HIGH WATER (SCOTLAND) LTD.

🌳Matureactive

SC242191 · ltd · incorporated 2003-01-13

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

hardening · 12-months

Already tight — no obvious softening catalysts on the horizon.

· Thesis: well-run, low negotiation leverage

🔒Estimated value

—

Upgrade to see

Turnover

—

year to Dec 2024

Net worth

£2.08M

book net assets

Opportunity

82/100

Exceptional

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What this business does

Primary activity: SIC 36000

Sector: Water supply & waste

Investor take

Pursue

Strong opportunity: active trading company with exceptional profile and bankable structure.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

2 live charges · oldest 0.1y

50/100

clean up first

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

· Newest facility, 0.1 years old — likely still in initial term.
· 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, 1 SIC codes, incorporation date

100

Financials

2 years of iXBRL accounts extracted (YoY deltas available) + narrative notes parsed

Lenders & charges

2 charges (2/2 with lender, 2/2 with type)

Directors & officers

10 officers (6 active, 10 linked, 6 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared

Director network

Network not yet resolved

Filing history

80 filings on record

Gazette notices

No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)

Opportunity Score

82/100Exceptional

PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional

Strong composite across quality, acquirability, and risk. High-priority target — progress to serious diligence.

Business quality

Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.

Acquirability

Strong succession / seller-readiness signals.

Risk profile

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 £2,081,486

Cash YoY

+103%

Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts

Cash

£621k

↑ 103% YoY

Net Worth

£2.1m

↑ 5.9% YoY

Current Assets

£2.4m

↑ 5.0% YoY

Current Liabilities

—

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown

Metric	2024-12-31	2023-12-31
Total assets	£2.67M	£2.42M
Current assets	£2.36M	£2.25M
Cash	£621.4k	£305.8k
Debtors	£872.3k	£1.16M
Net assets	£2.08M	£1.97M

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

filings

• 2 mortgage

Last 90 days

filings

• 2 mortgage
• 1 confirmation-statement

Last 180 days

filings

• 2 mortgage
• 1 confirmation-statement

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (34 events)Click to expand

2026-04-08
📄
mortgage-create-with-deed-with-charge-number-charge-creation-date
mortgage · MR01
2026-04-08
📄
mortgage-create-with-deed-with-charge-number-charge-creation-date
mortgage · MR01
2026-04-01
🔒
Charge registered #2
Lender: Bank of Scotland PLC
2026-03-26
🔒
Charge registered #1
Lender: Bank of Scotland PLC
2025-07-14
📄
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2025-07-07
➖
MACKELLAR, Iain Alasdair resigned
director
2025-06-16
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2024-06-27
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2024-04-12
📄
memorandum-articles
incorporation · MA
2024-04-12
📄
resolution
resolution · RESOLUTIONS
2023-09-25
📄
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2023-09-20
➕
MACKELLAR, Iain Alasdair appointed
director
2023-07-07
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2022-08-10
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2021-07-27
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2021-01-08
📄
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2021-01-08
📄
change-person-secretary-company-with-change-date
officers · CH03
2021-01-08
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2020-09-29
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2020-01-17
📄
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2019-06-04
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2016-09-23
➕
FORSTER, Craig appointed
director
2016-09-23
➕
INNES, Richard appointed
director
2015-03-25
➕
GRAY, Jeffrey appointed
director
2015-01-06
➕
AYRES, Michael appointed
secretary
2014-12-31
➖
STUART, Duncan Gregor resigned
secretary
2008-05-28
➕
AYRES, Michael William appointed
director
2003-01-13
🏢
Company incorporated
As HIGH WATER (SCOTLAND) LTD.
2003-01-13
➕
SAMUEL, Warwick appointed
director
2003-01-13
➕
STUART, Duncan Gregor appointed
secretary
2003-01-13
➕
BRIAN REID LTD. appointed
corporate-nominee-secretary
2003-01-13
➖
BRIAN REID LTD. resigned
corporate-nominee-secretary
2003-01-13
➕
STEPHEN MABBOTT LTD. appointed
corporate-nominee-director
2003-01-13
➖
STEPHEN MABBOTT LTD. resigned
corporate-nominee-director

Owner dependency

58/100

Moderate — manageable with handover

Some founder dependency, but not acute. A structured handover period should cover most risk.

FACTORS

-5 active directors: Broader management team in place — suggests transferable governance.
+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

70/100

Strong succession signal

Multiple signals suggest succession is on the horizon. Candidate for proactive outreach.

SIGNALS

secondaryFounder aged 58+: Senior director is approximately 61. Early succession window.
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

Name	Shares	Voting rights	Nature of control	Notified
Mr Michael William Ayres Individual · British · DOB 07/1970 · age 56	25–50%	25–50%	25-50% shares · 25-50% voting	30/06/2016

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

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

Incorporated2003-01-13

Jurisdictionscotland

Primary SIC36000 — SIC 36000

Registered office

Unit 10 Grigorhill Industrial Estate

Nairn

Inverness-Shire

IV12 5HX

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2026-09-30

Last made up to: 2024-12-31

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2027-01-27

Last: 2026-01-13