CARRUTHERS BROS. (ANNAN) LIMITED

💤Zombieactive

SC057890 · ltd · incorporated 1975-06-05

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 Mar 2025

Net worth

—

book net assets

Opportunity

79/100

Strong

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What this business does

Primary activity: Construction of commercial buildings

Sector: Construction

Investor take

Pursue

Active trading company with a 75-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 79/100 (strong), bankability 70/100. Strong seller-intent signal (68/100, director aged 75). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Discharge stale live charges. 4 live charge(s) created 15+ years ago — likely paid but undischarged. Clean register. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (73/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

5 live charges · oldest 46.6y

45/100

under pressure

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

· Oldest live charge is 46.6 years old — likely at or near maturity.
· Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
· Distress signals active — lender appetite narrows.

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

Lenders & charges

5 charges (5/5 with lender, 5/5 with type)

Directors & officers

3 officers (1 active, 3 linked, 2 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

1 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared

Director network

1 connected companies via shared directors

Filing history

98 filings on record

Gazette notices

No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)

Opportunity Score

79/100Strong

PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional

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

Business quality

Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.

Acquirability

Strong succession / seller-readiness signals.

Risk profile

Few red flags.

Signal strength

100

Good data coverage for analysis.

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts

Cash

—

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
Average employees	300	300

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

filings

Last 90 days

filing

• 1 confirmation-statement

Last 180 days

filings

• 1 confirmation-statement
• 1 accounts

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (24 events)Click to expand

2025-12-03
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-12-11
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-12-11
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-12-14
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-12-01
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2020-12-09
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2020-08-24
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2020-08-24
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2019-12-20
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2018-12-07
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2018-08-14
📄
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2018-08-14
📄
termination-secretary-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM02
2018-08-14
📄
cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
2018-03-23
➖
CARRUTHERS, William resigned
secretary
2018-03-23
➖
CARRUTHERS, William resigned
director
2017-12-22
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2016-12-12
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
1992-07-15
🔓
Charge satisfied #3
1991-04-02
🔒
Charge registered #5
Lender: The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
1991-04-02
🔒
Charge registered #4
Lender: The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
1991-03-18
🔒
Charge registered #3
Lender: The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
1980-09-09
🔒
Charge registered #2
Lender: The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
1979-09-13
🔒
Charge registered #1
Lender: The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
1975-06-05
🏢
Company incorporated
As CARRUTHERS BROS. (ANNAN) LIMITED

Owner dependency

100/100

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 "CARRUTHERS" — strong identity link between founder and business.
+Founder age: Director aged approximately 75 — succession pressure is live.

Succession & seller-readiness

85/100

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 75 years old. Natural succession window is now.
primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 51 years old and no new directors in the last 3 years — succession not yet being planned internally.

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

Name	Shares	Voting rights	Nature of control	Notified
Mr John Gray Carruthers Individual · British · DOB 10/1951 · age 75	50–75%	50–75%	50-75% shares · 50-75% voting	30/06/2016

1 historic (ceased) PSC

Mr William Carruthersceased 23/03/2018· 25-50% shares · 25-50% voting

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 · Construction · DG postcode area

Company	Est. value	Turnover	Net worth	Staff	Age	Opp	Director
BELL LAWRIE OF BIGGAR (DEVELOPMENTS) LIMITED→ SC099927 · est 1986 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	39y	—	—
BLADUM ROUGHCASTERS LTD→ SC840498 · est 2025 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	1y	—	—
BORDER HOMES LTD→ SC388242 · est 2010 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	15y	—	—
BRC CONSTRUCTION LIMITED→ SC832511 · est 2024 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	1y	—	—
BUILDING FUTURES GALLOWAY (TRAINING) LIMITED→ SC741111 · est 2022 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	3y	—	—
CONSENSUS MANAGEMENT LIMITED→ SC207701 · est 2000 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	25y	—	—
CRJ CONSTRUCTION & JOINERY LIMITED→ SC640505 · est 2019 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	6y	—	—
D W CONSTRUCTION AND JOINERY LIMITED→ SC262529 · est 2004 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	22y	—	—
DAVID K FAULDS LTD→ SC352000 · est 2008 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	17y	—	—
DIFFICULT ACCESS SERVICES LTD→ SC618222 · est 2019 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	7y	—	—
DIVINE CONSTRUCTION & JOINERY LTD→ SC588288 · est 2018 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	8y	—	—
DONNAN CONSTRUCTION LIMITED→ SC246369 · est 2003 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	23y	—	—

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.

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

Incorporated1975-06-05

Jurisdictionscotland

Primary SIC41201 — Construction of commercial buildings

Registered office

Blackwoodridge

Eaglesfield

Lockerbie

Dumfriesshire

DG11 3JS

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2026-12-31

Last made up to: 2025-03-31

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2027-01-25

Last: 2026-01-11

Officers (1 active · 2 resigned)

CARRUTHERS, John Gray→

director · ~75y

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

CARRUTHERS, William→

secretary · resigned 2018-03-23

Resigned

CARRUTHERS, William→

director · ~92y · resigned 2018-03-23

Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

Total charges

Outstanding

Active lenders

Status:Lender:5 of 5 shown

		Type	Properties
outstanding	Lloyds Banking Group The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC	Standard security	1 property	02/04/1991	—
outstanding	Lloyds Banking Group The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC	Standard security	1 property	02/04/1991	—
satisfied	Lloyds Banking Group The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC	Floating charge	1 property	18/03/1991	15/07/1992
outstanding	Lloyds Banking Group The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC	Standard security	1 property	09/09/1980	—
outstanding	Lloyds Banking Group The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC	Standard security	1 property	13/09/1979	—

Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.