JOHN O'GROATS FERRIES LIMITED

💤Zombieactive
SC144259 · ltd · incorporated 1993-05-07
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
£389.4k
book net assets
Opportunity
80/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 50100
Sector: Transportation & storage
Investor take
Pursue
Asset-holding vehicle with a 88-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 80/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 88). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Cash flow review and working-capital discipline. Cash down -49% YoY — forensic review of receivables, stock turns, and creditor days. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (73/100).

Data confidence

Overall: medium (76/100)

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
Confirmed no charges registered
85
Directors & officers
5 officers (2 active, 5 linked, 2 with DOB)
78
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
77 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
80/100Exceptional
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
90
Good data coverage for analysis.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · accounting standard not declared
Positive net assets
Net assets £389,380
Net assets shrinking
Down £245,714 YoY
Cash draining
Cash down 49% YoY
Cash YoY
-49%
Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
£299k
↓ 49% YoY
Net Worth
£389k
↓ 39% YoY
Current Assets
£317k
↓ 48% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
£0£127k£254k£381k£508k£635kMar 2024Mar 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2025-03-312024-03-31
Total assets£393.5k£641.2k
Current assets£317.0k£605.7k
Cash£298.8k£583.0k
Debtors£18.1k£22.6k
Net assets£389.4k£635.1k

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
1
filing
  • • 1 accounts
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (25 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-11-06
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-10-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  3. 2023-12-06
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  4. 2022-11-01
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  5. 2022-09-21
    📄
    change-account-reference-date-company-previous-shortened
    accounts · AA01
  6. 2022-04-06
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  7. 2021-12-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  8. 2021-01-22
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  9. 2019-12-13
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  10. 2019-01-24
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  11. 2018-01-09
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  12. 2017-01-20
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  13. 2016-05-21
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  14. 2016-02-10
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  15. 2015-05-29
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  16. 2015-01-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  17. 1996-08-29
    ➕
    THOMAS, Sheila Mary appointed
    director
  18. 1996-08-06
    ➖
    THOMAS, Ian Hughes resigned
    director
  19. 1993-05-07
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As JOHN O'GROATS FERRIES LIMITED
  20. 1993-05-07
    ➕
    FERMOR, Frederick Fraser appointed
    secretary
  21. 1993-05-07
    ➕
    OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED appointed
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  22. 1993-05-07
    ➖
    OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED resigned
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  23. 1993-05-07
    ➕
    THOMAS, Ian Hughes appointed
    director
  24. 1993-05-07
    ➕
    JORDANS (SCOTLAND) LIMITED appointed
    corporate-nominee-director
  25. 1993-05-07
    ➖
    JORDANS (SCOTLAND) 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 30 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 88 — succession pressure is live.

Succession & seller-readiness

100/100
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 88 years old. Natural succession window is now.
  • primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
  • primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 30 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 33 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
Mrs Sheila Mary Thomas
Individual · United Kingdom · DOB 03/1938 · age 88
75–100%
—75-100% shares01/05/2016

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

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
Incorporated1993-05-07
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC50100 — SIC 50100

Registered office

Ferry Office
John O'Groats
Caithness
KW1 4YR

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-12-31
Last made up to: 2025-03-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-05-14
Last: 2025-04-30

Officers (2 active · 3 resigned)

FERMOR, Frederick Fraser→
secretary · appointed 1993-05-07
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
THOMAS, Sheila Mary→
director · ~88y · appointed 1996-08-29
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED→
corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 1993-05-07 · resigned 1993-05-07
Resigned
THOMAS, Ian Hughes→
director · ~95y · appointed 1993-05-07 · resigned 1996-08-06
Resigned
JORDANS (SCOTLAND) LIMITED→
corporate-nominee-director · appointed 1993-05-07 · resigned 1993-05-07
Resigned

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

Recent filings (77 total)

accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-11-06
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-04-30
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-10-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-05-01
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-12-06
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-05-01
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-11-01
change-account-reference-date-company-previous-shortened
accounts · AA01
2022-09-21
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-04-30
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2022-04-06
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-12-23
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-05-11
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-01-22
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-05-01
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-12-13