTD→ SC855272 · est 2025 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
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
Incorporated2018-11-01
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC56101 — Licenced restaurants
Registered office
5 Carden Place
Aberdeen
AB10 1UT
United Kingdom
Filing status
Accounts
Next due: 2026-08-31
Last made up to: 2024-11-30
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-09-26
Last: 2025-09-12
Officers (2 active · 1 resigned)
COUTTS, Kenneth Charles→
Activedirector · ~66y · appointed 2025-09-05
View their other companies + combined net worth →
CRUICKSHANK, Simon→
Activedirector · ~64y · appointed 2018-11-01
View their other companies + combined net worth →
DORNAN, Alistair Weir→
Resigneddirector · ~63y · appointed 2018-11-01 · resigned 2025-09-05
Click a director name to see their full track record across all companies.
Mortgages & charges
1
Total charges
1
Outstanding
1
Active lenders
Status:Lender:1 of 1 shown
| Type | Properties | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| outstanding | Lloyds Banking Group Bank of Scotland PLC | A registered charge | — | 24/01/2019 | — |
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.
Recent filings (21 total)
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-09-12
notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
2025-09-12
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2025-09-12
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2025-09-12
cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
2025-09-12
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-08-06
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-10-30
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-07-15
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-10-30
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-08-30
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-10-31
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-06-02
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-11-01
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-08-24
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-11-02