FLEAR & THOMSON LIMITED
🌳Matureactive
SC028660 · ltd · incorporated 1951-12-26
Investment thesis
Property vehicle with a workable charge structure — clean refinance potential.
Why interesting: Asset-backed; value largely in underlying property; lender engagement likely possible.
Why risky: Dependent on title and valuation due diligence; standard property risks.
Opportunity decay
approaching window · 12-months
Approaching a transaction window — refinance or sale event plausible in the next 12 months.
- · Oldest live charge 47.5y old — refinance window within 12 months
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Mar 2025
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
What this business does
Primary activity: Sale of new cars and light motor vehicles
Sector: Wholesale & retail
ALSO REGISTERED FOR
- 45112SIC 45112
- 45200SIC 45200
- 68209Other letting and operating of own or leased real estate
Investor take
PursueActive trading company with a 80-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.
Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (63/100, director aged 80). 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 47.5y
50/100
clean up first
Refinance viable after a tidy-up — address the highlighted items first.
- · Oldest live charge is 47.5 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: medium (79/100)Adequate coverage. AI outputs are reliable for the sections scored high; verify the rest in diligence.
Company profile
address, 4 SIC codes, incorporation date
100
Financials
2 years of iXBRL accounts extracted (YoY deltas available) + narrative notes parsed
75
Lenders & charges
2 charges (2/2 with lender, 2/2 with type)
90
Directors & officers
9 officers (4 active, 9 linked, 5 with DOB)
81
Ownership & PSC
3 active PSC(s) of 3 total, 3 with control declared
90
Director network
3 connected companies via shared directors
54
Filing history
104 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
🔒Estimated company valuation
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 →Opportunity Score
82/100Exceptional
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional
Strong composite across quality, acquirability, and risk. High-priority target — progress to serious diligence.
Business quality
70
Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.
Acquirability
80
Strong succession / seller-readiness signals.
Risk profile
85
Few red flags.
Signal strength
100
Good data coverage for analysis.
Key financials
2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accountsCash
—
Net Worth
—
Current Assets
—
Current Liabilities
—
Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series
Financials
Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102| Metric | 2025-03-31 | 2024-03-31 |
|---|
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
3
filings
- • 1 persons-with-significant-control
- • 1 confirmation-statement
- • 1 accounts
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (26 events)Click to expand
- 2026-01-05📄change-to-a-person-with-significant-controlpersons-with-significant-control · PSC04
- 2025-10-29📄accounts-with-accounts-type-groupaccounts · AA
- 2024-09-18📄accounts-with-accounts-type-groupaccounts · AA
- 2023-09-07📄accounts-with-accounts-type-groupaccounts · AA
- 2022-08-30📄accounts-with-accounts-type-groupaccounts · AA
- 2022-05-09📄notification-of-a-person-with-significant-controlpersons-with-significant-control · PSC01
- 2022-05-09📄notification-of-a-person-with-significant-controlpersons-with-significant-control · PSC01
- 2021-07-05📄accounts-with-accounts-type-smallaccounts · AA
- 2020-09-16📄accounts-with-accounts-type-smallaccounts · AA
- 2019-08-22📄accounts-with-accounts-type-smallaccounts · AA
- 2018-08-22📄accounts-with-accounts-type-smallaccounts · AA
- 2017-07-31📄accounts-with-accounts-type-smallaccounts · AA
- 2016-06-28📄accounts-with-accounts-type-smallaccounts · AA
- 2015-12-31📄annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholdersannual-return · AR01
- 2015-08-17📄accounts-with-accounts-type-smallaccounts · AA
- 2010-04-19🔒Charge registered #2Lender: Bank of Scotland PLC
- 1998-12-18➕BUCHANAN, Scott appointeddirector
- 1997-03-29➖BUCHANAN, Janet Dick resigneddirector
- 1994-09-20➕BUCHANAN, Paul appointedsecretary
- 1994-07-09➖BUCHANAN, George resignedsecretary
- 1994-07-09➖BUCHANAN, George resigneddirector
- 1990-12-07➖SMITH, James Alexander Norman resigneddirector
- 1990-01-10➕BUCHANAN, Paul appointeddirector
- 1988-11-20➖BUCHANAN, Andrew resigneddirector
- 1978-10-13🔒Charge registered #1Lender: The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland
- 1951-12-26🏢Company incorporatedAs FLEAR & THOMSON LIMITED
Owner dependency
83/100
Critical — business is the founderThe business appears inseparable from the founder. Acquisition without a serious earn-out or meaningful transition period would likely destroy value.
FACTORS
- +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 36 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
- +Founder age: Director aged approximately 80 — succession pressure is live.
