H2O HYDRO LTD

💤Zombieactive
SC449097 · ltd · incorporated 2013-05-02
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 May 2025
Net worth
book net assets
Opportunity
74/100
Strong
🔔
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What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 01500
Sector: Agriculture, forestry & fishing
ALSO REGISTERED FOR
  • 02100SIC 02100
  • 42220SIC 42220
  • 55209Other holiday and other collective accommodation
Investor take
Pursue
Strong opportunity: active trading company with strong profile and bankable structure.

Opportunity 74/100 (strong), bankability 80/100. 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: share sale to pe / searcher (58/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

1 live charge · oldest 8.9y

45/100
under pressure

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

  • · Oldest live charge is 8.9 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
  • · Distress signals active — lender appetite narrows.

Data confidence

Overall: high (80/100)

Strong data coverage across all sections. AI outputs should be trusted with minimal caveats.

Company profile
address, 4 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
1 officers (1 active, 1 linked, 1 with DOB)
90
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
2 connected companies via shared directors
51
Filing history
32 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
74/100Strong
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional 

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

Business quality
70
Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.
Acquirability
50
Some acquirability indicators.
Risk profile
85
Few red flags.
Signal strength
100
Good data coverage for analysis.

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
Net Worth
Current Assets
Current Liabilities
£0£0£0£0£0£0May 2024May 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2025-05-312024-05-31
Average employees400400

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
0
filings
Last 90 days
0
filings
Last 180 days
1
filing
  • 1 confirmation-statement
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (18 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-10-07
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2025-08-06
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  3. 2025-02-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  4. 2024-08-30
    📄
    change-account-reference-date-company-previous-shortened
    accounts · AA01
  5. 2024-06-25
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  6. 2023-06-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  7. 2023-01-26
    📄
    change-account-reference-date-company-previous-extended
    accounts · AA01
  8. 2022-11-24
    📄
    change-account-reference-date-company-current-extended
    accounts · AA01
  9. 2022-02-04
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  10. 2021-01-25
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  11. 2020-02-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  12. 2019-02-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  13. 2018-02-22
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  14. 2017-06-14
    📄
    mortgage-create-with-deed-with-charge-number-charge-creation-date
    mortgage · MR01
  15. 2017-06-12
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: Clydesdale Bank PLC (Trading as Both Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank) (Company Number SC001111)
  16. 2017-02-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  17. 2013-05-02
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As H2O HYDRO LTD
  18. 2013-05-02
    GOURLAY, Harrison Robert John appointed
    director

Owner dependency

80/100
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.
  • +No director turnover: Company is 13 years old with no director changes — suggests a very tight-knit founder team never broadened.

Succession & seller-readiness

58/100
Strong succession signal

Multiple signals suggest succession is on the horizon. Candidate for proactive outreach.

SIGNALS
  • primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
  • secondary12+ year tenure: Director in role 13 years.
  • 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 Harrison Robert John Gourlay
Individual · British · DOB 10/1988 · age 38
75100%
75–100%board control75-100% shares · 75-100% voting · board control30/06/2016

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.

See pricing →

Company details

Statusactive
Typeltd
Incorporated2013-05-02
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC01500 — SIC 01500

Registered office

Auchencheyne
Moniaive
Thornhill
DG3 4EW
Scotland

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2027-02-28
Last made up to: 2025-05-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-11-09
Last: 2025-10-26

Officers (1 active · 0 resigned)

GOURLAY, Harrison Robert John
director · ~38y · appointed 2013-05-02
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active

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

Mortgages & charges

1
Total charges
1
Outstanding
1
Active lenders
Status:Lender:1 of 1 shown
TypeProperties
outstanding
Virgin Money
Clydesdale Bank PLC (Trading as Both Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank) (Company Number SC001111)
A registered charge12/06/2017
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (32 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-10-28
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-10-07
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2025-08-06
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-02-28
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-11-08
change-account-reference-date-company-previous-shortened
accounts · AA01
2024-08-30
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-06-25
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-11-03
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-06-27
change-account-reference-date-company-previous-extended
accounts · AA01
2023-01-26
change-account-reference-date-company-current-extended
accounts · AA01
2022-11-24
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-11-04
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-02-04
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-10-26
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-05-14