JOHNSTONS OF THURSO LTD

🏛️Establishedactive
SC619863 · ltd · incorporated 2019-02-01
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 Jan 2026
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
76/100
Strong
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What this business does
Primary activity: Manufacture of bread; manufacture of fresh pastry goods and cakes
Sector: Manufacturing
ALSO REGISTERED FOR
  • 47240Retail sale of bread, cakes, flour confectionery and sugar confectionery in specialised stores
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company. Family succession underway — not a classic acquisition target.

Opportunity 76/100 (strong), bankability 75/100. Same-surname younger director in place — likely family handover, not open to sale. Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

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, 2 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
3 officers (3 active, 3 linked, 3 with DOB)
90
Ownership & PSC
2 active PSC(s) of 3 total, 3 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.

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
—
Net Worth
—
Current Assets
—
Current Liabilities
—
£0£26k£52k£78k£104k£130kJan 2025Jan 2026

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2026-01-312025-01-31
Total assets—£129.5k
Current assets—£125.2k
Cash—£69.7k
Debtors—£42.8k
Net assets—£129.5k

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
4
filings
  • • 2 persons-with-significant-control
  • • 1 accounts
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
Last 180 days
4
filings
  • • 2 persons-with-significant-control
  • • 1 accounts
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (17 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-03-18
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2026-03-03
    📄
    notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
  3. 2026-03-03
    📄
    cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
  4. 2025-05-21
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  5. 2024-10-21
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  6. 2024-02-26
    ➕
    JOHNSTON, Abigail appointed
    director
  7. 2024-02-26
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  8. 2024-02-26
    📄
    appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
    officers · AP01
  9. 2023-04-24
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  10. 2022-07-15
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  11. 2021-05-25
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  12. 2020-09-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  13. 2019-09-10
    📄
    change-account-reference-date-company-current-shortened
    accounts · AA01
  14. 2019-02-01
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As JOHNSTONS OF THURSO LTD
  15. 2019-02-01
    ➕
    JOHNSTON, Douglas Mackay appointed
    director
  16. 2019-02-01
    ➕
    JOHNSTON, Gordon Scott appointed
    director
  17. 2019-02-01
    📄
    incorporation-company
    incorporation · NEWINC

Owner dependency

81/100
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
  • +Founder name in company name: Company name contains director surname "JOHNSTON" — strong identity link between founder and business.
  • +Senior director age: Director aged approximately 63 — approaching natural succession window.
  • +Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

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

2 active beneficial owners
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Miss Abigail Johnston
Individual · British · DOB 03/1997 · age 29
25–50%
25–50%25-50% shares · 25-50% voting29/10/2024
Mr Gordon Scott Johnston
Individual · British · DOB 01/1970 · age 56
25–50%
25–50%25-50% shares · 25-50% voting01/02/2019
1 historic (ceased) PSC
  • Mr Douglas Mackay Johnstonceased 29/10/2024· 25-50% shares · 25-50% voting

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

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————33y7980y
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——£40.8k—13y7966y
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SC285556 · est 2005
——£228.3k—20y7959y
NORTH COAST DISTILLERS LIMITED→
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——£486.5k—6y7967y
ORKNEY CHEESE COMPANY LIMITED→
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——£4.76M—27y7964y
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———622y7765y
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——£2.85M—12y7545y
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——£57.1k—13y7334y
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—————7141y
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
Incorporated2019-02-01
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC10710 — Manufacture of bread; manufacture of fresh pastry goods and cakes

Registered office

St. Clair Bakery
9 Davidson's Lane
Thurso
Caithness
KW14 7AF
United Kingdom

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2027-10-31
Last made up to: 2026-01-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-02-14
Last: 2026-01-31

Officers (3 active · 0 resigned)

JOHNSTON, Abigail→
director · ~29y · appointed 2024-02-26
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
JOHNSTON, Douglas Mackay→
director · ~63y · appointed 2019-02-01
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
JOHNSTON, Gordon Scott→
director · ~56y · appointed 2019-02-01
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active

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
2026-03-18
notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
2026-03-03
cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
2026-03-03
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-03-03
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-05-21
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-02-10
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-10-21
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2024-02-26
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2024-02-26
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-02-12
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-04-24
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-02-01
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-07-15
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-02-07
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-05-25