FERGUSSON LAW & CO (EDINBURGH) LTD

🌿Early-stageactive
SC744888 · ltd · incorporated 2022-09-20
Investment thesis
Growth-phase business — story-led; valuation sensitive to momentum.
Why interesting: Trading is scaling; acquirers paying for trajectory get disproportionate leverage.
Why risky: Price often leads fundamentals; dependency on founder often high.
🔒Estimated value
Upgrade to see
Turnover
year to Jan 2025
Net worth
£5.9k
book net assets
Opportunity
76/100
Strong
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What this business does
Primary activity: Solicitors
Sector: Professional, scientific & technical
Investor take
Pursue
Asset-holding vehicle with a 73-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 76/100 (strong), bankability 70/100. Strong seller-intent signal (60/100, director aged 73). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Cash flow review and working-capital discipline. Cash down -93% YoY — forensic review of receivables, stock turns, and creditor days. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

Data confidence

Overall: medium (79/100)

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
75
Lenders & charges
Confirmed no charges registered
85
Directors & officers
4 officers (3 active, 4 linked, 3 with DOB)
85
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
2 connected companies via shared directors
51
Filing history
12 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
60
Adequate — check latest filings for context.
Acquirability
75
Strong succession / seller-readiness signals.
Risk profile
85
Few red flags.
Signal strength
90
Good data coverage for analysis.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · FRS 102
Positive net assets
Net assets £5,860
Net assets shrinking
Down £486 YoY
Cash draining
Cash down 93% YoY
Cash YoY
-93%
Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
£89k
↓ 93% YoY
Net Worth
£6k
↓ 7.7% YoY
Current Assets
£129k
↓ 91% YoY
Current Liabilities
£0£272k£544k£816k£1.1m£1.4mJan 2024Jan 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102
Metric2025-01-312024-01-31
Total assets£9.9k£6.3k
Current assets£128.6k£1.36M
Cash£88.9k£1.26M
Debtors£31.6k£44.3k
Net assets£5.9k£6.3k

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

🔒Filing-note intelligence

1 signal 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
1
filing
  • 1 confirmation-statement
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (14 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-10-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2025-02-17
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  3. 2025-02-17
    📄
    termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM01
  4. 2024-10-17
    📄
    appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
    officers · AP01
  5. 2024-07-12
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  6. 2024-06-17
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  7. 2024-02-11
    📄
    change-account-reference-date-company-previous-extended
    accounts · AA01
  8. 2022-09-20
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As FERGUSSON LAW & CO (EDINBURGH) LTD
  9. 2022-09-20
    YATES, Brian Douglas appointed
    secretary
  10. 2022-09-20
    KOWALSKI, Katherine Olivia appointed
    director
  11. 2022-09-20
    NISBET, Janice Fergusson appointed
    director
  12. 2022-09-20
    KOWALSKI, Katherine Olivia appointed
    director
  13. 2022-09-20
    KOWALSKI, Katherine Olivia resigned
    director
  14. 2022-09-20
    📄
    incorporation-company
    incorporation · NEWINC

Owner dependency

73/100
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 73 — succession pressure is live.

Succession & seller-readiness

66/100
Strong succession signal

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

SIGNALS
  • primaryFounder aged 70+: Senior director is approximately 73 years old. Natural succession window is now.
  • 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%
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mrs Janice Fergusson Nisbet
Individual · British · DOB 09/1953 · age 73
75100%
75–100%board control75-100% shares · 75-100% voting · board control20/09/2022

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
Incorporated2022-09-20
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC69102 — Solicitors

Registered office

25-27 Barony Street
Edinburgh
EH3 6PD
United Kingdom

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-10-31
Last made up to: 2025-01-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-02-17
Last: 2026-02-03

Officers (3 active · 1 resigned)

YATES, Brian Douglas
secretary · appointed 2022-09-20
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
KOWALSKI, Katherine Olivia
director · ~33y · appointed 2022-09-20
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
NISBET, Janice Fergusson
director · ~73y · appointed 2022-09-20
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
KOWALSKI, Katherine Olivia
director · ~33y · appointed 2022-09-20 · resigned 2022-09-20
Resigned

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

Recent filings (12 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-02-03
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-10-28
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-09-23
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2025-02-17
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2025-02-17
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-10-17
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2024-10-17
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2024-07-12
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-06-17
change-account-reference-date-company-previous-extended
accounts · AA01
2024-02-11
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-10-23
incorporation-company
incorporation · NEWINC
2022-09-20