GEOFFREY BRUCE LIMITED

💤Zombieactive
SC274099 · ltd · incorporated 2004-10-01
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 Dec 2024
Net worth
£-371.2k
book net assets
Opportunity
77/100
Strong
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What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 01290
Sector: Agriculture, forestry & fishing
Investor take
Pass (distressed without resilience)
Distressed active trading company — structural issues outweigh the discount.

Opportunity 77/100 (strong), bankability 85/100. High owner-dependency — earn-out structure likely required for clean transition. Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Broaden director team. Sole director creates succession risk and reduces buyer comfort. Appoint a second director or strong #2. Most likely exit: distressed disposal / insolvency (65/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

1 live charge · oldest 21.3y

45/100
under pressure

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

  • · Oldest live charge is 21.3 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
  • · Distress signals active — lender appetite narrows.

Data confidence

Overall: medium (79/100)

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
3 officers (2 active, 3 linked, 1 with DOB)
77
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
4 connected companies via shared directors
57
Filing history
50 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
77/100Strong
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional 

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

Business quality
70
Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.
Acquirability
60
Some acquirability indicators.
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
Negative net assets
Liabilities exceed assets by £371,232
Cash YoY
+19%
Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
£573k
↑ 19% YoY
Net Worth
-£371k
↑ 8.9% YoY
Current Assets
£1.4m
↑ 34% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
-£408k-£48k£312k£671k£1.0m£1.4mDec 2023Dec 2024

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2024-12-312023-12-31
Total assets£-329.2k£-331.6k
Current assets£1.39M£1.04M
Cash£572.8k£479.6k
Debtors£136.7k£41.2k
Net assets£-371.2k£-407.6k

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

🔒Filing-note intelligence

2 signals 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 (22 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-12-24
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-09-25
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  3. 2023-12-22
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  4. 2022-08-04
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  5. 2021-09-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  6. 2020-12-08
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  7. 2019-07-16
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  8. 2018-07-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  9. 2017-11-01
    📄
    change-account-reference-date-company-current-extended
    accounts · AA01
  10. 2017-04-06
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  11. 2016-07-12
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  12. 2015-10-30
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  13. 2015-03-25
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  14. 2014-10-18
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  15. 2014-04-22
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  16. 2008-07-24
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #1
  17. 2004-12-30
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
  18. 2004-10-01
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As GEOFFREY BRUCE LIMITED
  19. 2004-10-01
    ➕
    GILLIES, Iain appointed
    secretary
  20. 2004-10-01
    ➕
    BRUCE, Clive Geoffrey William appointed
    director
  21. 2004-10-01
    ➕
    OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED appointed
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  22. 2004-10-01
    ➖
    OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED resigned
    corporate-nominee-secretary

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.
  • +Founder name in company name: Company name contains director surname "BRUCE" — strong identity link between founder and business.
  • +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 22 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.

Succession & seller-readiness

75/100
Likely off-market candidate

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

SIGNALS
  • 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

1 active beneficial owner · dominant holder ≥75%
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr Clive Geoffrey William Bruce
Individual · British · DOB 03/1972 · age 54
75–100%
75–100%75-100% shares · 75-100% voting06/04/2016

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

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.

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Company details

Statusactive
Typeltd
Incorporated2004-10-01
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC01290 — SIC 01290

Registered office

Viewbank
Coupar Angus
Perthshire
PH13 9EU

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-09-30
Last made up to: 2024-12-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-10-14
Last: 2025-09-30

Officers (2 active · 1 resigned)

GILLIES, Iain→
secretary · appointed 2004-10-01
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
BRUCE, Clive Geoffrey William→
director · ~54y · appointed 2004-10-01
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED→
corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 2004-10-01 · resigned 2004-10-01
Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

1
Total charges
0
Outstanding
0
Active lenders
Status:Lender:1 of 1 shown
TypeProperties
satisfied
Lloyds Banking Group
The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
Bond & floating charge1 property30/12/200424/07/2008

Recent filings (50 total)

accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-12-24
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-10-13
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-10-23
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-09-25
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-12-22
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-10-19
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-10-12
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-08-04
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-10-13
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-09-23
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-12-08
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-10-08
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-10-09
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-07-16
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2018-10-17