COLUMBA PUBLISHING COMPANY LIMITED
- · Oldest live charge 51.7y old — refinance window within 12 months
No material changes in the last 30 days.
No snapshot from 90 days ago — start tracking from today.
No snapshot from 180 days ago — start tracking from today.
Opportunity 80/100 (exceptional), 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: Discharge stale live charges. 2 live charge(s) created 15+ years ago — likely paid but undischarged. Clean register. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).
Refinance opportunity
2 live charges · 2 lenders · oldest 51.7y
Refinance viable after a tidy-up — address the highlighted items first.
- · Oldest live charge is 51.7 years old — likely at or near maturity.
- · Two lenders — manageable, but coordination required.
- · Legal-friction score 25/100 — workable, but lender will want more DD.
Data confidence
Overall: high (81/100)Strong data coverage across all sections. AI outputs should be trusted with minimal caveats.
Sector-multiple EBITDA, turnover, and NAV-proxy valuation range with confidence tier — derived from extracted iXBRL financials.
Available from the Pro tier upwards.
See pricing →Strong composite across quality, acquirability, and risk. High-priority target — progress to serious diligence.
Signals from accounts
Derived from iXBRL accounts · accounting standard not declaredKey financials
2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accountsHover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series
Financials
Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown| Metric | 2024-12-31 | 2023-12-31 |
|---|---|---|
| Total assets | £10.9k | £10.9k |
| Net assets | £10.9k | £10.9k |
Amounts extracted automatically from iXBRL. Fields left blank were not reported or not mapped. Values in GBP unless stated.
Recent activity
- • 3 officers
- • 1 confirmation-statement
Corporate timeline (20 events)Click to expand
- 2026-01-14📄replacement-filing-of-director-appointment-with-nameofficers · RP01AP01
- 2026-01-13📄replacement-filing-of-director-appointment-with-nameofficers · RP01AP01
- 2026-01-13📄change-person-director-company-with-change-dateofficers · CH01
- 2025-07-31📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2024-06-14📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2023-08-07📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2022-08-22📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2021-08-16📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2020-12-02📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2019-07-30📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2018-05-21📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2017-06-10📄accounts-with-accounts-type-dormantaccounts · AA
- 2017-01-04➖BENNETT, Howard Grimwade resignedsecretary
- 2017-01-04📍change-sail-address-company-with-old-address-new-addressaddress · AD02
- 2017-01-04📄termination-secretary-company-with-name-termination-dateofficers · TM02
- 2016-09-29📄accounts-with-accounts-type-dormantaccounts · AA
- 2015-03-23➕BENNETT, Alister James Grimwade appointeddirector
- 1975-12-17🔒Charge registered #2Lender: The Highlands & Islands Development Board
- 1974-10-03🔒Charge registered #1Lender: The Highlands and Islands Development Board, Bridge House, Bank Street, Inverness
- 1916-08-10🏢Company incorporatedAs COLUMBA PUBLISHING COMPANY LIMITED
Owner dependency
Material founder dependency. Consider a 2-3 year earn-out and build in a handover plan before completion.
- +Founder age: Director aged approximately 88 — succession pressure is live.
- +Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.
Succession & seller-readiness
Strong acquirability signals converging. Worth approaching directly — this is how off-market deals start.
- primaryFounder aged 70+: Senior director is approximately 88 years old. Natural succession window is now.
- secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 110 years old and no new directors in the last 3 years — succession not yet being planned internally.
- supportingClean filings + long tenure: Disciplined long-tenure operator — classic lifestyle-business pattern that often sells quietly.
Red flags
cleanGroup structure
Wyvex Media Limited is the ultimate parent — holding 75%+ shares. This company sits inside their group.
Parent relationships inferred from Persons with Significant Control filings. Full subsidiary tree requires reverse-lookup (coming).
Shareholders & ownership
1 active beneficial owner · dominant holder ≥75%| Name | Shares | Voting rights | Nature of control | Notified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Wyvex Media Limited Corporate entity | 75–100% | — | 75-100% shares | 06/04/2016 |
From Companies House Persons with Significant Control filings. Share ranges are banded per the public PSC regime.
Radial SVG graph showing every company connected via shared directors, colour-coded by status.
Available from the Pro tier upwards.
See pricing →Similar companies
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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 →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
Registered office
Filing status
Officers (3 active · 1 resigned)
Click a director name to see their full track record across all companies.
Mortgages & charges
| Type | Properties | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| outstanding | The Highlands & Islands Development Board | Standard security | 1 property | 17/12/1975 | — | |
| outstanding | The Highlands and Islands Development Board, Bridge House, Bank Street, Inverness | G r s argyll standard security | 1 property | 03/10/1974 | — |