ORKNEY OFFICE SUPPLIES LIMITED

🌳Matureactive
SC117991 · ltd · incorporated 1989-05-18
Investment thesis
Well-run mature business — low negotiation leverage; premium likely.
Why interesting: Textbook target; clean filings, stable trading.
Why risky: No pressure on seller; any deal likely at full price.
Why now
Window steady · low confidence
Steady and tidy — no seller pressure yet. Approach only if an angle opens.
Opportunity decay
approaching window · 12-months
Approaching a transaction window — refinance or sale event plausible in the next 12 months.
  • · Oldest live charge 36.6y old — refinance window within 12 months
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 Dec 2025
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
🔔
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What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 33130
Sector: Manufacturing
ALSO REGISTERED FOR
  • 47410Retail sale of computers, peripheral units and software in specialised stores
  • 47789Other retail sale of new goods in specialised stores (other than commercial art galleries and opticians)
  • 95110Repair of computers and peripheral equipment
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 75-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 75). 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 · oldest 36.6y

65/100
clean up first

Refinance viable after a tidy-up — address the highlighted items first.

  • · Oldest live charge is 36.6 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
  • · Legal-friction score 25/100 — workable, but lender will want more DD.

Data confidence

Overall: high (83/100)

Strong data coverage across all sections. AI outputs should be trusted with minimal caveats.

Company profile
address, 4 SIC codes, incorporation date
100
Financials
3 years of iXBRL accounts extracted + narrative notes parsed
95
Lenders & charges
2 charges (2/2 with lender, 2/2 with type)
90
Directors & officers
12 officers (3 active, 12 linked, 8 with DOB)
83
Ownership & PSC
2 active PSC(s) of 3 total, 3 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
122 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

3 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
—
Net Worth
—
Current Assets
—
Current Liabilities
—
£0£0£0£0£0£0Dec 2023Dec 2024Dec 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102
Metric2025-12-312024-12-312023-12-31
Turnover——£411.4k
Gross profit——£195.7k
Operating profit——£17.6k
Profit before tax——£17.8k
Average employees600700700

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
1
filing
  • • 1 accounts
Last 90 days
1
filing
  • • 1 accounts
Last 180 days
1
filing
  • • 1 accounts
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (40 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-05-05
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2025-05-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  3. 2025-02-25
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  4. 2024-12-05
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  5. 2024-05-07
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  6. 2023-06-06
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  7. 2022-09-05
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  8. 2022-06-10
    ➕
    WHITELAW, Lorna Paterson appointed
    secretary
  9. 2022-06-10
    ➕
    WHITELAW, Lorna Paterson appointed
    director
  10. 2022-06-10
    ➖
    FOUBISTER, Brenda Mary resigned
    secretary
  11. 2022-06-10
    ➖
    FOUBISTER, Brenda Mary resigned
    director
  12. 2022-06-10
    📄
    cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
  13. 2022-06-10
    📄
    notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
  14. 2022-06-10
    📄
    termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM01
  15. 2022-06-10
    📄
    termination-secretary-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM02
  16. 2022-06-10
    📄
    appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
    officers · AP01
  17. 2022-06-10
    📄
    appoint-person-secretary-company-with-name-date
    officers · AP03
  18. 2022-05-10
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  19. 2022-05-10
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  20. 2021-07-19
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  21. 2021-04-29
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  22. 2020-09-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  23. 2019-09-20
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  24. 2017-10-13
    ➖
    NICOLSON, James William resigned
    director
  25. 2007-11-08
    ➖
    STEPHEN, David St.Clair resigned
    director
  26. 2003-11-28
    🔒
    Charge registered #2
    Lender: The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland
  27. 2003-10-30
    ➕
    STEPHEN, Alison appointed
    director
  28. 2001-05-31
    ➖
    WALLS, Gavin Robert resigned
    director
  29. 1996-10-01
    ➕
    FOUBISTER, Brenda Mary appointed
    secretary
  30. 1996-10-01
    ➕
    FOUBISTER, Brenda Mary appointed
    director
  31. 1996-05-08
    ➖
    MACLEAN, Hamish Edward resigned
    secretary
  32. 1996-05-08
    ➖
    MACLEAN, Hamish Edward resigned
    director
  33. 1993-02-04
    ➕
    WALLS, Gavin Robert appointed
    director
  34. 1991-01-28
    ➕
    MACLEAN, Hamish Edward appointed
    secretary
  35. 1991-01-28
    ➖
    MEEK, Melanie resigned
    secretary
  36. 1991-01-28
    ➕
    MACLEAN, Hamish Edward appointed
    director
  37. 1991-01-28
    ➖
    MEEK, Melanie resigned
    director
  38. 1991-01-28
    ➕
    STEPHEN, David St.Clair appointed
    director
  39. 1989-11-02
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland
  40. 1989-05-18
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As ORKNEY OFFICE SUPPLIES LIMITED

