FINLAY'S FARM LTD

💤Zombieactive
SC558749 · ltd · incorporated 2017-02-24
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 Dec 2024
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
78/100
Strong
🔔
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What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 10512
Sector: Manufacturing
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 71-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 78/100 (strong), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (60/100, director aged 71). 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 7.3y

45/100
under pressure

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

  • · Oldest live charge is 7.3 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, 1 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
5 officers (1 active, 5 linked, 4 with DOB)
86
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared
90
Director network
2 connected companies via shared directors
51
Filing history
27 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
65
Adequate — check latest filings for context.
Acquirability
70
Strong succession / seller-readiness signals.
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£0Dec 2023Dec 2024

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102
Metric2024-12-312023-12-31
Average employees800600

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

🔒Filing-note intelligence

2 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
1
filing
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
Last 180 days
3
filings
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
  • • 1 persons-with-significant-control
  • • 1 officers
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (27 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-10-28
    📄
    cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
  2. 2025-10-28
    📄
    termination-secretary-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM02
  3. 2025-04-23
    📄
    termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM01
  4. 2025-04-22
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  5. 2025-03-30
    ➖
    FINLAY, Wilma Jean resigned
    secretary
  6. 2025-03-30
    ➖
    FINLAY, Wilma Jean resigned
    director
  7. 2024-09-24
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  8. 2023-07-21
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  9. 2022-08-02
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  10. 2021-09-24
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  11. 2020-11-19
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  12. 2019-09-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  13. 2019-04-01
    📄
    change-account-reference-date-company-previous-shortened
    accounts · AA01
  14. 2018-12-27
    📄
    mortgage-create-with-deed-with-charge-number-charge-creation-date
    mortgage · MR01
  15. 2018-12-17
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: Bank of Scotland PLC
  16. 2018-11-22
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  17. 2018-06-25
    ➖
    HAWORTH, James Edward resigned
    director
  18. 2018-06-25
    ➖
    HAWORTH, Sarah Marie resigned
    director
  19. 2018-06-25
    📄
    termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM01
  20. 2018-06-25
    📄
    termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM01
  21. 2017-05-09
    📄
    appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
    officers · AP01
  22. 2017-05-02
    ➕
    HAWORTH, James Edward appointed
    director
  23. 2017-05-02
    ➕
    HAWORTH, Sarah Marie appointed
    director
  24. 2017-02-24
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As FINLAY'S FARM LTD
  25. 2017-02-24
    ➕
    FINLAY, David James appointed
    director
  26. 2017-02-24
    ➕
    FINLAY, Wilma Jean appointed
    secretary
  27. 2017-02-24
    ➕
    FINLAY, Wilma Jean 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 "FINLAY" — strong identity link between founder and business.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 71 — succession pressure is live.

Succession & seller-readiness

75/100
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 71 years old. Natural succession window is now.
  • primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.

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
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr David James Finlay
Individual · British · DOB 02/1955 · age 71
25–50%
25–50%25-50% shares · 25-50% voting24/02/2017
1 historic (ceased) PSC
  • Mrs Wilma Jean Finlayceased 30/03/2025· 25-50% shares · firm interest

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.

See pricing →

Company details

Statusactive
Typeltd
Incorporated2017-02-24
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC10512 — SIC 10512

Registered office

Rainton
Gatehouse Of Fleet
Castle Douglas
DG7 2DR
Scotland

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-09-30
Last made up to: 2024-12-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-03-09
Last: 2026-02-23

Officers (1 active · 4 resigned)

FINLAY, David James→
director · ~71y · appointed 2017-02-24
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
FINLAY, Wilma Jean→
secretary · appointed 2017-02-24 · resigned 2025-03-30
Resigned
FINLAY, Wilma Jean→
director · ~71y · appointed 2017-02-24 · resigned 2025-03-30
Resigned
HAWORTH, James Edward→
director · ~56y · appointed 2017-05-02 · resigned 2018-06-25
Resigned
HAWORTH, Sarah Marie→
director · ~53y · appointed 2017-05-02 · resigned 2018-06-25
Resigned

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
Bank of Scotland PLC
A registered charge—17/12/2018—
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (27 total)

confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-03-02
cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
2025-10-28
termination-secretary-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM02
2025-10-28
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2025-04-23
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-04-22
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-02-27
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-09-24
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-03-08
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-07-21
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-03-07
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-08-02
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-02-26
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-09-24
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-03-05
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-11-19