PORTOBELLO APPLE

🌿Early-stageactive
SC785519 · private-limited-guarant-nsc-limited-exemption · incorporated 2023-10-10
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 Oct 2024
Net worth
£5
book net assets
Opportunity
75/100
Strong
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What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 10320
Sector: Manufacturing
Investor take
Pursue
Asset-holding vehicle with a 72-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 75/100 (strong), bankability 70/100. Strong seller-intent signal (60/100, director aged 72). 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 (73/100).

Data confidence

Overall: medium (69/100)

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
Confirmed no charges registered
85
Directors & officers
1 officers (1 active, 1 linked, 1 with DOB)
90
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
4 filings
60
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
75/100Strong
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional 

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

Business quality
60
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.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · accounting standard not declared
Positive net assets
Net assets £5

Key financials

1 year extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
Net Worth
£5
Current Assets
£300
Current Liabilities

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2024-10-31
Total assets£5
Current assets£300
Net assets£5

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

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 (4 events)Click to expand
  1. 2024-11-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  2. 2023-10-10
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As PORTOBELLO APPLE
  3. 2023-10-10
    MCCULLOCH, Gordon James appointed
    director
  4. 2023-10-10
    📄
    incorporation-company
    incorporation · NEWINC

Owner dependency

95/100
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 age: Director aged approximately 72 — succession pressure is live.
  • +Young company: Only 2.6 years old — management layer unlikely to be developed.

Succession & seller-readiness

75/100
Likely off-market candidate

Strong acquirability signals converging. Worth approaching directly — this is how off-market deals start.

SIGNALS
  • primaryFounder aged 70+: Senior director is approximately 72 years old. Natural succession window is now.
  • 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

1 active beneficial owner
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Gordon James Mcculloch
Individual · British · DOB 03/1954 · age 72
sig. influencesignificant influence10/10/2023

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

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

9 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.

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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.

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Company details

Statusactive
Typeprivate-limited-guarant-nsc-limited-exemption
Incorporated2023-10-10
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC10320 — SIC 10320

Registered office

14 Rosefield Place
Portobello
Edinburgh
Lothian
EH15 1BD

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-07-31
Last made up to: 2024-10-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-10-23
Last: 2025-10-09

Officers (1 active · 0 resigned)

MCCULLOCH, Gordon James
director · ~72y · appointed 2023-10-10
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active

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

Recent filings (4 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-11-14
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-11-28
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-11-16
incorporation-company
incorporation · NEWINC
2023-10-10