MCCARTNEY (DUMFRIES) LIMITED

💤Zombieactive

SC139555 · ltd · incorporated 1992-08-04

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 Aug 2024

Net worth

£540.8k

book net assets

Opportunity

82/100

Exceptional

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What this business does

Primary activity: Painting

Sector: Construction

ALSO REGISTERED FOR

43991Scaffold erection

Investor take

Pursue

Active trading company with a 68-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 68). 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 33.8y

45/100

under pressure

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

· Oldest live charge is 33.8 years old — likely at or near maturity.
· Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
· Distress signals active — lender appetite narrows.

Data confidence

Overall: high (81/100)

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

Company profile

address, 2 SIC codes, incorporation date

100

Financials

2 years of iXBRL accounts extracted (YoY deltas available) + narrative notes parsed

Lenders & charges

1 charges (1/1 with lender, 1/1 with type)

Directors & officers

7 officers (1 active, 7 linked, 2 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

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

Director network

10 connected companies via shared directors

Filing history

79 filings on record

Gazette notices

No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)

Opportunity Score

82/100Exceptional

PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional

Strong composite across quality, acquirability, and risk. High-priority target — progress to serious diligence.

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.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · accounting standard not declared

Positive net assets

Net assets £540,760

Cash YoY

+26%

Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts

Cash

£373k

↑ 26% YoY

Net Worth

£541k

↑ 2.3% YoY

Current Assets

£507k

↑ 22% YoY

Current Liabilities

—

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown

Metric	2024-08-31	2023-08-31
Total assets	£579.8k	£577.1k
Current assets	£507.1k	£414.4k
Cash	£373.3k	£296.6k
Debtors	£112.2k	£106.8k
Net assets	£540.8k	£528.5k

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

filings

Last 180 days

filings

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (30 events)Click to expand

2025-05-14
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-05-02
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-05-11
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-05-24
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-05-20
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-05-05
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-05-15
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2018-05-21
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2017-05-29
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2016-05-24
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2015-09-01
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2015-05-26
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2014-08-12
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2014-05-23
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2013-08-19
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2008-10-07
➖
WELLS, Yvonne Linda resigned
secretary
2003-02-28
➖
MCKEAN, William Stewart resigned
secretary
2003-02-28
➕
WELLS, Yvonne Linda appointed
secretary
2000-07-20
➖
HEWITSON, William James resigned
secretary
2000-07-20
➕
MCKEAN, William Stewart appointed
secretary
2000-07-20
➖
CROSBIE, Dennis resigned
director
1992-08-10
🔒
Charge registered #1
Lender: The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
1992-08-04
🏢
Company incorporated
As MCCARTNEY (DUMFRIES) LIMITED
1992-08-04
➕
HEWITSON, William James appointed
director
1992-08-04
➕
HEWITSON, William James appointed
secretary
1992-08-04
➕
COMBINED SECRETARIAL SERVICES LIMITED appointed
corporate-nominee-secretary
1992-08-04
➖
COMBINED SECRETARIAL SERVICES LIMITED resigned
corporate-nominee-secretary
1992-08-04
➕
CROSBIE, Dennis appointed
director
1992-08-04
➕
COMBINED NOMINEES LIMITED appointed
corporate-nominee-director
1992-08-04
➖
COMBINED NOMINEES LIMITED resigned
corporate-nominee-director

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.
+Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 34 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
+Founder age: Director aged approximately 68 — succession pressure is live.

Succession & seller-readiness

95/100

Likely off-market candidate

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

SIGNALS

primaryFounder aged 63+: Senior director is approximately 68. Approaching typical UK retirement age — succession thinking likely.
primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 34 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 34 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%

Name	Shares	Voting rights	Nature of control	Notified
Mr William James Hewitson Individual · Scottish · DOB 08/1958 · age 68	75–100%	75–100%	board controlsig. influence75-100% shares · 75-100% voting · board control · significant influence	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

Active · Construction · DG postcode area

Company	Est. value	Turnover	Net worth	Staff	Age	Opp	Director
DAVID HARDIE ENGINEERING LTD.→ SC162759 · est 1996	£1.92M £1.37M–£2.46M	—	—	68	30y	87	66y
ACON LIMITED→ SC277386 · est 2004	—	—	£29.0k	—	21y	83	62y
ICM DEVELOPMENTS LIMITED→ SC332169 · est 2007	—	—	£515.5k	—	18y	83	68y
NITH VALLEY CONSTRUCTION LIMITED→ SC239606 · est 2002	—	—	—	10	23y	83	64y
A & H FLOOR COVERING SPECIALISTS LIMITED→ SC229101 · est 2002	—	—	—	500	24y	82	73y
A.I. TONNAR LIMITED→ SC221253 · est 2001	—	—	£264.5k	—	24y	82	68y
BELL ELECTRICAL GROUP LIMITED→ SC150935 · est 1994	—	—	£990.5k	—	31y	82	79y
BORDER HOMES LTD→ SC388242 · est 2010	—	—	—	1400	15y	82	69y
BUILDING CRAFTSMEN (YEOVIL) LIMITED→ SC104994 · est 1987	—	—	£2.32M	—	38y	82	68y
DONALD C. MCROBERT & SON LIMITED→ SC271631 · est 2004	—	—	£107.3k	—	21y	82	79y
ENERGY CENTRE SCOTLAND LIMITED→ SC395458 · est 2011	—	—	£200.6k	—	15y	82	66y
FERRIE HEATING SERVICES LIMITED→ SC356337 · est 2009	—	—	£31.1k	—	17y	82	60y

Peers ranked by estimated value, then turnover, then opportunity score.See all →

🔒Tailored diligence questions

8 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

Incorporated1992-08-04

Jurisdictionscotland

Primary SIC43341 — Painting

Registered office

The Hollies

Peatford

Lockerbie

DG11 1BJ

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2026-05-31

Last made up to: 2024-08-31

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2026-08-18

Last: 2025-08-04

Officers (1 active · 6 resigned)

HEWITSON, William James→

director · ~68y · appointed 1992-08-04

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

HEWITSON, William James→

secretary · appointed 1992-08-04 · resigned 2000-07-20

Resigned

MCKEAN, William Stewart→

secretary · appointed 2000-07-20 · resigned 2003-02-28

Resigned

WELLS, Yvonne Linda→

secretary · appointed 2003-02-28 · resigned 2008-10-07

Resigned

COMBINED SECRETARIAL SERVICES LIMITED→

corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 1992-08-04 · resigned 1992-08-04

Resigned

CROSBIE, Dennis→

director · ~88y · appointed 1992-08-04 · resigned 2000-07-20

Resigned

COMBINED NOMINEES LIMITED→

corporate-nominee-director · appointed 1992-08-04 · resigned 1992-08-04

Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

Total charges

Outstanding

Active lenders

Status:Lender:1 of 1 shown

			Type	Properties
	outstanding	Lloyds Banking Group The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC	Floating charge	1 property	10/08/1992	—

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