WILLIAM ANDERSON CARS LTD

💤Zombieactive

SC397025 · ltd · incorporated 2011-04-05

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 Apr 2025

Net worth

£53.4k

book net assets

Opportunity

82/100

Exceptional

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What this business does

Primary activity: SIC 49320

Sector: Transportation & storage

Investor take

Pursue

Active trading company with a 74-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 74). 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: share sale to pe / searcher (73/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

1 live charge · oldest 12.9y

45/100

under pressure

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

· Oldest live charge is 12.9 years old — likely at or near maturity.
· Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
· 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

Lenders & charges

1 charges (1/1 with lender, 1/1 with type)

Directors & officers

1 officers (1 active, 1 linked, 1 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

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

Director network

Network not yet resolved

Filing history

32 filings on record

Gazette notices

No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)

Opportunity Score

82/100Exceptional

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

100

Good data coverage for analysis.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · accounting standard not declared

Positive net assets

Net assets £53,350

Cash YoY

-25%

Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts

Cash

£21k

↓ 25% YoY

Net Worth

£53k

↑ 19% YoY

Current Assets

£54k

↓ 7.6% YoY

Current Liabilities

—

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown

Metric	2025-04-30	2024-04-30
Total assets	£81.9k	£98.2k
Current assets	£54.4k	£58.8k
Cash	£20.9k	£27.9k
Debtors	£33.5k	£30.9k
Net assets	£53.4k	£45.0k

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

filing

• 1 confirmation-statement

Last 180 days

filing

• 1 confirmation-statement

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (18 events)Click to expand

2025-10-10
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-10-18
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-11-02
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-10-28
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-09-06
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-10-13
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-01-06
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-04-08
📄
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2019-01-28
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2018-01-15
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2017-01-19
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2016-04-21
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2016-01-28
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2015-04-14
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2014-11-07
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2013-06-14
🔒
Charge registered #1
Lender: Bibby Factors Scotland Limited
2011-04-05
🏢
Company incorporated
As WILLIAM ANDERSON CARS LTD
2011-04-05
➕
ANDERSON, William appointed
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.
+Founder name in company name: Company name contains director surname "ANDERSON" — strong identity link between founder and business.
+Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 15 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
+Founder age: Director aged approximately 74 — succession pressure is live.
+No director turnover: Company is 15 years old with no director changes — suggests a very tight-knit founder team never broadened.

Succession & seller-readiness

98/100

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 74 years old. Natural succession window is now.
primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
secondary12+ year tenure: Director in role 15 years.
secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 15 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%

Name	Shares	Voting rights	Nature of control	Notified
Mr Wiiliam Anderson Individual · British · DOB 12/1952 · age 74	75–100%	75–100%	board control75-100% shares · 75-100% voting · board control	06/04/2016

From Companies House Persons with Significant Control filings. Share ranges are banded per the public PSC regime.

Similar companies

Active · Transport & logistics · AB postcode area

Company	Est. value	Turnover	Net worth	Staff	Age	Opp	Director
MCPHERSON LIMITED→ SC218508 · est 2001	£12.40M £9.30M–£15.49M	—	—	457	25y	84	71y
STREAMLINE SHIPPING AGENCIES LIMITED→ SC073938 · est 1981	£5.76M £4.32M–£7.20M	£41.24M	—	24500	45y	85	74y
DOUGLAS F MITCHELL LIMITED→ SC226015 · est 2001	£455.2k £341.4k–£569.0k	—	—	11	24y	82	82y
TRANSPAN (SCOTLAND) LIMITED→ SC124530 · est 1990	£52.0k £39.0k–£65.0k	—	—	71	36y	83	58y
ALP (SCOTLAND) LIMITED→ SC261031 · est 2003	—	—	£246.4k	—	22y	83	61y
BOX POOL SOLUTIONS LIMITED→ SC286718 · est 2005	—	—	£2.66M	—	20y	83	77y
CALEY COLD STORE LIMITED→ SC270634 · est 2004	—	—	£3.28M	—	21y	83	73y
ENLIM (SCOTLAND) LTD.→ SC248672 · est 2003	—	—	—	500	23y	83	62y
HARBOUR HAULAGE LIMITED→ SC202822 · est 2000	—	—	£951.9k	—	26y	83	62y
KEITH & DUFFTOWN RAILWAY ASSOCIATION→ SC157099 · est 1995 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	31y	83	82y
SHETLAND LINE 1984 LIMITED→ SC088013 · est 1984	—	—	—	0	41y	83	74y
W & H LESLIE (ABERDEEN) LIMITED→ SC281256 · est 2005	—	—	£2.57M	—	21y	83	65y

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

Incorporated2011-04-05

Jurisdictionscotland

Primary SIC49320 — SIC 49320

Registered office

61a Abbotswell Drive

Aberdeen

Aberdeenshire

AB12 5QP

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2027-01-31

Last made up to: 2025-04-30

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2027-04-19

Last: 2026-04-05

Officers (1 active · 0 resigned)

ANDERSON, William→

director · ~74y · appointed 2011-04-05

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

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

Mortgages & charges

Total charges

Outstanding

Active lenders

Status:Lender:1 of 1 shown

			Type	Properties
	outstanding	Bibby Financial Services Bibby Factors Scotland Limited	A registered charge	1 property	14/06/2013	—

Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.