- +Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.
Succession & seller-readiness
90/100
Likely off-market candidateStrong acquirability signals converging. Worth approaching directly — this is how off-market deals start.
SIGNALS
- primaryFounder aged 70+: Senior director is approximately 80 years old. Natural succession window is now.
- primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 36 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
- secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 74 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
cleanNo red flags detected from available public data. (This is not a clean bill of health — detailed accounts review still recommended.)
Shareholders & ownership
3 active beneficial owners · dominant holder ≥75%| Name | Shares | Voting rights | Nature of control | Notified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Mr Scott Buchanan Individual · British · DOB 12/1975 · age 51 | 75–100% | 75–100% | board control75-100% shares · 75-100% voting · board control | 06/04/2017 |
Mr Paul Buchanan Individual · British · DOB 05/1968 · age 58 | 75–100% | 75–100% | board control75-100% shares · 75-100% voting · board control | 06/04/2016 |
Mrs Elizabeth Wallace Caldwell Buchanan Individual · British · DOB 05/1946 · age 80 | 50–75% | 50–75% | 50-75% shares · 50-75% voting | 07/12/2016 |
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 →Similar companies
Active · Automotive · KY postcode area| Company | Est. value | Turnover | Net worth | Staff | Age | Opp | Director |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ET AUTOMOTIVE LTD→ SC876376 · est 2026 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| FIFE POWDERCOATINGS LIMITED→ SC546544 · est 2016 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 9y | — | — |
| FIFE SEAT LIMITED→ SC331707 · est 2007 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 18y | — | — |
| FLEAR & THOMSON (PERTH) LIMITED→ SC655765 · est 2020 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 6y | — | — |
| FLEAR & THOMSON (STIRLING) LIMITED→ SC575657 · est 2017 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 8y | — | — |
| FRANK MUNRO & SONS LIMITED→ SC241429 · est 2002 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 23y | — | — |
| G DYCE AUTOS LTD→ SC879993 · est 2026 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| GGS FIFE LTD→ SC748889 · est 2022 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 3y | — | — |
| GSP24 LTD→ SC595052 · est 2018 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 7y | — | — |
| J&S AUTOMOTIVE LIMITED→ SC767070 · est 2023 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 2y | — | — |
| KNOWEHEAD GARAGE AUTOS LTD→ SC788764 · est 2023 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 2y | — | — |
| LF AUTO ELECTRICAL SERVICES LTD→ SC773661 · est 2023 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 2y | — | — |
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.
See pricing →Company details
Statusactive
Typeltd
Incorporated1951-12-26
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC45111 — Sale of new cars and light motor vehicles
Registered office
128-140 Pittencrieff Street
Dunfermline
KY12 8AN
Filing status
Accounts
Next due: 2026-12-31
Last made up to: 2025-03-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-12-19
Last: 2025-12-05
Officers (4 active · 5 resigned)
Active
Active
BUCHANAN, Paul→
Activedirector · ~58y · appointed 1990-01-10
View their other companies + combined net worth →
BUCHANAN, Scott→
Activedirector · ~51y · appointed 1998-12-18
View their other companies + combined net worth →
BUCHANAN, George→
Resignedsecretary · resigned 1994-07-09
BUCHANAN, Andrew→
Resigneddirector · resigned 1988-11-20
BUCHANAN, George→
Resigneddirector · ~82y · resigned 1994-07-09
BUCHANAN, Janet Dick→
Resigneddirector · ~113y · resigned 1997-03-29
SMITH, James Alexander Norman→
Resigneddirector · resigned 1990-12-07
Click a director name to see their full track record across all companies.
Mortgages & charges
2
Total charges
2
Outstanding
1
Active lenders
Status:Lender:2 of 2 shown
| Type | Properties | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| outstanding | Lloyds Banking Group Bank of Scotland PLC | Floating charge | 1 property | 19/04/2010 | — | |
| outstanding | Lloyds Banking Group The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland | Standard security | 1 property | 13/10/1978 | — |
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.
Recent filings (104 total)
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2026-01-05
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-12-05
accounts-with-accounts-type-group
accounts · AA
2025-10-29
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-12-10
accounts-with-accounts-type-group
accounts · AA
2024-09-18
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-12-11
accounts-with-accounts-type-group
accounts · AA
2023-09-07
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-12-07
accounts-with-accounts-type-group
accounts · AA
2022-08-30
notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
2022-05-09
notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
2022-05-09
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-12-08
accounts-with-accounts-type-small
accounts · AA
2021-07-05
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-12-10
accounts-with-accounts-type-small
accounts · AA
2020-09-16