GOURLAY DEVELOPMENTS LIMITED

💤Zombieactive
SC738327 · ltd · incorporated 2022-07-14
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 Jul 2024
Net worth
book net assets
Opportunity
71/100
Strong
🔔
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What this business does
Primary activity: Construction of domestic buildings
Sector: Construction
Investor take
Pursue
Strong opportunity: active trading company with strong profile and acceptable with review structure.

Opportunity 71/100 (strong), bankability 70/100. 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 (58/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

2 live charges · 2 lenders · oldest 3.0y

20/100
under pressure

Refinance would be pressure-driven, not opportunity-driven. Expect tighter margins and covenant scrutiny.

  • · Charge age ~3.0 years — mid-life; refi window approaching.
  • · Two lenders — manageable, but coordination required.
  • · Distress signals active — lender appetite narrows.

Data confidence

Overall: medium (73/100)

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
1 year of iXBRL accounts extracted (no YoY comparison) + narrative notes parsed
50
Lenders & charges
2 charges (2/2 with lender, 2/2 with type)
90
Directors & officers
1 officers (1 active, 1 linked, 1 with DOB)
90
Ownership & PSC
2 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared
90
Director network
1 connected companies via shared directors
48
Filing history
12 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
71/100Strong
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional 

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

Business quality
60
Adequate — check latest filings for context.
Acquirability
50
Some acquirability indicators.
Risk profile
85
Few red flags.
Signal strength
100
Good data coverage for analysis.

Key financials

1 year extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
Net Worth
Current Assets
Current Liabilities

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2024-07-31
Average employees0

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

Recent activity

Last 30 days
1
filing
  • 1 accounts
Last 90 days
1
filing
  • 1 accounts
Last 180 days
1
filing
  • 1 accounts
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (14 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-04-08
    📄
    change-account-reference-date-company-previous-shortened
    accounts · AA01
  2. 2025-07-21
    📄
    mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
    mortgage · MR04
  3. 2025-07-21
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #2
  4. 2025-04-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  5. 2024-12-18
    📄
    mortgage-create-with-deed-with-charge-number-charge-creation-date
    mortgage · MR01
  6. 2024-12-09
    🔒
    Charge registered #2
    Lender: Andrew Malcolm Finnie
  7. 2024-04-12
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  8. 2023-08-10
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  9. 2023-08-10
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  10. 2023-04-14
    📄
    mortgage-create-with-deed-with-charge-number-charge-creation-date
    mortgage · MR01
  11. 2023-04-11
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: Jonathan Peter Hamlet
  12. 2022-07-14
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As GOURLAY DEVELOPMENTS LIMITED
  13. 2022-07-14
    GOURLAY, Blair Stewart appointed
    director
  14. 2022-07-14
    📄
    incorporation-company
    incorporation · NEWINC

Owner dependency

90/100
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.
  • +Founder name in company name: Company name contains director surname "GOURLAY" — strong identity link between founder and business.

Succession & seller-readiness

45/100
Moderate signal

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

SIGNALS
  • 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

2 active beneficial owners
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr Blair Stewart Gourlay
Individual · British · DOB 09/1997 · age 29
5075%
50–75%board control50-75% shares · 50-75% voting · board control14/07/2022
Miss Nicola Cannan
Individual · British · DOB 08/1996 · age 30
2550%
25–50%25-50% shares · 25-50% voting14/07/2022

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 →

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Peers ranked by estimated value, then turnover, then opportunity score.See all →
🔒Tailored diligence questions

8 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
Incorporated2022-07-14
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC41202 — Construction of domestic buildings

Registered office

5 Tinwald Meuse
Heathhall
Dumfries
DG1 3SG
United Kingdom

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-07-08
Last made up to: 2024-07-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-07-27
Last: 2025-07-13

Officers (1 active · 0 resigned)

GOURLAY, Blair Stewart
director · ~29y · appointed 2022-07-14
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active

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

Mortgages & charges

2
Total charges
1
Outstanding
1
Active lenders
Status:Lender:2 of 2 shown
TypeProperties
satisfied
Andrew Malcolm Finnie
A registered charge1 property09/12/202421/07/2025
outstanding
Jonathan Peter Hamlet
A registered charge2 properties11/04/2023
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (12 total)

change-account-reference-date-company-previous-shortened
accounts · AA01
2026-04-08
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-07-28
mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
mortgage · MR04
2025-07-21
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-04-30
mortgage-create-with-deed-with-charge-number-charge-creation-date
mortgage · MR01
2024-12-18
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-09-09
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-04-12
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-08-10
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2023-08-10
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2023-08-10
mortgage-create-with-deed-with-charge-number-charge-creation-date
mortgage · MR01
2023-04-14
incorporation-company
incorporation · NEWINC
2022-07-14