JOHN SMITH & SON (FUNERALS) LTD

🏛️Establishedactive
SC593322 · ltd · incorporated 2018-04-04
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
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Turnover
year to Mar 2025
Net worth
£111.2k
book net assets
Opportunity
64/100
Worth a look
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What this business does
Primary activity: Funeral and related activities
Sector: Other service activities
Investor take
Special-situation opportunity
Distressed trade-services with salvageable qualities — special-situations priority.

Opportunity 64/100 (worth a look), bankability 65/100. High owner-dependency — earn-out structure likely required for clean transition. Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Resolve: Confirmation statement overdue. Annual confirmation statement not filed on time. Required statutory filing — overdue is a strong discipline signal. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (58/100).

Data confidence

Overall: medium (78/100)

Adequate coverage. AI outputs are reliable for the sections scored high; verify the rest in diligence.

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
2 officers (2 active, 2 linked, 2 with DOB)
90
Ownership & PSC
2 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
17 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
64/100Worth a look
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional 

Mixed signal. Worth opening the full target workup before deciding to pursue.

Business quality
55
Adequate — check latest filings for context.
Acquirability
55
Some acquirability indicators.
Risk profile
67
Some moderate concerns — review flags.
Signal strength
90
Good data coverage for analysis.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · FRS 105 (micro)
Positive net assets
Net assets £111,170

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
Net Worth
£111k
↑ 6.4% YoY
Current Assets
£115k
↑ 15% YoY
Current Liabilities
£0£23k£46k£69k£92k£115kMar 2024Mar 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 105 (micro)
Metric2025-03-312024-03-31
Total assets£111.2k£104.5k
Current assets£114.6k£100.1k
Net assets£111.2k£104.5k

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 accounts
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (13 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-12-01
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-11-04
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  3. 2023-12-13
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  4. 2022-06-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  5. 2021-10-20
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  6. 2021-06-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  7. 2020-09-03
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  8. 2019-08-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  9. 2019-08-26
    📄
    change-account-reference-date-company-previous-shortened
    accounts · AA01
  10. 2018-04-04
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As JOHN SMITH & SON (FUNERALS) LTD
  11. 2018-04-04
    MCFARLANE, Ian Douglas appointed
    director
  12. 2018-04-04
    MCFARLANE, Steven John appointed
    director
  13. 2018-04-04
    📄
    incorporation-company
    incorporation · NEWINC

Owner dependency

71/100
High — earn-out structure required

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

FACTORS
  • +Two-director setup: Only two active directors — typical of owner-managed SMEs but limits succession.
  • +Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.
  • +No director turnover: Company is 8 years old with no director changes — suggests a very tight-knit founder team never broadened.

Succession & seller-readiness

36/100
Weak signal

Limited succession signal. Not a near-term off-market candidate.

SIGNALS
  • secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.

Red flags

1 high ·
Confirmation statement overdue
high

Annual confirmation statement not filed on time. Required statutory filing — overdue is a strong discipline signal.

Evidence: Next due: 2026-04-17

Shareholders & ownership

2 active beneficial owners
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Ian Douglas Mcfarlane
Individual · British · DOB 03/1979 · age 47
2550%
25–50%25-50% shares · 25-50% voting04/04/2018
Steven John Mcfarlane
Individual · British · DOB 09/1974 · age 52
2550%
25–50%25-50% shares · 25-50% voting04/04/2018

From Companies House Persons with Significant Control filings. Share ranges are banded per the public PSC regime.

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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
Incorporated2018-04-04
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC96030 — Funeral and related activities

Registered office

4 High Street
Auchterarder
Perthshire
PH3 1DF
United Kingdom

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-12-31
Last made up to: 2025-03-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-04-17OVERDUE
Last: 2025-04-03

Officers (2 active · 0 resigned)

MCFARLANE, Ian Douglas
director · ~47y · appointed 2018-04-04
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
MCFARLANE, Steven John
director · ~52y · appointed 2018-04-04
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active

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

Recent filings (17 total)

accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-12-01
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-04-04
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-11-04
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-04-15
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-12-13
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-04-05
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-06-27
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-04-28
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2021-10-20
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-06-23
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-04-15
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2020-09-03
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-04-20
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2019-08-30
change-account-reference-date-company-previous-shortened
accounts · AA01
2019-08-26