MACDONALD BROS. LTD.
🌳Matureactive
SC256349 · ltd · incorporated 2003-09-21
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 22.5y old — refinance window within 12 months
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Oct 2024
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 10130
Sector: Manufacturing
Investor take
PursueActive trading company with a 66-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.
Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 66). 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 (65/100).
🏦
Refinance opportunity
1 live charge · oldest 22.5y
65/100
clean up first
Refinance viable after a tidy-up — address the highlighted items first.
- · Oldest live charge is 22.5 years old — likely at or near maturity.
- · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
- · Legal-friction score 25/100 — workable, but lender will want more DD.
Data confidence
Overall: medium (76/100)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
1 charges (1/1 with lender, 1/1 with type)
90
Directors & officers
6 officers (3 active, 6 linked, 2 with DOB)
77
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
58 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.
Key financials
2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accountsCash
—
Net Worth
—
Current Assets
—
Current Liabilities
—
Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series
Financials
Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102| Metric | 2024-10-31 | 2023-10-31 |
|---|---|---|
| Average employees | 1500 | 1400 |
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
- 2025-07-14📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2024-07-29📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2023-07-12📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2022-07-22📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2021-07-28📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2020-05-20📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2019-03-13📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2018-07-25📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2017-05-25📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-smallaccounts · AA
- 2016-07-08📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-smallaccounts · AA
- 2015-10-03📄annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholdersannual-return · AR01
- 2015-05-30📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-smallaccounts · AA
- 2014-10-08📄annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholdersannual-return · AR01
- 2014-10-08📄appoint-person-director-company-with-name-dateofficers · AP01
- 2014-10-01➕MACDONALD, Annette Jeanne appointeddirector
- 2014-07-14📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-smallaccounts · AA
- 2003-10-27🔒Charge registered #1Lender: The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland
- 2003-09-21🏢Company incorporatedAs MACDONALD BROS. LTD.
- 2003-09-21➕MACDONALD, Annette Jeanne appointedsecretary
- 2003-09-21➕MACDONALD, Roderick Grant appointeddirector
- 2003-09-21➕PETER TRAINER COMPANY SECRETARIES LTD. appointedcorporate-nominee-secretary
- 2003-09-21➖PETER TRAINER COMPANY SECRETARIES LTD. resignedcorporate-nominee-secretary
- 2003-09-21➕PETER TRAINER COMPANY SECRETARIES LTD. appointedcorporate-nominee-director
- 2003-09-21➖PETER TRAINER COMPANY SECRETARIES LTD. resignedcorporate-nominee-director
- 2003-09-21➕PETER TRAINER CORPORATE SERVICES LTD. appointedcorporate-nominee-director
- 2003-09-21➖PETER TRAINER CORPORATE SERVICES LTD. resignedcorporate-nominee-director
Owner dependency
100/100
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.
- +Founder name in company name: Company name contains director surname "MACDONALD" — strong identity link between founder and business.
- +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 23 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
- +Founder age: Director aged approximately 66 — succession pressure is live.
- +Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.
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 66. 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 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
cleanNo 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 Roderick Grant Macdonald Individual · British · DOB 05/1973 · age 53 | 50–75% | — | 50-75% shares | 07/04/2016 |
From Companies House Persons with Significant Control filings. Share ranges are banded per the public PSC regime.
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| BLAIRGOWRIE FRUIT PACKERS LIMITED→ SC225871 · est 2001 | — | — | — | 800 | 24y | 83 | 81y |
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| OLD ORKNEY LTD→ SC667070 · est 2020 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 5y | — | — |
| ORGANIC WELLTREE LTD→ SC548235 · est 2016 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 9y | — | — |
| R.F. & M.H.DONALDSON LIMITED→ SC071148 · est 1980 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 46y | — | — |
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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
Incorporated2003-09-21
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC10130 — SIC 10130
Registered office
8 Bonnethill Road
Pitlochry
Perthshire
PH16 5BS
Filing status
Accounts
Next due: 2026-07-31
Last made up to: 2024-10-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-09-28
Last: 2025-09-14
Officers (3 active · 3 resigned)
MACDONALD, Annette Jeanne→
Activesecretary · appointed 2003-09-21
View their other companies + combined net worth →
MACDONALD, Annette Jeanne→
Activedirector · ~66y · appointed 2014-10-01
View their other companies + combined net worth →
MACDONALD, Roderick Grant→
Activedirector · ~53y · appointed 2003-09-21
View their other companies + combined net worth →
PETER TRAINER COMPANY SECRETARIES LTD.→
Resignedcorporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 2003-09-21 · resigned 2003-09-21
PETER TRAINER COMPANY SECRETARIES LTD.→
Resignedcorporate-nominee-director · appointed 2003-09-21 · resigned 2003-09-21
PETER TRAINER CORPORATE SERVICES LTD.→
Resignedcorporate-nominee-director · appointed 2003-09-21 · resigned 2003-09-21
Click a director name to see their full track record across all companies.
Mortgages & charges
1
Total charges
1
Outstanding
1
Active lenders
Status:Lender:1 of 1 shown
| Type | Properties | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| outstanding | Lloyds Banking Group The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland | Bond & floating charge | 1 property | 27/10/2003 | — |
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.
Recent filings (58 total)
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-09-14
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-07-14
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-09-25
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-07-29
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-09-25
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-07-12
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-09-20
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-07-22
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-10-11
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-07-28
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-09-17
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-05-20
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-10-24
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-03-13
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2018-10-01