DUNDEE COLD STORES LIMITED
Opportunity 83/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (63/100, director aged 88). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Cash flow review and working-capital discipline. Cash down -58% YoY — forensic review of receivables, stock turns, and creditor days. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).
Refinance opportunity
2 live charges · 2 lenders · oldest 19.1y
Refinance would be pressure-driven, not opportunity-driven. Expect tighter margins and covenant scrutiny.
- · Oldest live charge is 19.1 years old — likely at or near maturity.
- · Two lenders — manageable, but coordination required.
- · Cashflow trend is negative — lender view likely cautious.
Data confidence
Overall: high (83/100)Strong data coverage across all sections. AI outputs should be trusted with minimal caveats.
Strong composite across quality, acquirability, and risk. High-priority target — progress to serious diligence.
Signals from accounts
Derived from iXBRL accounts · accounting standard not declaredKey financials
2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accountsHover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series
Financials
Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown| Metric | 2024-12-31 | 2023-12-31 |
|---|---|---|
| Total assets | £12.22M | £9.98M |
| Current assets | £8.93M | £6.67M |
| Cash | £430.1k | £1.02M |
| Debtors | £8.01M | £4.92M |
| Net assets | £10.89M | £8.49M |
Amounts extracted automatically from iXBRL. Fields left blank were not reported or not mapped. Values in GBP unless stated.
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
- • 1 confirmation-statement
- • 1 confirmation-statement
Corporate timeline (29 events)Click to expand
- 2025-09-26📄accounts-with-accounts-type-mediumaccounts · AA
- 2024-09-25📄accounts-with-accounts-type-smallaccounts · AA
- 2023-10-17📄accounts-with-accounts-type-smallaccounts · AA
- 2022-09-30📄accounts-with-accounts-type-smallaccounts · AA
- 2021-11-16📄accounts-with-accounts-type-smallaccounts · AA
- 2020-12-14📄accounts-with-accounts-type-smallaccounts · AA
- 2020-08-28📄termination-director-company-with-name-termination-dateofficers · TM01
- 2020-08-28📄appoint-person-director-company-with-name-dateofficers · AP01
- 2020-07-28➕FORBES, Graham Alexander appointeddirector
- 2020-07-28➖FORBES, Alistair Graham Milne resigneddirector
- 2019-07-08📄accounts-with-accounts-type-smallaccounts · AA
- 2018-07-23📄termination-secretary-company-with-name-termination-dateofficers · TM02
- 2018-06-25📄accounts-with-accounts-type-smallaccounts · AA
- 2018-06-06➖DM COMPANY SERVICES LIMITED resignedcorporate-nominee-secretary
- 2017-10-13📄accounts-with-accounts-type-smallaccounts · AA
- 2016-10-04📄accounts-with-accounts-type-fullaccounts · AA
- 2016-02-16📄annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholdersannual-return · AR01
- 2015-07-28📄accounts-with-accounts-type-fullaccounts · AA
- 2009-04-15🔒Charge registered #2Lender: Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
- 2007-04-10➕GILLIES, Iain appointeddirector
- 2007-04-03🔒Charge registered #1Lender: The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
- 2007-02-21➕BRUCE, Clive Geoffrey William appointeddirector
- 2007-02-21➕BRUCE, William Patterson appointeddirector
- 2007-02-21➕FORBES, John Inglis appointeddirector
- 2007-02-21➕FORBES, Alistair Graham Milne appointeddirector
- 2007-02-21➖DM DIRECTOR LIMITED resignedcorporate-nominee-director
- 2007-01-16🏢Company incorporatedAs DUNDEE COLD STORES LIMITED
- 2007-01-16➕DM COMPANY SERVICES LIMITED appointedcorporate-nominee-secretary
- 2007-01-16➕DM DIRECTOR LIMITED appointedcorporate-nominee-director
Owner dependency
Material founder dependency. Consider a 2-3 year earn-out and build in a handover plan before completion.
- -5 active directors: Broader management team in place — suggests transferable governance.
- +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 19 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
- +Founder age: Director aged approximately 88 — succession pressure is live.
- +Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.
Succession & seller-readiness
Strong acquirability signals converging. Worth approaching directly — this is how off-market deals start.
- primaryFounder aged 70+: Senior director is approximately 88 years old. Natural succession window is now.
- secondary12+ year tenure: Director in role 19 years.
- secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 19 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
cleanGroup structure
2 corporate shareholders identified. Group structure is distributed.
Parent relationships inferred from Persons with Significant Control filings. Full subsidiary tree requires reverse-lookup (coming).
Shareholders & ownership
2 active beneficial owners| Name | Shares | Voting rights | Nature of control | Notified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
East Coast Viners (Holdings) Limited Corporate entity | 25–50% | 25–50% | 25-50% shares · 25-50% voting | 06/04/2016 |
Wp Bruce Limited Corporate entity | 25–50% | 25–50% | 25-50% shares · 25-50% voting | 06/04/2016 |
From Companies House Persons with Significant Control filings. Share ranges are banded per the public PSC regime.
Radial SVG graph showing every company connected via shared directors, colour-coded by status.
Available from the Pro tier upwards.
See pricing →Similar companies
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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 →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
Registered office
Filing status
Officers (5 active · 3 resigned)
Click a director name to see their full track record across all companies.
Mortgages & charges
| Type | Properties | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| outstanding | Lloyds Banking Group Royal Bank of Scotland PLC | Standard security | 1 property | 15/04/2009 | — | |
| outstanding | Lloyds Banking Group The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC | Bond & floating charge | 1 property | 03/04/2007 | — |