JAMES MCLAREN & SON (BAKERS) LIMITED
🌳Matureactive
SC214218 · ltd · incorporated 2000-12-28
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.
Opportunity decay
approaching window · 12-months
Approaching a transaction window — refinance or sale event plausible in the next 12 months.
- · Oldest live charge 23.6y old — refinance window within 12 months
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to May 2025
Net worth
£21.4k
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
What this business does
Primary activity: Manufacture of bread; manufacture of fresh pastry goods and cakes
Sector: Manufacturing
ALSO REGISTERED FOR
- 47240Retail sale of bread, cakes, flour confectionery and sugar confectionery in specialised stores
Investor take
PursueAsset-holding vehicle with a 65-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.
Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 85/100. Strong seller-intent signal (75/100, director aged 65). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).
🏦
Refinance opportunity
1 live charge · oldest 23.6y
85/100
ready
Refinance conversation should be productive — structure clean and timing right.
- · Oldest live charge is 23.6 years old — likely at or near maturity.
- · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
- · Legal-friction score 15/100 — clean.
Data confidence
Overall: medium (77/100)Adequate coverage. AI outputs are reliable for the sections scored high; verify the rest in diligence.
Company profile
address, 2 SIC codes, incorporation date
100
Financials
2 years of iXBRL accounts extracted (YoY deltas available) + narrative notes parsed
75
Lenders & charges
1 charges (1/1 with lender, 1/1 with type)
90
Directors & officers
5 officers (3 active, 5 linked, 3 with DOB)
82
Ownership & PSC
2 active PSC(s) of 3 total, 3 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
73 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 declaredPositive net assets
Net assets £21,413
Net assets shrinking
Down £5,853 YoY
Cash YoY
+41%
Year on year
Key financials
2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accountsCash
£31k
↑ 41% YoY
Net Worth
£21k
↓ 21% YoY
Current Assets
—
Current Liabilities
—
Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series
Financials
Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown| Metric | 2025-05-31 | 2024-05-31 |
|---|---|---|
| Cash | £30.9k | £21.9k |
| Net assets | £21.4k | £27.3k |
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 (27 events)Click to expand
- 2025-10-03📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2025-07-07📍move-registers-to-registered-office-company-with-new-addressaddress · AD04
- 2025-06-24📄second-filing-of-director-appointment-with-nameofficers · RP04AP01
- 2025-02-23📄change-to-a-person-with-significant-controlpersons-with-significant-control · PSC04
- 2025-02-23📄notification-of-a-person-with-significant-controlpersons-with-significant-control · PSC01
- 2025-02-19📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2024-09-21📄mortgage-satisfy-charge-fullmortgage · MR04
- 2024-09-21🔓Charge satisfied #1
- 2024-04-30📄change-to-a-person-with-significant-controlpersons-with-significant-control · PSC04
- 2024-04-08📄change-person-director-company-with-change-dateofficers · CH01
- 2023-11-01📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2023-04-19📄appoint-person-director-company-with-name-dateofficers · AP01
- 2023-04-17📄termination-director-company-with-name-termination-dateofficers · TM01
- 2023-04-10➕SYMNS, Sarah Allison Campbell appointeddirector
- 2023-03-02📄change-to-a-person-with-significant-controlpersons-with-significant-control · PSC04
- 2022-12-14📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2022-10-22➖MCLAREN, William resigneddirector
- 2021-11-15📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2021-01-29📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2019-12-11📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2002-09-20🔒Charge registered #1Lender: The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland
- 2000-12-28🏢Company incorporatedAs JAMES MCLAREN & SON (BAKERS) LIMITED
- 2000-12-28➕MURRAY, Karen Frances appointedsecretary
- 2000-12-28➕MURRAY, Karen Frances appointeddirector
- 2000-12-28➕OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED appointedcorporate-nominee-secretary
- 2000-12-28➖OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED resignedcorporate-nominee-secretary
- 2000-12-28➕MCLAREN, William appointeddirector
Owner dependency
83/100
Critical — business is the founderThe 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 25 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
- +Founder age: Director aged approximately 65 — succession pressure is live.
