ELMHURST TRANSPORT (SCOTLAND) LTD.

🌳Matureactive
SC181540 · ltd · incorporated 1997-12-16
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 28.1y 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 material changes in the last 90 days.

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
£216.1k
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: Freight transport by road
Sector: Transportation & storage
Investor take
Pursue
Strong opportunity: active trading company with exceptional profile and bankable structure.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (70/100, director aged 59). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Discharge stale live charges. 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 · 2 lenders · oldest 28.1y

50/100
clean up first

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

  • · Oldest live charge is 28.1 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Two lenders — manageable, but coordination required.
  • · Legal-friction score 25/100 — workable, but lender will want more DD.

Data confidence

Overall: medium (71/100)

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
1 year of iXBRL accounts extracted (no YoY comparison) + narrative notes parsed
50
Lenders & charges
2 charges (2/2 with lender, 2/2 with type)
90
Directors & officers
5 officers (3 active, 5 linked, 2 with DOB)
78
Ownership & PSC
2 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared
90
Director network
1 connected companies via shared directors
48
Filing history
79 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.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · accounting standard not declared
Positive net assets
Net assets £216,123

Key financials

1 year extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
£6k
Net Worth
£216k
Current Assets
£452k
Current Liabilities
—

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2025-03-31
Total assets£395.8k
Current assets£452.3k
Cash£6.1k
Debtors£436.5k
Net assets£216.1k

Amounts extracted automatically from iXBRL. Fields left blank were not reported or not mapped. Values in GBP unless stated.

🔒Filing-note intelligence

2 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
0
filings
Last 90 days
0
filings
Last 180 days
0
filings
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (25 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-10-06
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-10-04
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  3. 2024-01-11
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  4. 2022-10-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  5. 2021-12-07
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  6. 2020-07-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  7. 2019-09-06
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  8. 2018-12-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  9. 2017-11-10
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  10. 2016-07-07
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  11. 2016-01-13
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  12. 2015-06-24
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  13. 2015-01-09
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  14. 2014-09-09
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  15. 2014-01-03
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  16. 2005-11-15
    🔒
    Charge registered #2
    Lender: The Royal Bank of Scotland Commercial Services Limited
  17. 1998-07-02
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
  18. 1998-01-20
    ➕
    DONOGHUE, Shirley Agnes Denham appointed
    secretary
  19. 1998-01-20
    ➕
    DONOGHUE, Michael Anthony appointed
    director
  20. 1998-01-20
    ➕
    DONOGHUE, Shirley Agnes Denham appointed
    director
  21. 1998-01-20
    ➖
    OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED resigned
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  22. 1998-01-20
    ➖
    JORDANS (SCOTLAND) LIMITED resigned
    corporate-nominee-director
  23. 1997-12-16
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As ELMHURST TRANSPORT (SCOTLAND) LTD.
  24. 1997-12-16
    ➕
    OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED appointed
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  25. 1997-12-16
    ➕
    JORDANS (SCOTLAND) LIMITED appointed
    corporate-nominee-director

Owner dependency

84/100
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 29 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Senior director age: Director aged approximately 59 — approaching natural succession window.
  • +Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

Succession & seller-readiness

76/100
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.
  • secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
  • primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 29 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 29 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
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr Michael Anthony Donoghue
Individual · British · DOB 04/1967 · age 59
25–50%
—25-50% shares06/04/2016
Mrs Shirley Agnes Denham Donoghue
Individual · British · DOB 08/1968 · age 58
25–50%
—25-50% shares06/04/2016

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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CompanyEst. valueTurnoverNet worthStaffAgeOppDirector
MAXI HAULAGE LIMITED→
SC054932 · est 1974
£5.39M
£4.04M–£6.74M
——31952y8882y
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SC199192 · est 1999
£3.37M
£2.53M–£4.22M
——580026y8560y
T FRENCH & SON LTD→
SC292873 · est 2005
£1.53M
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——9120y8780y
MAXI WAREHOUSING LIMITED→
SC062338 · est 1977
£28.8k
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——049y8382y
DISCOVER SCOTLAND TOURS LTD.→
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——£310.9k—19y8368y
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——£279.5k—18y8359y
THE STEAMSHIP SIR WALTER SCOTT LIMITED→
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——£493.0k—21y8372y
AERO FASTENER CO. LTD.→
SC174293 · est 1997 · no financials extracted
————29y8277y
ANGUS LAMBIE MOTOR ENGINEERS LIMITED→
SC264274 · est 2004
————22y8267y
CMH TRANSPORT LIMITED→
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——£324.9k—27y8259y
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Peers ranked by estimated value, then turnover, then opportunity score.See all →
🔒Tailored diligence questions

6 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
Incorporated1997-12-16
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC49410 — Freight transport by road

Registered office

37 Portland Road
Kilmarnock
Ayrshire
KA1 2DJ

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-12-31
Last made up to: 2025-03-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-12-30
Last: 2025-12-16

Officers (3 active · 2 resigned)

DONOGHUE, Shirley Agnes Denham→
secretary · appointed 1998-01-20
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
DONOGHUE, Michael Anthony→
director · ~59y · appointed 1998-01-20
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
DONOGHUE, Shirley Agnes Denham→
director · ~58y · appointed 1998-01-20
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED→
corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 1997-12-16 · resigned 1998-01-20
Resigned
JORDANS (SCOTLAND) LIMITED→
corporate-nominee-director · appointed 1997-12-16 · resigned 1998-01-20
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 Royal Bank of Scotland Commercial Services Limited
Floating charge1 property15/11/2005—
outstanding
Lloyds Banking Group
The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
Bond & floating charge1 property02/07/1998—
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (79 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-01-19
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2025-10-06
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-01-08
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2024-10-04
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2024-01-11
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-12-21
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-01-09
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2022-10-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-12-30
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2021-12-07
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-12-23
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2020-07-23
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-12-18
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2019-09-06
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2018-12-31