NETHERCLIFFE HOTEL LTD

🌳Matureactive

SC281480 · ltd · incorporated 2005-03-12

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 Mar 2025

Net worth

£47.4k

book net assets

Opportunity

80/100

Exceptional

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What this business does

Primary activity: Public houses and bars

Sector: Accommodation & food service

Investor take

Pursue

Asset-holding vehicle with a 66-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 80/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 66). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Cash flow review and working-capital discipline. Cash down -38% YoY — forensic review of receivables, stock turns, and creditor days. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

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

Lenders & charges

Confirmed no charges registered

Directors & officers

4 officers (3 active, 4 linked, 2 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

2 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared

Director network

Network not yet resolved

Filing history

45 filings on record

Gazette notices

No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)

🔒For-sale listings overlay

1 public broker listing match this company. Unlock to see asking price, broker, and our match confidence.

Available from the Pro tier upwards.

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Opportunity Score

80/100Exceptional

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

Good data coverage for analysis.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · accounting standard not declared

Positive net assets

Net assets £47,444

Net assets shrinking

Down £25,467 YoY

Cash YoY

-38%

Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts

Cash

£41k

↓ 38% YoY

Net Worth

£47k

↓ 35% YoY

Current Assets

£55k

↓ 30% YoY

Current Liabilities

—

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown

Metric	2025-03-31	2024-03-31
Total assets	£47.4k	£72.9k
Current assets	£55.3k	£79.5k
Cash	£40.5k	£65.0k
Debtors	£2.9k	£1.2k
Net assets	£47.4k	£72.9k

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

filing

• 1 confirmation-statement

Last 90 days

filing

• 1 confirmation-statement

Last 180 days

filing

• 1 confirmation-statement

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (21 events)Click to expand

2025-08-15
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accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-07-31
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accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-06-26
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accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-07-25
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accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-07-21
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accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-06-23
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accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-08-07
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accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2018-08-10
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accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2017-07-28
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accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2016-10-06
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accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2016-03-14
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2015-08-24
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accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2015-03-13
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annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2014-09-04
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accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2014-03-17
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annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2005-03-12
🏢
Company incorporated
As NETHERCLIFFE HOTEL LTD
2005-03-12
➕
HILL, Helen Margaret appointed
secretary
2005-03-12
➕
HILL, Helen Margaret appointed
director
2005-03-12
➕
HILL, Mervyn James appointed
director
2005-03-12
➕
OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED appointed
corporate-nominee-secretary
2005-03-12
➖
OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED resigned
corporate-nominee-secretary

Owner dependency

91/100

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

+Two-director setup: Only two active directors — typical of owner-managed SMEs but limits succession.
+Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 21 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 candidate

Strong 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 21 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 21 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

Name	Shares	Voting rights	Nature of control	Notified
Mrs Helen Margaret Hill Individual · Scottish · DOB 10/1960 · age 66	25–50%	—	25-50% shares	06/04/2016
Mr Mervyn James Hill Individual · Scottish · DOB 03/1964 · age 62	25–50%	—	25-50% shares	06/04/2016

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.

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Company details

Statusactive

Typeltd

Incorporated2005-03-12

Jurisdictionscotland

Primary SIC56302 — Public houses and bars

Registered office

Nethercliffe Hotel

Louisburgh Street

Wick

Caithness

KW1 4NS

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2026-12-31

Last made up to: 2025-03-31

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2027-03-26

Last: 2026-03-12

Officers (3 active · 1 resigned)

HILL, Helen Margaret→

secretary · appointed 2005-03-12

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

HILL, Helen Margaret→

director · ~66y · appointed 2005-03-12

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

HILL, Mervyn James→

director · ~62y · appointed 2005-03-12

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED→

corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 2005-03-12 · resigned 2005-03-12

Resigned

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