CLELANDS OF THE BORDERS LTD

💤Zombieactive
SC632849 · ltd · incorporated 2019-06-10
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.
Why now
Window steady · low confidence
Steady and stalled — no momentum either way. Needs an approach trigger.
What changed my view
Last 30 days

No material changes in the last 30 days.

Last 90 days

No snapshot from 90 days ago — start tracking from today.

Last 180 days

No snapshot from 180 days ago — start tracking from today.

🔒Estimated value
Upgrade to see
Turnover
year to Jun 2025
Net worth
book net assets
Opportunity
78/100
Strong
🔔
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What this business does
Primary activity: Sale of new cars and light motor vehicles
Sector: Wholesale & retail
ALSO REGISTERED FOR
  • 45112SIC 45112
  • 45200SIC 45200
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 74-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 78/100 (strong), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (60/100, director aged 74). 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 6.8y

45/100
under pressure

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

  • · Oldest live charge is 6.8 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
  • · Distress signals active — lender appetite narrows.

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, 3 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
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
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
14 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£0Jun 2024Jun 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102
Metric2025-06-302024-06-30
Average employees273200

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 accounts
Last 180 days
1
filing
  • 1 accounts
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (11 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-03-18
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2025-03-25
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  3. 2024-03-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  4. 2023-03-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  5. 2022-03-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  6. 2021-06-07
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  7. 2019-08-08
    📄
    mortgage-create-with-deed-with-charge-number-charge-creation-date
    mortgage · MR01
  8. 2019-08-06
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: Bank of Scotland PLC
  9. 2019-06-10
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As CLELANDS OF THE BORDERS LTD
  10. 2019-06-10
    CLELAND, John Cunningham appointed
    director
  11. 2019-06-10
    📄
    incorporation-company
    incorporation · NEWINC

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 "CLELAND" — strong identity link between founder and business.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 74 — succession pressure is live.
  • +No director turnover: Company is 7 years old with no director changes — suggests a very tight-knit founder team never broadened.

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 74 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 · dominant holder ≥75%
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr John Cunningham Cleland
Individual · British · DOB 07/1952 · age 74
75100%
75–100%board control75-100% shares · 75-100% voting · board control10/06/2019

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

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
Incorporated2019-06-10
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC45111 — Sale of new cars and light motor vehicles

Registered office

Easter Langlee Industrial Estate
Melrose Road
Galashiels
TD1 2UH
United Kingdom

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2027-03-31
Last made up to: 2025-06-30
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-06-23
Last: 2025-06-09

Officers (1 active · 0 resigned)

CLELAND, John Cunningham
director · ~74y · appointed 2019-06-10
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
Bank of Scotland PLC
A registered charge06/08/2019
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (14 total)

accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2026-03-18
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-06-13
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-03-25
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-06-12
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-03-26
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-06-12
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-03-29
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-06-09
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-03-30
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-06-09
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-06-07
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-06-11
mortgage-create-with-deed-with-charge-number-charge-creation-date
mortgage · MR01
2019-08-08
incorporation-company
incorporation · NEWINC
2019-06-10