IAN THOMSON CAR SALES LTD

🌳Matureactive
SC495527 · ltd · incorporated 2015-01-20
Investment thesis
Well-run mature business — low negotiation leverage; premium likely.
Why interesting: Textbook target; clean filings, stable trading.
Why risky: No pressure on seller; any deal likely at full price.
Opportunity decay
approaching window · 12-months
Approaching a transaction window — refinance or sale event plausible in the next 12 months.
  • · Oldest live charge 10.8y old — refinance window within 12 months
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Jan 2025
Net worth
£131.8k
book net assets
Opportunity
79/100
Strong
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What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 45112
Sector: Wholesale & retail
ALSO REGISTERED FOR
  • 45200SIC 45200
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 77-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 79/100 (strong), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (68/100, director aged 77). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (73/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

1 live charge · oldest 10.8y

85/100
ready

Refinance conversation should be productive — structure clean and timing right.

  • · Oldest live charge is 10.8 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
  • · Legal-friction score 15/100 — clean.

Data confidence

Overall: high (80/100)

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

Company profile
address, 2 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
2 officers (2 active, 2 linked, 2 with DOB)
90
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
1 connected companies via shared directors
48
Filing history
29 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
70
Strong succession / seller-readiness signals.
Risk profile
85
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 £131,848
Net assets shrinking
Down £11,504 YoY

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
—
Net Worth
£132k
↓ 8.0% YoY
Current Assets
£342k
↓ 6.3% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
£0£73k£146k£219k£292k£365kJan 2024Jan 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2025-01-312024-01-31
Total assets£134.0k£150.0k
Current assets£342.1k£365.1k
Debtors£9.2k£22.3k
Net assets£131.8k£143.4k

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
1
filing
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
Last 180 days
6
filings
  • • 2 officers
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
  • • 1 accounts
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (19 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-12-22
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2025-12-12
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  3. 2025-12-12
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  4. 2025-12-12
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  5. 2025-12-12
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  6. 2024-10-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  7. 2024-01-12
    📄
    capital-allotment-shares
    capital · SH01
  8. 2023-10-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  9. 2023-01-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  10. 2021-10-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  11. 2021-01-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  12. 2019-10-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  13. 2018-10-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  14. 2017-10-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  15. 2016-10-20
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  16. 2016-10-11
    ➕
    THOMSON, Barry John appointed
    director
  17. 2015-06-22
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
  18. 2015-01-20
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As IAN THOMSON CAR SALES LTD
  19. 2015-01-20
    ➕
    THOMSON, Ian James 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
  • +Two-director setup: Only two active directors — typical of owner-managed SMEs but limits succession.
  • +Founder name in company name: Company name contains director surname "THOMSON" — strong identity link between founder and business.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 77 — succession pressure is live.
  • +Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.
  • +No director turnover: Company is 11 years old with no director changes — suggests a very tight-knit founder team never broadened.

Succession & seller-readiness

71/100
Strong succession signal

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

SIGNALS
  • primaryFounder aged 70+: Senior director is approximately 77 years old. Natural succession window is now.
  • secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
  • 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 Ian Thomson
Individual · British · DOB 05/1949 · age 77
75–100%
—75-100% shares01/06/2016

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.

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Company details

Statusactive
Typeltd
Incorporated2015-01-20
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC45112 — SIC 45112

Registered office

Beechbrae Ardgye
Alves
Elgin
Moray
IV30 8UP
Scotland

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-10-31
Last made up to: 2025-01-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-01-30
Last: 2026-01-16

Officers (2 active · 0 resigned)

THOMSON, Barry John→
director · ~56y · appointed 2016-10-11
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
THOMSON, Ian James→
director · ~77y · appointed 2015-01-20
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
Lloyds Banking Group
The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
A registered charge—22/06/2015—
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (29 total)

confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-02-04
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-12-22
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2025-12-12
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2025-12-12
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2025-12-12
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2025-12-12
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-02-06
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-10-29
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-01-12
capital-allotment-shares
capital · SH01
2024-01-12
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-10-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-02-03
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-01-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-01-18
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-10-28