Succession & seller-readiness
86/100
Likely off-market candidateStrong acquirability signals converging. Worth approaching directly — this is how off-market deals start.
SIGNALS
- primaryFounder aged 63+: Senior director is approximately 65. Approaching typical UK retirement age — succession thinking likely.
- secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
- primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 25 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
- secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 25 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
cleanNo 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| Name | Shares | Voting rights | Nature of control | Notified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Karen Frances Murray Individual · British · DOB 10/1961 · age 65 | 50–75% | 50–75% | board control50-75% shares · 50-75% voting · board control | 06/04/2016 |
Mrs Sarah Allison Campbell Symns Individual · British · DOB 02/1990 · age 36 | 25–50% | 25–50% | 25-50% shares · 25-50% voting | 10/02/2025 |
1 historic (ceased) PSC
- William Mclarenceased 06/04/2016· 25-50% shares
From Companies House Persons with Significant Control filings. Share ranges are banded per the public PSC regime.
Similar companies
Active · Food & drink · DD postcode area| Company | Est. value | Turnover | Net worth | Staff | Age | Opp | Director |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HIGHLAND GAME LIMITED→ SC179833 · est 1997 | — | — | — | 96 | 28y | 85 | 62y |
| CIMAD LTD→ SC864880 · est 2025 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| DIPSTICK LTD→ SC869618 · est 2025 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| DISTILLUTIONS LTD→ SC575133 · est 2017 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 8y | — | — |
| FERNS CAKES LTD→ SC662562 · est 2020 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 5y | — | — |
| GIN BOTHY LIMITED→ SC501575 · est 2015 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 11y | — | — |
| KEPTIE BAKERY LIMITED→ SC288804 · est 2005 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 20y | — | — |
| OGILVY SPIRITS LIMITED→ SC455172 · est 2013 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 12y | — | — |
| PETIT PATISSIER LTD→ SC836097 · est 2025 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 1y | — | — |
| PIE BOBS MANUFACTURING LIMITED→ SC664500 · est 2020 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 5y | — | — |
| PROSPERE LIMITED→ SC291061 · est 2005 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 20y | — | — |
| QUALITY PORK PROCESSORS LIMITED→ SC090365 · est 1984 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 41y | — | — |
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
Incorporated2000-12-28
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC10710 — Manufacture of bread; manufacture of fresh pastry goods and cakes
Registered office
22-26 Market Street
Forfar
Angus
DD8 3EW
Filing status
Accounts
Next due: 2027-02-28
Last made up to: 2025-05-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-05-14
Last: 2025-04-30
Officers (3 active · 2 resigned)
MURRAY, Karen Frances→
Activesecretary · appointed 2000-12-28
View their other companies + combined net worth →
MURRAY, Karen Frances→
Activedirector · ~65y · appointed 2000-12-28
View their other companies + combined net worth →
SYMNS, Sarah Allison Campbell→
Activedirector · ~36y · appointed 2023-04-10
View their other companies + combined net worth →
OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED→
Resignedcorporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 2000-12-28 · resigned 2000-12-28
MCLAREN, William→
Resigneddirector · ~86y · appointed 2000-12-28 · resigned 2022-10-22
Click a director name to see their full track record across all companies.
Mortgages & charges
1
Total charges
0
Outstanding
0
Active lenders
Status:Lender:1 of 1 shown
| Type | Properties | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| satisfied | Lloyds Banking Group The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland | Bond & floating charge | 1 property | 20/09/2002 | 21/09/2024 |
Recent filings (73 total)
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-10-03
move-registers-to-registered-office-company-with-new-address
address · AD04
2025-07-07
second-filing-of-director-appointment-with-name
officers · RP04AP01
2025-06-24
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-05-19
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2025-02-23
notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
2025-02-23
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-02-19
mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
mortgage · MR04
2024-09-21
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2024-04-30
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-04-30
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2024-04-08
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-02-28
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-11-01
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2023-04-19
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2023-04-17