GRAY COMPOSTING SERVICES LIMITED

🌳Matureactive

SC289042 · ltd · incorporated 2005-08-17

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

—

book net assets

Opportunity

80/100

Exceptional

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What this business does

Primary activity: SIC 38320

Sector: Water supply & waste

Investor take

Pursue

Active trading company with a 71-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 80/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (63/100, director aged 71). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

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

Lenders & charges

Confirmed no charges registered

Directors & officers

5 officers (4 active, 5 linked, 3 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

1 active PSC(s) of 4 total, 4 with control declared

Director network

3 connected companies via shared directors

Filing history

53 filings on record

Gazette notices

No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)

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.

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	2025-03-31	2024-03-31
Average employees	800	800

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

filings

Last 90 days

filings

Last 180 days

filing

• 1 accounts

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (22 events)Click to expand

2025-11-13
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-08-28
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accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-11-01
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accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-12-14
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-12-14
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-12-22
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-10-03
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2018-11-16
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2018-09-24
📄
notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC02
2018-09-24
📄
cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
2018-09-24
📄
cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
2018-09-24
📄
cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
2017-12-28
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2016-12-19
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2015-12-31
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2005-08-17
🏢
Company incorporated
As GRAY COMPOSTING SERVICES LIMITED
2005-08-17
➕
GRAY, Margaret Helen appointed
secretary
2005-08-17
➕
GRAY, Charles William appointed
director
2005-08-17
➕
GRAY, Margaret Helen appointed
director
2005-08-17
➕
GRAY, Phillip William appointed
director
2005-08-17
➕
OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED appointed
corporate-nominee-secretary
2005-08-17
➖
OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED resigned
corporate-nominee-secretary

Owner dependency

98/100

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

+Founder name in company name: Company name contains director surname "GRAY" — strong identity link between founder and business.
+Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 21 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
+Founder age: Director aged approximately 71 — succession pressure is live.
+Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

Succession & seller-readiness

90/100

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 71 years old. Natural succession window is now.
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.)

Group structure

Gray Farms Limited is the ultimate parent — holding 75%+ shares. This company sits inside their group.

🏛️

Gray Farms Limited

Corporate parent · holds 75-100% shares

ultimate parent

⬇

GRAY COMPOSTING SERVICES LIMITED

This company · SC289042

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
Gray Farms Limited Corporate entity	75–100%	75–100%	75-100% shares · 75-100% voting	26/02/2018

3 historic (ceased) PSCs

Mrs Margaret Helen Grayceased 26/02/2018· 25-50% shares · 25-50% voting
Mr Phillip William Grayceased 26/02/2018· 25-50% shares · 25-50% voting
Mr Charles William Grayceased 26/02/2018· 25-50% shares · 25-50% voting

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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A & G ENERGY (FORFAR) LIMITED→ SC449141 · est 2013	—	—	—	2	12y	79	82y
COLIN A. ROBBIE PARTNERS LIMITED→ SC509821 · est 2015	—	—	£38.1k	—	10y	79	69y
BERRYHILL TRADING COMPANY LTD→ SC582555 · est 2017 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	8y	—	—
BESPOKE WASTE SOLUTIONS (TRADEWASTE) LTD→ SC710936 · est 2021 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	4y	—	—
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JBLB PLUMBING & HEATING SERVICES LTD→ SC662114 · est 2020 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	5y	—	—
M 4 ENERGY LIMITED→ SC444380 · est 2013 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	13y	—	—
MASSON ENERGY LIMITED→ SC413488 · est 2011 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	14y	—	—

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

Incorporated2005-08-17

Jurisdictionscotland

Primary SIC38320 — SIC 38320

Registered office

Westby, 64 West High Street

Forfar

Tayside

DD8 1BJ

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2026-12-31

Last made up to: 2025-03-31

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2026-08-21

Last: 2025-08-07

Officers (4 active · 1 resigned)

GRAY, Margaret Helen→

secretary · appointed 2005-08-17

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

GRAY, Charles William→

director · ~71y · appointed 2005-08-17

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

GRAY, Margaret Helen→

director · ~71y · appointed 2005-08-17

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

GRAY, Phillip William→

director · ~46y · appointed 2005-08-17

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED→

corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 2005-08-17 · resigned 2005-08-17

Resigned

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