5TH GEAR LIMITED

💤Zombieactive
SC242094 · ltd · incorporated 2003-01-10
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
£63.2k
book net assets
Opportunity
80/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: Retail sale via mail order houses or via Internet
Sector: Wholesale & retail
ALSO REGISTERED FOR
  • 62090Other information technology service activities
Investor take
Pursue
Asset-holding vehicle with a 61-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 80/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (70/100, director aged 61). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Deleverage or restructure. Leverage at 100% of assets — consider sale of non-core assets or equity injection. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (73/100).

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
Confirmed no charges registered
85
Directors & officers
5 officers (2 active, 5 linked, 1 with DOB)
74
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
2 connected companies via shared directors
51
Filing history
63 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 £63,209
High leverage
Liabilities are 100% of total assets
Leverage
100%
Liabilities / Total assets

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
—
Net Worth
£63k
Current Assets
£66k
Current Liabilities
—
£0£13k£26k£40k£53k£66kMar 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£67.8k—
Current assets£65.9k—
Net assets£63.2k—
Average employees—100

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
3
filings
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
  • • 1 address
  • • 1 accounts
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (23 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-01-07
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  2. 2025-12-12
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  3. 2024-11-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  4. 2023-12-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  5. 2022-12-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  6. 2022-02-17
    ➕
    MURRAY-POORE, Jemima appointed
    secretary
  7. 2022-02-17
    📄
    appoint-person-secretary-company-with-name-date
    officers · AP03
  8. 2021-12-17
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  9. 2020-07-24
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  10. 2019-12-19
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  11. 2019-02-11
    📄
    termination-secretary-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM02
  12. 2019-01-31
    ➖
    POORE, Jonathan resigned
    secretary
  13. 2018-11-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  14. 2018-09-28
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  15. 2017-12-22
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  16. 2017-04-07
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  17. 2003-01-16
    ➕
    MURRAY-POORE, Veronica appointed
    director
  18. 2003-01-16
    ➕
    POORE, Jonathan appointed
    secretary
  19. 2003-01-16
    ➖
    OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED resigned
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  20. 2003-01-16
    ➖
    JORDANS (SCOTLAND) LIMITED resigned
    corporate-nominee-director
  21. 2003-01-10
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As 5TH GEAR LIMITED
  22. 2003-01-10
    ➕
    OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED appointed
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  23. 2003-01-10
    ➕
    JORDANS (SCOTLAND) LIMITED appointed
    corporate-nominee-director

Owner dependency

93/100
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 23 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Senior director age: Director aged approximately 61 — approaching natural succession window.

Succession & seller-readiness

85/100
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 61. Early succession window.
  • primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
  • primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 23 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 23 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 Veronica Murray-Poore
Individual · British · DOB 06/1965 · age 61
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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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
Incorporated2003-01-10
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC47910 — Retail sale via mail order houses or via Internet

Registered office

The Old Byre The Old Byre
Mill Hills Farm
Crieff
PH7 3QW
Scotland

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-12-31
Last made up to: 2025-03-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-01-21
Last: 2026-01-07

Officers (2 active · 3 resigned)

MURRAY-POORE, Jemima→
secretary · appointed 2022-02-17
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
MURRAY-POORE, Veronica→
director · ~61y · appointed 2003-01-16
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
POORE, Jonathan→
secretary · appointed 2003-01-16 · resigned 2019-01-31
Resigned
OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED→
corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 2003-01-10 · resigned 2003-01-16
Resigned
JORDANS (SCOTLAND) LIMITED→
corporate-nominee-director · appointed 2003-01-10 · resigned 2003-01-16
Resigned

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

Recent filings (63 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-01-07
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2026-01-07
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-12-12
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-01-20
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-11-27
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-01-11
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-12-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-01-11
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-12-30
appoint-person-secretary-company-with-name-date
officers · AP03
2022-02-17
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-01-11
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-12-17
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-01-11
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-09-15
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2020-07-24