ESSENCE OF SCOTLAND LTD

💤Zombieactive
SC604659 · ltd · incorporated 2018-08-07
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
72/100
Strong
🔔
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What this business does
Primary activity: Other retail sale of new goods in specialised stores (other than commercial art galleries and opticians)
Sector: Wholesale & retail
Investor take
Pursue
Strong opportunity: active trading company with strong profile and bankable structure.

Opportunity 72/100 (strong), bankability 75/100. High owner-dependency — earn-out structure likely required for clean transition. 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 (58/100).

Data confidence

Overall: high (81/100)

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
2 officers (1 active, 2 linked, 2 with DOB)
90
Ownership & PSC
2 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared
90
Director network
5 connected companies via shared directors
60
Filing history
17 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
72/100Strong
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional 

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

Business quality
65
Adequate — check latest filings for context.
Acquirability
55
Some acquirability indicators.
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 (14 events)Click to expand
  1. 2024-09-10
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-05-24
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  3. 2023-08-23
    MCGOWAN, Christine Rose resigned
    director
  4. 2023-08-23
    📄
    termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM01
  5. 2023-05-25
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  6. 2022-04-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  7. 2021-05-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  8. 2020-06-23
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  9. 2020-06-23
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  10. 2020-03-16
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  11. 2018-08-07
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As ESSENCE OF SCOTLAND LTD
  12. 2018-08-07
    MCGOWAN, James appointed
    director
  13. 2018-08-07
    MCGOWAN, Christine Rose appointed
    director
  14. 2018-08-07
    📄
    incorporation-company
    incorporation · NEWINC

Owner dependency

75/100
High — earn-out structure required

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

FACTORS
  • +Sole director: Only one active director — all governance concentrated on one person.

Succession & seller-readiness

45/100
Moderate signal

Some succession indicators present. Worth watching; approach if sector/strategy fits.

SIGNALS
  • 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

2 active beneficial owners
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mrs Christine Rose Mcgowan
Individual · Scottish · DOB 09/1981 · age 45
2550%
25–50%25-50% shares · 25-50% voting07/08/2018
Mr James Mcgowan
Individual · British · DOB 08/1973 · age 53
2550%
25–50%25-50% shares · 25-50% voting07/08/2018

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
Incorporated2018-08-07
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC47789 — Other retail sale of new goods in specialised stores (other than commercial art galleries and opticians)

Registered office

26 Lewis Street
Stornoway
Isle Of Lewis
HS1 2JF
Scotland

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-05-31
Last made up to: 2024-08-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-08-20
Last: 2025-08-06

Officers (1 active · 1 resigned)

MCGOWAN, James
director · ~53y · appointed 2018-08-07
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
MCGOWAN, Christine Rose
director · ~45y · appointed 2018-08-07 · resigned 2023-08-23
Resigned

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

Recent filings (17 total)

confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-08-22
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2024-09-10
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-08-09
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2024-05-24
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2023-08-23
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-08-10
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2023-05-25
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-08-15
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2022-04-26
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-08-23
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2021-05-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-08-07
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2020-06-23
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2020-06-23
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2020-03-16