BRIAN MURRAY CATERING SERVICES LIMITED

💤Zombieactive
SC190064 · ltd · incorporated 1998-10-01
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 Sept 2024
Net worth
£275.2k
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: Event catering activities
Sector: Accommodation & food service
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 67-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 67). 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

2 live charges · oldest 21.6y

45/100
under pressure

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

  • · Oldest live charge is 21.6 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
  • · Distress signals active — lender appetite narrows.

Data confidence

Overall: medium (78/100)

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
2 charges (2/2 with lender, 2/2 with type)
90
Directors & officers
4 officers (1 active, 4 linked, 1 with DOB)
75
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
1 connected companies via shared directors
48
Filing history
69 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 £275,243
Cash YoY
-2%
Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
£16k
↓ 2.2% YoY
Net Worth
£275k
~ YoY
Current Assets
£38k
↑ 55% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
£0£55k£110k£165k£220k£275kSept 2023Sept 2024

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2024-09-302023-09-30
Total assets£293.3k£301.3k
Current assets£37.8k£24.4k
Cash£15.6k£16.0k
Debtors£18.5k£3.2k
Net assets£275.2k£272.9k

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 (26 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-06-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-03-20
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  3. 2023-01-11
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  4. 2022-06-14
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  5. 2022-04-15
    ➖
    GRAY & GRAY resigned
    corporate-secretary
  6. 2022-04-15
    📄
    termination-secretary-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM02
  7. 2021-06-25
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  8. 2020-02-07
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  9. 2019-01-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  10. 2018-06-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  11. 2017-10-17
    📄
    mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
    mortgage · MR04
  12. 2017-10-17
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #2
  13. 2017-01-12
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  14. 2016-01-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  15. 2015-10-27
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  16. 2015-10-27
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  17. 2015-10-27
    📄
    change-corporate-secretary-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH04
  18. 2004-11-04
    🔒
    Charge registered #2
    Lender: Clydesdale Bank Public Limited Company
  19. 2004-09-23
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: Clydesdale Bank Public Limited Company
  20. 1998-10-01
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As BRIAN MURRAY CATERING SERVICES LIMITED
  21. 1998-10-01
    ➕
    MURRAY, Brian appointed
    director
  22. 1998-10-01
    ➕
    GRAY & GRAY appointed
    corporate-secretary
  23. 1998-10-01
    ➕
    OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED appointed
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  24. 1998-10-01
    ➖
    OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED resigned
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  25. 1998-10-01
    ➕
    JORDANS (SCOTLAND) LIMITED appointed
    corporate-nominee-director
  26. 1998-10-01
    ➖
    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.
  • +Founder name in company name: Company name contains director surname "MURRAY" — strong identity link between founder and business.
  • +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 28 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 67 — 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 67. 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 28 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 28 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 Brian Murray
Individual · British · DOB 01/1959 · age 67
75–100%
75–100%board control75-100% shares · 75-100% voting · board control06/04/2016

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 →

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SODEXO REMOTE SITES HOLDINGS LIMITED→
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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
Incorporated1998-10-01
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC56210 — Event catering activities

Registered office

Take5 Cafeteria
Hareness Road Altens Industrial Estate
Aberdeen
AB12 3LE

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-06-30
Last made up to: 2024-09-30
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-10-13
Last: 2025-09-29

Officers (1 active · 3 resigned)

MURRAY, Brian→
director · ~67y · appointed 1998-10-01
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
GRAY & GRAY→
corporate-secretary · appointed 1998-10-01 · resigned 2022-04-15
Resigned
OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED→
corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 1998-10-01 · resigned 1998-10-01
Resigned
JORDANS (SCOTLAND) LIMITED→
corporate-nominee-director · appointed 1998-10-01 · resigned 1998-10-01
Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

2
Total charges
1
Outstanding
1
Active lenders
Status:Lender:2 of 2 shown
TypeProperties
satisfied
Virgin Money
Clydesdale Bank Public Limited Company
Standard security1 property04/11/200417/10/2017
outstanding
Virgin Money
Clydesdale Bank Public Limited Company
Floating charge1 property23/09/2004—
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (69 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-10-01
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-06-26
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-10-01
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-03-20
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-10-12
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-01-11
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-10-06
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-06-14
termination-secretary-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM02
2022-04-15
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-09-30
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-06-25
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-10-09
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-02-07
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-10-08
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-01-30