Owner dependency

83/100
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
  • +Two-director setup: Only two active directors — typical of owner-managed SMEs but limits succession.
  • +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 23 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 75 — succession pressure is live.

Succession & seller-readiness

96/100
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.
  • secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
  • primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 23 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 37 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

2 active beneficial owners · dominant holder ≥75%
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mrs Alison Stephen
Individual · British · DOB 01/1951 · age 75
75–100%
75–100%board controlsig. influence75-100% shares · 75-100% voting · board control · significant influence · firm interest06/04/2016
Miss Lorna Paterson Whitelaw
Individual · Scottish · DOB 09/1982 · age 44
——sig. influencesignificant influence10/06/2022
1 historic (ceased) PSC
  • Mrs Brenda Mary Foubisterceased 10/06/2022· significant influence

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

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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
Incorporated1989-05-18
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC33130 — SIC 33130

Registered office

Units 2-3 Crowness Place
Hatston
Kirkwall
KW15 1RA
Scotland

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2027-09-30
Last made up to: 2025-12-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-05-16
Last: 2025-05-02

Officers (3 active · 9 resigned)

WHITELAW, Lorna Paterson→
secretary · appointed 2022-06-10
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
STEPHEN, Alison→
director · ~75y · appointed 2003-10-30
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
WHITELAW, Lorna Paterson→
director · ~44y · appointed 2022-06-10
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
FOUBISTER, Brenda Mary→
secretary · appointed 1996-10-01 · resigned 2022-06-10
Resigned
MACLEAN, Hamish Edward→
secretary · appointed 1991-01-28 · resigned 1996-05-08
Resigned
MEEK, Melanie→
secretary · resigned 1991-01-28
Resigned
FOUBISTER, Brenda Mary→
director · ~66y · appointed 1996-10-01 · resigned 2022-06-10
Resigned
MACLEAN, Hamish Edward→
director · ~69y · appointed 1991-01-28 · resigned 1996-05-08
Resigned
MEEK, Melanie→
director · ~57y · resigned 1991-01-28
Resigned
NICOLSON, James William→
director · ~73y · resigned 2017-10-13
Resigned
STEPHEN, David St.Clair→
director · ~84y · appointed 1991-01-28 · resigned 2007-11-08
Resigned
WALLS, Gavin Robert→
director · ~58y · appointed 1993-02-04 · resigned 2001-05-31
Resigned

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
TypeProperties
outstanding
Lloyds Banking Group
The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland
Standard security2 properties28/11/2003—
outstanding
Lloyds Banking Group
The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland
Bond & floating charge1 property02/11/1989—
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (122 total)

accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2026-05-05
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-05-27
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-05-13
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2025-02-25
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2024-12-05
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-05-14
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-05-07
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-06-06
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-05-15
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-09-05
cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
2022-06-10
notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
2022-06-10
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2022-06-10
termination-secretary-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM02
2022-06-10
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2022-06-10