BOOKWORM PUBLISHING LTD

💤Zombieactive
SC484875 · ltd · incorporated 2014-08-21
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 Aug 2024
Net worth
book net assets
Opportunity
78/100
Strong
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What this business does
Primary activity: Book publishing
Sector: Information & communication
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 67-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 78/100 (strong), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (68/100, director aged 67). 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).

Data confidence

Overall: high (82/100)

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
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
10 connected companies via shared directors
75
Filing history
24 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
78/100Strong
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional 

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

Business quality
70
Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.
Acquirability
70
Strong succession / seller-readiness signals.
Risk profile
85
Few red flags.
Signal strength
90
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£0Aug 2023Aug 2024

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102
Metric2024-08-312023-08-31

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

Recent activity

Last 30 days
0
filings
Last 90 days
0
filings
Last 180 days
0
filings
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (16 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-04-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-04-21
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  3. 2023-04-20
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  4. 2022-05-09
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  5. 2021-04-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  6. 2020-04-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  7. 2019-04-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  8. 2019-04-25
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  9. 2018-03-02
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  10. 2018-03-02
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  11. 2017-05-01
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  12. 2016-04-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  13. 2015-10-01
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  14. 2014-08-21
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As BOOKWORM PUBLISHING LTD
  15. 2014-08-21
    STEWART, Michael Ian appointed
    director
  16. 2014-08-21
    📄
    incorporation-company
    incorporation · NEWINC

Owner dependency

95/100
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 age: Director aged approximately 67 — succession pressure is live.
  • +No director turnover: Company is 12 years old with no director changes — suggests a very tight-knit founder team never broadened.

Succession & seller-readiness

70/100
Strong succession signal

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

SIGNALS
  • primaryFounder aged 63+: Senior director is approximately 67. Approaching typical UK retirement age — succession thinking likely.
  • primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
  • 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 Michael Ian Stewart
Individual · British · DOB 08/1959 · age 67
75100%
75-100% shares01/08/2016

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

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.

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Company details

Statusactive
Typeltd
Incorporated2014-08-21
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC58110 — Book publishing

Registered office

7 Home Farm Road
Ayr
KA7 4XH
Scotland

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-05-31
Last made up to: 2024-08-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-09-04
Last: 2025-08-21

Officers (1 active · 0 resigned)

STEWART, Michael Ian
director · ~67y · appointed 2014-08-21
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active

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

Recent filings (24 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-08-24
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2025-04-23
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-08-24
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2024-04-21
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-08-25
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2023-04-20
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-08-22
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2022-05-09
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-08-23
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2021-04-27
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-08-31
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2020-04-27
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-09-03
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2019-04-30
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2019-04-25