DECORA LIMITED
📈Growthactive
SC080155 · ltd · incorporated 1982-09-27
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.
Opportunity decay
approaching window · 12-months
Approaching a transaction window — refinance or sale event plausible in the next 12 months.
- · Oldest live charge 37.0y old — refinance window within 12 months
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
£4.97M
year to Nov 2025
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
What this business does
Primary activity: Retail sale of hardware, paints and glass in specialised stores
Sector: Wholesale & retail
Investor take
PursueConservative operator with a 82-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.
Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 85/100. Strong seller-intent signal (63/100, director aged 82). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: strategic trade sale (78/100).
🏦
Refinance opportunity
1 live charge · oldest 37.0y
95/100
ready
Refinance conversation should be productive — structure clean and timing right.
- · Oldest live charge is 37.0 years old — likely at or near maturity.
- · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
- · Legal-friction score 15/100 — clean.
- · Profitable and stable/growing — lender coverage supportable.
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
1 charges (1/1 with lender, 1/1 with type)
90
Directors & officers
4 officers (4 active, 4 linked, 3 with DOB)
85
Ownership & PSC
3 active PSC(s) of 3 total, 3 with control declared
90
Director network
1 connected companies via shared directors
48
Filing history
101 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.
Signals from accounts
Derived from iXBRL accounts · FRS 102Profitable
Profit before tax £321,925
Turnover YoY
+1%
Year on year
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 | 2025-11-30 | 2024-11-30 |
|---|---|---|
| Turnover | £4.97M | £4.89M |
| Gross profit | £2.39M | £2.20M |
| Operating profit | £239.2k | £73.4k |
| Profit before tax | £321.9k | £181.8k |
| Average employees | 7800 | 8100 |
Amounts extracted automatically from iXBRL. Fields left blank were not reported or not mapped. Values in GBP unless stated.
🔒Filing-note intelligence
3 signals 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
1
filing
- • 1 accounts
Last 90 days
1
filing
- • 1 accounts
Last 180 days
2
filings
- • 1 accounts
- • 1 confirmation-statement
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (19 events)Click to expand
- 2026-04-08📄accounts-with-accounts-type-mediumaccounts · AA
- 2025-06-26📄accounts-with-accounts-type-mediumaccounts · AA
- 2024-07-23📄accounts-with-accounts-type-mediumaccounts · AA
- 2023-08-08📄accounts-with-accounts-type-fullaccounts · AA
- 2022-08-09📄accounts-with-accounts-type-fullaccounts · AA
- 2021-08-26📄accounts-with-accounts-type-fullaccounts · AA
- 2020-09-11📄accounts-with-accounts-type-fullaccounts · AA
- 2019-08-28📄accounts-with-accounts-type-fullaccounts · AA
- 2018-08-22📄accounts-with-accounts-type-fullaccounts · AA
- 2018-01-08📄notification-of-a-person-with-significant-controlpersons-with-significant-control · PSC01
- 2017-08-17📄accounts-with-accounts-type-fullaccounts · AA
- 2016-06-21📄accounts-with-accounts-type-mediumaccounts · AA
- 2016-01-29📄annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholdersannual-return · AR01
- 2015-06-10📄accounts-with-accounts-type-mediumaccounts · AA
- 2015-01-05📄annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholdersannual-return · AR01
- 2014-05-14🔓Charge satisfied #1
- 1995-05-01➕MCWHIRTER, Darren Thomas appointeddirector
- 1989-05-01🔒Charge registered #1Lender: The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland
- 1982-09-27🏢Company incorporatedAs DECORA 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 31 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
- +Founder age: Director aged approximately 82 — 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 82 years old. Natural succession window is now.
- primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 31 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
- secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 44 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| Name | Shares | Voting rights | Nature of control | Notified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Mr Darren Thomas Mcwhirter Individual · British · DOB 03/1971 · age 55 | — | — | sig. influencesignificant influence | 31/12/2017 |
Mr Thomas Mcwhirter Individual · British · DOB 11/1944 · age 82 | — | — | sig. influencesignificant influence · trust interest · firm interest | 06/04/2016 |
Mrs Alfreda Mcwhirter Individual · British · DOB 04/1944 · age 82 | — | — | sig. influencesignificant influence · trust interest · firm interest | 06/04/2016 |
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
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CFUK CONCEPTS LTD→ SC496696 · est 2015 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 11y | — | — |
| CHEEKY HIGHLANDER LTD→ SC654422 · est 2020 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 6y | — | — |
| CLACH CYCLE CIC→ SC837770 · est 2025 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 1y | — | — |
| CLEANFLAME LTD→ SC855994 · est 2025 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| CLICK WHISKY AUCTIONS LTD→ SC735037 · est 2022 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 3y | — | — |
| CRAIGDON MOUNTAIN SPORTS INVERNESS LIMITED→ SC488423 · est 2014 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 11y | — | — |
| CROWN STORES LTD→ SC353985 · est 2009 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 17y | — | — |
| DIGITOECOM LIMITED→ SC847471 · est 2025 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| DOCS AND FROCKS LIMITED→ SC818134 · est 2024 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 1y | — | — |
| DRUM HOTEL LTD.→ SC557056 · est 2017 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 9y | — | — |
| EASY SHOP INVERNESS LIMITED→ SC860605 · est 2025 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| EDEN COURT TRADING LIMITED→ SC464541 · est 2013 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 12y | — | — |
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
Incorporated1982-09-27
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC47520 — Retail sale of hardware, paints and glass in specialised stores
Registered office
Bruceland House
Elgin
Morayshire
IV30 1YE
Filing status
Accounts
Next due: 2027-08-31
Last made up to: 2025-11-30
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-01-14
Last: 2025-12-31
Officers (4 active · 0 resigned)
Active
Active
MCWHIRTER, Darren Thomas→
Activedirector · ~55y · appointed 1995-05-01
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
Click a director name to see their full track record across all companies.
Mortgages & charges
1
Total charges
0
Outstanding
0
Active lenders
Status:Lender:1 of 1 shown
| Type | Properties | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| satisfied | Lloyds Banking Group The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland | Standard security | 1 property | 01/05/1989 | 14/05/2014 |
Recent filings (101 total)
accounts-with-accounts-type-medium
accounts · AA
2026-04-08
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-01-06
accounts-with-accounts-type-medium
accounts · AA
2025-06-26
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-01-09
accounts-with-accounts-type-medium
accounts · AA
2024-07-23
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-01-04
accounts-with-accounts-type-full
accounts · AA
2023-08-08
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-01-09
accounts-with-accounts-type-full
accounts · AA
2022-08-09
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-01-25
accounts-with-accounts-type-full
accounts · AA
2021-08-26
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-01-26
accounts-with-accounts-type-full
accounts · AA
2020-09-11
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-01-06
accounts-with-accounts-type-full
accounts · AA
2019-08-28