HIGHLAND CHOCOLATIER LIMITED

🌳Matureactive
SC449145 · ltd · incorporated 2013-05-02
Investment thesis
Established operating company — standard diligence applies, no dominant angle.
Why interesting: Live, filing, normal profile.
Why risky: No standout signals in either direction.
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Dec 2024
Net worth
£615.6k
book net assets
Opportunity
79/100
Strong
🔔
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What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 10821
Sector: Manufacturing
Investor take
Pursue
Asset-holding vehicle with a 87-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 79/100 (strong), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (63/100, director aged 87). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

Data confidence

Overall: high (80/100)

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

Company profile
address, 1 SIC codes, incorporation date
100
Financials
2 years of iXBRL accounts extracted (YoY deltas available) + narrative notes parsed
75
Lenders & charges
Confirmed no charges registered
85
Directors & officers
7 officers (4 active, 7 linked, 7 with DOB)
90
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
3 connected companies via shared directors
54
Filing history
41 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
79/100Strong
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional 

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

Business quality
70
Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.
Acquirability
75
Strong succession / seller-readiness signals.
Risk profile
85
Few red flags.
Signal strength
90
Good data coverage for analysis.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · accounting standard not declared
Positive net assets
Net assets £615,637
Net assets shrinking
Down £121,840 YoY
Cash YoY
+3990%
Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
£653k
↑ 3990% YoY
Net Worth
£616k
↓ 17% YoY
Current Assets
£967k
↑ 11% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
£0£193k£387k£580k£774k£967kDec 2023Dec 2024

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2024-12-312023-12-31
Total assets£628.8k£752.8k
Current assets£966.9k£867.9k
Cash£652.6k£16.0k
Debtors£142.6k£677.0k
Net assets£615.6k£737.5k

Amounts extracted automatically from iXBRL. Fields left blank were not reported or not mapped. Values in GBP unless stated.

🔒Filing-note intelligence

3 signals 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
4
filings
  • • 2 officers
  • • 1 persons-with-significant-control
  • • 1 address
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (27 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-12-19
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC05
  2. 2025-12-19
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  3. 2025-12-19
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  4. 2025-12-19
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  5. 2025-09-25
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  6. 2024-09-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  7. 2023-09-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  8. 2022-09-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  9. 2021-09-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  10. 2020-10-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  11. 2019-09-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  12. 2018-09-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  13. 2017-09-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  14. 2016-12-01
    📄
    termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM01
  15. 2016-11-22
    ➖
    COLLIER, Julie resigned
    director
  16. 2016-09-08
    📄
    termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM01
  17. 2016-08-31
    ➖
    HUGGINS, Graham Keith resigned
    director
  18. 2016-08-17
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  19. 2015-06-16
    ➖
    KENNEDY, Janice resigned
    director
  20. 2015-01-05
    ➕
    BURNETT, Hilarie Grace appointed
    director
  21. 2015-01-05
    ➕
    BURNETT, Iain appointed
    director
  22. 2015-01-05
    ➕
    BURNETT, Rachel Helena appointed
    director
  23. 2015-01-05
    ➕
    COLLIER, Julie appointed
    director
  24. 2015-01-05
    ➕
    HUGGINS, Graham Keith appointed
    director
  25. 2015-01-05
    ➕
    KENNEDY, Janice appointed
    director
  26. 2013-05-02
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As HIGHLAND CHOCOLATIER LIMITED
  27. 2013-05-02
    ➕
    HOUNAM, Peter Metcalfe appointed
    director

Owner dependency

63/100
High — earn-out structure required

Material founder dependency. Consider a 2-3 year earn-out and build in a handover plan before completion.

FACTORS
  • -4 active directors: Broader management team in place — suggests transferable governance.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 87 — succession pressure is live.
  • +Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

Succession & seller-readiness

73/100
Strong succession signal

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

SIGNALS
  • primaryFounder aged 70+: Senior director is approximately 87 years old. Natural succession window is now.
  • 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.)

Group structure

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

🏛️
Grandtully Holdings Limited
Corporate parent · holds 75-100% shares
ultimate parent
⬇
HIGHLAND CHOCOLATIER LIMITED
This company · SC449145

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%
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Grandtully Holdings Limited
Corporate entity
75–100%
75–100%75-100% shares · 75-100% voting03/05/2016

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 SIC10821 — SIC 10821

Registered office

Highland Chocolatier
Grandtully
Pitlochry
PH9 0PL
Scotland

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-09-30
Last made up to: 2024-12-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-05-16
Last: 2025-05-02

Officers (4 active · 3 resigned)

BURNETT, Hilarie Grace→
director · ~87y · appointed 2015-01-05
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
BURNETT, Iain→
director · ~53y · appointed 2015-01-05
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
BURNETT, Rachel Helena→
director · ~53y · appointed 2015-01-05
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
HOUNAM, Peter Metcalfe→
director · ~82y · appointed 2013-05-02
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
COLLIER, Julie→
director · ~69y · appointed 2015-01-05 · resigned 2016-11-22
Resigned
HUGGINS, Graham Keith→
director · ~86y · appointed 2015-01-05 · resigned 2016-08-31
Resigned
KENNEDY, Janice→
director · ~70y · appointed 2015-01-05 · resigned 2015-06-16
Resigned

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

Recent filings (41 total)

change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC05
2025-12-19
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2025-12-19
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2025-12-19
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2025-12-19
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-09-25
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-05-12
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-09-26
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-05-02
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-09-29
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-05-02
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-09-28
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-05-03
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-09-30
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-05-10
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-10-23