MERCHANTS HOUSE CAFE LTD

💤Zombieactive
SC671669 · ltd · incorporated 2020-08-21
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: Manufacture of bread; manufacture of fresh pastry goods and cakes
Sector: Manufacturing
ALSO REGISTERED FOR
  • 56102Unlicenced restaurants and cafes
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: medium (79/100)

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

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
Confirmed no charges registered
85
Directors & officers
3 officers (2 active, 3 linked, 2 with DOB)
83
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
19 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 · accounting standard unknown
Metric2024-08-312023-08-31

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
1
filing
  • 1 confirmation-statement
Last 90 days
1
filing
  • 1 confirmation-statement
Last 180 days
1
filing
  • 1 confirmation-statement
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (16 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-02-06
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-04-09
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  3. 2024-03-21
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  4. 2024-03-21
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  5. 2023-10-20
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  6. 2023-10-20
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  7. 2023-10-18
    📄
    termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM01
  8. 2023-10-18
    📄
    cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
  9. 2023-10-05
    BARCLAY, Richard James resigned
    director
  10. 2023-02-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  11. 2022-04-20
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  12. 2020-08-21
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As MERCHANTS HOUSE CAFE LTD
  13. 2020-08-21
    STAROSTA, Maria Marzena appointed
    secretary
  14. 2020-08-21
    BARCLAY, Marzena appointed
    director
  15. 2020-08-21
    BARCLAY, Richard James appointed
    director
  16. 2020-08-21
    📄
    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

1 active beneficial owner
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mrs Marzena Barclay
Individual · Polish · DOB 06/1982 · age 44
2550%
25–50%board control25-50% shares · 25-50% voting · board control21/08/2020
1 historic (ceased) PSC
  • Mr Richard James Barclayceased 05/10/2023· 25-50% shares · 25-50% voting · board control

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.

See pricing →

Company details

Statusactive
Typeltd
Incorporated2020-08-21
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC10710 — Manufacture of bread; manufacture of fresh pastry goods and cakes

Registered office

13 Forest Road
Cardenden
Lochgelly
KY5 0QE
Scotland

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-05-31
Last made up to: 2024-08-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-04-04
Last: 2026-03-21

Officers (2 active · 1 resigned)

STAROSTA, Maria Marzena
secretary · appointed 2020-08-21
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
BARCLAY, Marzena
director · ~44y · appointed 2020-08-21
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
BARCLAY, Richard James
director · ~47y · appointed 2020-08-21 · resigned 2023-10-05
Resigned

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

Recent filings (19 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-03-26
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-04-28
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-02-06
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-04-09
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-03-21
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2024-03-21
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2024-03-21
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-10-25
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2023-10-20
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2023-10-20
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-10-18
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2023-10-18
cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
2023-10-18
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-09-01
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-02-23