WILLIAM FOULDS & CO. LIMITED

🌳Matureactive

SC265657 · ltd · incorporated 2004-03-29

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 Jan 2025

Net worth

—

book net assets

Opportunity

79/100

Strong

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What this business does

Primary activity: SIC 47250

Sector: Wholesale & retail

Investor take

Pursue

Active trading company with a 74-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 79/100 (strong), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (68/100, director aged 74). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

Data confidence

Overall: high (81/100)

Strong data coverage across all sections. AI outputs should be trusted with minimal caveats.

Company profile

address, 1 SIC codes, incorporation date

100

Financials

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

Lenders & charges

Confirmed no charges registered

Directors & officers

8 officers (3 active, 8 linked, 5 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

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

Director network

10 connected companies via shared directors

Filing history

61 filings on record

Gazette notices

No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)

Opportunity Score

79/100Strong

PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional

Solid opportunity signal. Worth a dedicated memo and management meeting.

Business quality

Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.

Acquirability

Strong succession / seller-readiness signals.

Risk profile

Few red flags.

Signal strength

Good data coverage for analysis.

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts

Cash

—

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	2025-01-31	2024-01-31
Average employees	0	800

Amounts extracted automatically from iXBRL. Fields left blank were not reported or not mapped. Values in GBP unless stated.

Recent activity

Last 30 days

filing

• 1 confirmation-statement

Last 90 days

filing

• 1 confirmation-statement

Last 180 days

filings

• 1 confirmation-statement
• 1 accounts

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (29 events)Click to expand

2025-10-30
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-small
accounts · AA
2024-07-31
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-06-13
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-10-20
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-01-31
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-01-22
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-10-28
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2018-10-31
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2017-10-18
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2017-01-11
📄
gazette-filings-brought-up-to-date
gazette · DISS40
2017-01-10
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-small
accounts · AA
2016-12-27
📄
gazette-notice-compulsory
gazette · GAZ1
2016-07-17
📄
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2016-04-12
📄
appoint-person-secretary-company-with-name-date
officers · AP03
2016-04-12
📄
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2016-04-01
➕
BEARD, John Edward appointed
director
2016-03-31
➕
BANKIER, Ian Patrick appointed
secretary
2016-03-31
➖
SERVICE, Catherine Elizabeth resigned
secretary
2016-03-31
➖
TORRANCE, Andrew resigned
director
2013-05-01
➕
BANKIER, Ian Patrick appointed
director
2013-05-01
➖
JOYNSON, Lyndsay Frances resigned
secretary
2013-05-01
➕
SERVICE, Catherine Elizabeth appointed
secretary
2013-05-01
➖
JOYNSON, Lyndsay Frances resigned
director
2013-05-01
➖
JOYNSON, Richard Colin resigned
director
2013-05-01
➕
TORRANCE, Andrew appointed
director
2004-03-29
🏢
Company incorporated
As WILLIAM FOULDS & CO. LIMITED
2004-03-29
➕
JOYNSON, Lyndsay Frances appointed
secretary
2004-03-29
➕
JOYNSON, Lyndsay Frances appointed
director
2004-03-29
➕
JOYNSON, Richard Colin appointed
director

Owner dependency

73/100

High — earn-out structure required

Material founder dependency. Consider a 2-3 year earn-out and build in a handover plan before completion.

FACTORS

+Two-director setup: Only two active directors — typical of owner-managed SMEs but limits succession.
+Founder age: Director aged approximately 74 — succession pressure is live.

Succession & seller-readiness

89/100

Likely off-market candidate

Strong acquirability signals converging. Worth approaching directly — this is how off-market deals start.

SIGNALS

primaryFounder aged 70+: Senior director is approximately 74 years old. Natural succession window is now.
secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
secondary12+ year tenure: Director in role 13 years.
secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 22 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.)

Group structure

Loch Fyne Whiskies Limited is the ultimate parent — holding 75%+ shares. This company sits inside their group.

🏛️

Loch Fyne Whiskies Limited

Corporate parent · holds 75-100% shares

ultimate parent

⬇

WILLIAM FOULDS & CO. LIMITED

This company · SC265657

Parent relationships inferred from Persons with Significant Control filings. Full subsidiary tree requires reverse-lookup (coming).

Shareholders & ownership

1 active beneficial owner · dominant holder ≥75%

Name	Shares	Voting rights	Nature of control	Notified
Loch Fyne Whiskies Limited Corporate entity	75–100%	—	75-100% shares	06/04/2016

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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BEDERAC LIMITED→ SC149315 · est 1994 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	32y	—	—
BEE SWEET (ARGYLL) LIMITED→ SC749963 · est 2022 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	3y	—	—
BELLE & BEAU LTD→ SC615936 · est 2018 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	7y	—	—

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

Incorporated2004-03-29

Jurisdictionscotland

Primary SIC47250 — SIC 47250

Registered office

Loch Fyne Whiskies

Main Street West

Inveraray

Argyll

PA32 8UD

Scotland

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2026-10-31

Last made up to: 2025-01-31

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2027-04-12

Last: 2026-03-29

Officers (3 active · 5 resigned)

BANKIER, Ian Patrick→

secretary · appointed 2016-03-31

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

BANKIER, Ian Patrick→

director · ~74y · appointed 2013-05-01

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

BEARD, John Edward→

director · ~64y · appointed 2016-04-01

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

JOYNSON, Lyndsay Frances→

secretary · appointed 2004-03-29 · resigned 2013-05-01

Resigned

SERVICE, Catherine Elizabeth→

secretary · appointed 2013-05-01 · resigned 2016-03-31

Resigned

JOYNSON, Lyndsay Frances→

director · ~69y · appointed 2004-03-29 · resigned 2013-05-01

Resigned

JOYNSON, Richard Colin→

director · ~67y · appointed 2004-03-29 · resigned 2013-05-01

Resigned

TORRANCE, Andrew→

director · ~47y · appointed 2013-05-01 · resigned 2016-03-31

Resigned

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