CMC (SHIP CHANDLERS) LIMITED

💤Zombieactive
SC110574 · ltd · incorporated 1988-04-14
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.
Why now
Window steady · low confidence
Steady and stalled — no momentum either way. Needs an approach trigger.
What changed my view
Last 30 days

No material changes in the last 30 days.

Last 90 days

No snapshot from 90 days ago — start tracking from today.

Last 180 days

No snapshot from 180 days ago — start tracking from today.

🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Mar 2025
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
🔔
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What this business does
Primary activity: Wholesale of other food, including fish, crustaceans and molluscs
Sector: Wholesale & retail
ALSO REGISTERED FOR
  • 47520Retail sale of hardware, paints and glass in specialised stores
Investor take
Pursue
Strong opportunity: active trading company with exceptional profile and bankable structure.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (70/100, director aged 59). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Discharge stale live charges. 1 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

1 live charge · oldest 36.4y

45/100
under pressure

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

  • · Oldest live charge is 36.4 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
  • · Distress signals active — lender appetite narrows.

Data confidence

Overall: medium (77/100)

Adequate coverage. AI outputs are reliable for the sections scored high; verify the rest in diligence.

Company profile
address, 2 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
7 officers (1 active, 7 linked, 4 with DOB)
81
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
101 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
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 accounts
Cash
—
Net Worth
—
Current Assets
—
Current Liabilities
—
£0£0£0£0£0£0Mar 2024Mar 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102
Metric2025-03-312024-03-31
Average employees200200

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
0
filings
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (28 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-10-13
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-12-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  3. 2024-02-08
    📄
    termination-secretary-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM02
  4. 2024-02-07
    ➖
    CAMPBELL, Charles Manson resigned
    secretary
  5. 2023-12-22
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  6. 2022-12-22
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  7. 2022-06-23
    📄
    termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM01
  8. 2022-06-22
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  9. 2022-06-22
    📄
    cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
  10. 2021-12-20
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  11. 2021-07-05
    ➖
    CAMPBELL, Charles Manson resigned
    director
  12. 2020-12-18
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  13. 2019-11-06
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  14. 2018-09-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  15. 2017-11-22
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  16. 2017-01-04
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  17. 2016-06-15
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  18. 2015-11-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  19. 2003-01-21
    ➖
    CAMPBELL, Alexandria resigned
    secretary
  20. 2003-01-21
    ➕
    CAMPBELL, Charles Manson appointed
    secretary
  21. 2003-01-21
    ➖
    CAMPBELL, Alexandria resigned
    director
  22. 1997-10-27
    ➕
    CAMPBELL, Jack Smith appointed
    director
  23. 1992-06-30
    ➕
    CAMPBELL, Alexandria appointed
    secretary
  24. 1992-06-30
    ➖
    DURNAN, Michael Hearne resigned
    secretary
  25. 1992-06-30
    ➕
    CAMPBELL, Alexandria appointed
    director
  26. 1992-06-30
    ➖
    DURNAN, Michael Hearne resigned
    director
  27. 1989-12-21
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: Clydesdale Bank Public Limited Company
  28. 1988-04-14
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As CMC (SHIP CHANDLERS) LIMITED

Owner dependency

93/100
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.
  • +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 29 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Senior director age: Director aged approximately 59 — approaching natural succession window.

Succession & seller-readiness

85/100
Likely off-market candidate

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

SIGNALS
  • secondaryFounder aged 58+: Senior director is approximately 59. Early succession window.
  • primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
  • primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 29 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 38 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

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 · dominant holder ≥75%
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr Jack Smith Campbell
Individual · British · DOB 12/1967 · age 59
75–100%
75–100%board control75-100% shares · 75-100% voting · board control28/11/2016
1 historic (ceased) PSC
  • Mr Charles Manson Campbellceased 05/07/2021· 50-75% shares · 50-75% voting

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

Similar companies

Active · Wholesale & distribution · PA postcode area
CompanyEst. valueTurnoverNet worthStaffAgeOppDirector
SPRINGBANK DISTILLERS LIMITED→
SC041205 · est 1964
£5.47M
£4.10M–£6.83M
——2461y8390y
WILLIAM CADENHEAD LIMITED→
SC052072 · est 1972
———1153y8390y
BATHROOM ELEGANCE LIMITED→
SC137829 · est 1992
——£1.73M—34y8263y
CUMBRAE SUPPLY COMPANY LIMITED→
SC298312 · est 2006
——£136.4k—20y8274y
D MCNAIR & SON LTD.→
SC394139 · est 2011
——£3.04M—15y8261y
JOHN SCOTT MEAT (PAISLEY) LIMITED→
SC100408 · est 1986
——£3.21M—39y8265y
LAWRIE (FURNISHINGS) LIMITED→
SC285388 · est 2005
——£491.0k—20y8262y
NAPIER & CRAIG LIMITED→
SC025896 · est 1947
——£96.8k—78y8287y
SCOTJET LIMITED→
SC190195 · est 1998
——£1.35M—27y8270y
SEALING SYSTEMS (SCOTLAND) LIMITED→
SC385524 · est 2010
——£175.4k—15y8263y
T BARBOUR LIMITED→
SC318804 · est 2007
———50019y8280y
TEMPRITE (EUROPE) LIMITED→
SC175754 · est 1997
———029y8262y
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
Incorporated1988-04-14
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC46380 — Wholesale of other food, including fish, crustaceans and molluscs

Registered office

The Old Bakehouse
Burnside Street
Campbeltown
Argyll
PA28 6JE

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-12-31
Last made up to: 2025-03-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-06-27
Last: 2025-06-13

Officers (1 active · 6 resigned)

CAMPBELL, Jack Smith→
director · ~59y · appointed 1997-10-27
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
CAMPBELL, Alexandria→
secretary · appointed 1992-06-30 · resigned 2003-01-21
Resigned
CAMPBELL, Charles Manson→
secretary · appointed 2003-01-21 · resigned 2024-02-07
Resigned
DURNAN, Michael Hearne→
secretary · resigned 1992-06-30
Resigned
CAMPBELL, Alexandria→
director · ~83y · appointed 1992-06-30 · resigned 2003-01-21
Resigned
CAMPBELL, Charles Manson→
director · ~86y · resigned 2021-07-05
Resigned
DURNAN, Michael Hearne→
director · ~61y · resigned 1992-06-30
Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

1
Total charges
1
Outstanding
1
Active lenders
Status:Lender:1 of 1 shown
TypeProperties
outstanding
Virgin Money
Clydesdale Bank Public Limited Company
Standard security1 property21/12/1989—
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (101 total)

accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-10-13
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-06-25
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-12-29
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-06-25
termination-secretary-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM02
2024-02-08
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-12-22
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-06-21
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-12-22
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-06-23
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2022-06-23
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2022-06-22
cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
2022-06-22
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-12-20
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-06-15
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-12-18