HIGHLAND BODYSHOP LTD

💤Zombieactive
SC273214 · ltd · incorporated 2004-09-10
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
—
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Turnover
—
year to Mar 2025
Net worth
£148.5k
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 33170
Sector: Manufacturing
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 73-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 73). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Discharge stale live charges. 2 live charge(s) created 15+ years ago — likely paid but undischarged. Clean register. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (73/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

2 live charges · 2 lenders · oldest 18.3y

30/100
under pressure

Refinance would be pressure-driven, not opportunity-driven. Expect tighter margins and covenant scrutiny.

  • · Oldest live charge is 18.3 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Two lenders — manageable, but coordination required.
  • · Distress signals active — lender appetite narrows.

Data confidence

Overall: medium (78/100)

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
2 charges (2/2 with lender, 2/2 with type)
90
Directors & officers
5 officers (1 active, 5 linked, 2 with DOB)
78
Ownership & PSC
2 active PSC(s) of 3 total, 3 with control declared
90
Director network
1 connected companies via shared directors
48
Filing history
63 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 declared
Positive net assets
Net assets £148,516

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
£9k
Net Worth
£149k
↑ 8.8% YoY
Current Assets
£15k
↑ 25% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
£0£30k£59k£89k£119k£149kMar 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£201.5k£195.6k
Current assets£14.6k£11.6k
Cash£8.5k—
Debtors£6.0k£11.6k
Net assets£148.5k£136.5k

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
1
filing
  • • 1 accounts
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (28 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-10-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-08-13
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  3. 2023-12-12
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  4. 2022-09-13
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  5. 2021-08-04
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  6. 2020-10-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  7. 2019-10-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  8. 2018-08-22
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  9. 2018-03-15
    📄
    notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
  10. 2018-03-15
    📄
    capital-allotment-shares
    capital · SH01
  11. 2017-12-13
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  12. 2017-09-26
    📄
    cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
  13. 2017-07-19
    📄
    termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM01
  14. 2017-07-19
    📄
    capital-cancellation-shares
    capital · SH06
  15. 2017-07-19
    📄
    resolution
    resolution · RESOLUTIONS
  16. 2017-07-19
    📄
    capital-return-purchase-own-shares
    capital · SH03
  17. 2017-06-29
    ➖
    CORMACK, Richard resigned
    director
  18. 2011-11-30
    ➖
    CORMACK, Richard resigned
    secretary
  19. 2008-04-24
    🔒
    Charge registered #2
    Lender: Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
  20. 2007-12-17
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
  21. 2007-12-01
    ➕
    CORMACK, Richard appointed
    director
  22. 2004-09-14
    ➖
    FORM 10 SECRETARIES FD LTD resigned
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  23. 2004-09-14
    ➖
    FORM 10 DIRECTORS FD LTD resigned
    corporate-nominee-director
  24. 2004-09-10
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As HIGHLAND BODYSHOP LTD
  25. 2004-09-10
    ➕
    CRUICKSHANK, Philip Roy appointed
    director
  26. 2004-09-10
    ➕
    CORMACK, Richard appointed
    secretary
  27. 2004-09-10
    ➕
    FORM 10 SECRETARIES FD LTD appointed
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  28. 2004-09-10
    ➕
    FORM 10 DIRECTORS FD LTD appointed
    corporate-nominee-director

Owner dependency

100/100
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 22 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 73 — succession pressure is live.

Succession & seller-readiness

100/100
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 73 years old. Natural succession window is now.
  • primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
  • primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 22 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
  • 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.)

Shareholders & ownership

2 active beneficial owners
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr Shane Cruickshank
Individual · British · DOB 09/1976 · age 50
25–50%
25–50%25-50% shares · 25-50% voting14/02/2018
Mr Phillip Roy Cruickshank
Individual · British · DOB 01/1953 · age 73
25–50%
25–50%board controlsig. influence25-50% shares · 25-50% voting · board control · significant influence06/04/2016
1 historic (ceased) PSC
  • Mr Richard Cormackceased 28/06/2017· 25-50% shares · 25-50% voting · board control · significant influence

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
Incorporated2004-09-10
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC33170 — SIC 33170

Registered office

29 Henderson Drive
Inverness
IV1 1TR

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-12-31
Last made up to: 2025-03-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-09-22
Last: 2025-09-08

Officers (1 active · 4 resigned)

CRUICKSHANK, Philip Roy→
director · ~73y · appointed 2004-09-10
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
CORMACK, Richard→
secretary · appointed 2004-09-10 · resigned 2011-11-30
Resigned
FORM 10 SECRETARIES FD LTD→
corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 2004-09-10 · resigned 2004-09-14
Resigned
CORMACK, Richard→
director · ~52y · appointed 2007-12-01 · resigned 2017-06-29
Resigned
FORM 10 DIRECTORS FD LTD→
corporate-nominee-director · appointed 2004-09-10 · resigned 2004-09-14
Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

2
Total charges
2
Outstanding
1
Active lenders
Status:Lender:2 of 2 shown
TypeProperties
outstanding
Lloyds Banking Group
Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
Standard security1 property24/04/2008—
outstanding
Lloyds Banking Group
The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
Bond & floating charge1 property17/12/2007—
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (63 total)

accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2025-10-29
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-09-19
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-09-16
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2024-08-13
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2023-12-12
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-10-19
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2022-09-13
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-09-08
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-09-15
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2021-08-04
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2020-10-28
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-09-23
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2019-10-28
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-09-17
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2018-09-20