DORIC BOOKS CIC

🏛️Establishedactive

SC700177 · private-limited-guarant-nsc · incorporated 2021-05-28

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.

Why now

Window steady · high confidence

Thesis has shifted recently — watch for confirmation.

· Lifecycle stage: early → established
· Investment thesis: growth_story → unclassified
· Bankability: 70 → 75
· Filings: 9 → 10

Opportunity decay

hardening · 6-months

Hardening — profile is tightening. If you want to act, do it before the window closes further.

· 3 recent signals strengthening vs 0 weakening

What changed my view

Last 30 days

Picture improved over the last 30 days — 3 positive signals vs 0 negative.

↑Lifecycle stage: early → established
·Investment thesis: growth_story → unclassified
↑Bankability: 70 → 75
↑Filings: 9 → 10

Last 90 days

No snapshot from 90 days ago — start tracking from today.

Last 180 days

No snapshot from 180 days ago — start tracking from today.

🔒Estimated value

—

Upgrade to see

Turnover

—

not disclosed

Net worth

—

book net assets

Opportunity

77/100

Strong

🔒Generate AI memo →🔒Outreach pack →🔒Corporate story →📑 Reports →Sign in to watch

What this business does

Primary activity: Book publishing

Sector: Information & communication

Investor take

Pursue

Active trading company with a 65-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 77/100 (strong), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (60/100, director aged 65). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (73/100).

Data confidence

Overall: low (49/100)

Sparse data coverage. Treat AI-generated outputs as preliminary. Manual diligence essential.

Company profile

address, 1 SIC codes, incorporation date

100

Financials

No iXBRL financials extracted

Lenders & charges

Confirmed no charges registered

Directors & officers

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

Ownership & PSC

No PSCs filed (unusual — worth investigating)

Director network

1 connected companies via shared directors

Filing history

10 filings on record

Gazette notices

No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)

Opportunity Score

77/100Strong

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

Good data coverage for analysis.

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 (8 events)Click to expand

2026-03-18
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-03-05
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-02-29
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-01-16
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-05-28
🏢
Company incorporated
As DORIC BOOKS CIC
2021-05-28
➕
GALE, Aaron Leith appointed
director
2021-05-28
➕
ROSS, Jacqueline Lesley appointed
director
2021-05-28
📄
incorporation-community-interest-company
incorporation · CICINC

Owner dependency

78/100

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.
+Founder age: Director aged approximately 65 — succession pressure is live.
+No director turnover: Company is 5 years old with no director changes — suggests a very tight-knit founder team never broadened.

Succession & seller-readiness

56/100

Strong succession signal

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

SIGNALS

primaryFounder aged 63+: Senior director is approximately 65. Approaching typical UK retirement age — succession thinking likely.
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.)

🔒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 · Technology · AB postcode area

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IACS CONSULTING LTD→ SC644295 · est 2019	£5.72M £4.09M–£7.36M	£3.95M	—	2500	6y	89	74y
TARIFFCOM LIMITED→ SC221516 · est 2001	£2.04M £1.45M–£2.62M	£1.74M	—	2100	24y	95	59y
TRIHEDRAL UK LIMITED→ SC187794 · est 1998	£322.5k £230.3k–£414.6k	—	—	5	27y	86	67y
TRAVELINE SCOTLAND LIMITED→ SC210532 · est 2000	£179.3k £128.1k–£230.5k	—	—	3	25y	95	63y
B4FILMS LTD.→ SC351956 · est 2008	—	—	—	4	17y	83	72y
CONCEPT PRODUCTIONS LIMITED→ SC096457 · est 1985	—	—	£1.9k	—	40y	83	63y
INTERACTYX LIMITED→ SC161872 · est 1995 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	30y	83	79y
PISYS LIMITED→ SC109490 · est 1988	—	—	—	15	38y	83	64y
PROSOURCE.IT (UK) LTD.→ SC242550 · est 2003 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	23y	83	68y
ABLE TECHNOLOGIES LIMITED→ SC194895 · est 1999	—	—	£87.3k	—	27y	82	75y
ASTER CASH REGISTERS LIMITED→ SC120383 · est 1989	—	—	£3.5k	—	36y	82	70y
BUCHAN CONSULTANCY SERVICES LIMITED→ SC147794 · est 1993	—	—	£76.4k	—	32y	82	59y

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.

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Company details

Statusactive

Typeprivate-limited-guarant-nsc

Incorporated2021-05-28

Jurisdictionscotland

Primary SIC58110 — Book publishing

Registered office

Hirnley

Lumphanan

Banchory

Aberdeenshire

AB31 4QX

United Kingdom

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2027-02-28

Last made up to: 2025-05-31

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2027-06-10

Last: 2026-05-27

Officers (2 active · 0 resigned)

GALE, Aaron Leith→

director · ~43y · appointed 2021-05-28

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

ROSS, Jacqueline Lesley→

director · ~65y · appointed 2021-05-28

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

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