DUNCAN FOOD SERVICES LTD

🌿Early-stageactive
SC701416 · ltd · incorporated 2021-06-11
Investment thesis
Growth-phase business — story-led; valuation sensitive to momentum.
Why interesting: Trading is scaling; acquirers paying for trajectory get disproportionate leverage.
Why risky: Price often leads fundamentals; dependency on founder often high.
Opportunity decay
approaching window · 12-months
Approaching a transaction window — refinance or sale event plausible in the next 12 months.
  • · Oldest live charge 3.9y old — refinance window within 12 months
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Jun 2025
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
76/100
Strong
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What this business does
Primary activity: Hotels and similar accommodation
Sector: Accommodation & food service
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 69-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 76/100 (strong), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (60/100, director aged 69). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (73/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

1 live charge · oldest 3.9y

75/100
ready

Refinance conversation should be productive — structure clean and timing right.

  • · Charge age ~3.9 years — mid-life; refi window approaching.
  • · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
  • · Legal-friction score 15/100 — clean.

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
1 charges (1/1 with lender, 1/1 with type)
90
Directors & officers
4 officers (2 active, 4 linked, 3 with DOB)
85
Ownership & PSC
2 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 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
🔒Estimated company valuation

Sector-multiple EBITDA, turnover, and NAV-proxy valuation range with confidence tier — derived from extracted iXBRL financials.

Available from the Pro tier upwards.

See pricing →
Opportunity Score
76/100Strong
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional 

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

Business quality
60
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 employees10001200

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 accounts
Last 90 days
1
filing
  • • 1 accounts
Last 180 days
1
filing
  • • 1 accounts
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (18 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-03-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  2. 2025-03-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  3. 2024-04-02
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  4. 2023-06-08
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  5. 2022-06-29
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  6. 2022-06-07
    📄
    mortgage-create-with-deed-with-charge-number-charge-creation-date
    mortgage · MR01
  7. 2022-05-31
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
  8. 2021-10-06
    📄
    termination-secretary-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM02
  9. 2021-10-06
    📄
    termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM01
  10. 2021-10-01
    ➖
    DUNCAN, Holly Elizabeth resigned
    secretary
  11. 2021-10-01
    ➖
    DUNCAN, Andrew Robert resigned
    director
  12. 2021-09-28
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  13. 2021-06-11
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As DUNCAN FOOD SERVICES LTD
  14. 2021-06-11
    ➕
    DUNCAN, Allan Ewart appointed
    director
  15. 2021-06-11
    ➕
    DUNCAN, Margaret Carruthers appointed
    director
  16. 2021-06-11
    ➕
    DUNCAN, Holly Elizabeth appointed
    secretary
  17. 2021-06-11
    ➕
    DUNCAN, Andrew Robert appointed
    director
  18. 2021-06-11
    📄
    incorporation-company
    incorporation · NEWINC

Owner dependency

96/100
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
  • +Two-director setup: Only two active directors — typical of owner-managed SMEs but limits succession.
  • +Founder name in company name: Company name contains director surname "DUNCAN" — strong identity link between founder and business.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 69 — succession pressure is live.
  • +Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

Succession & seller-readiness

56/100
Strong succession signal

Multiple signals suggest succession is on the horizon. Candidate for proactive outreach.

SIGNALS
  • primaryFounder aged 63+: Senior director is approximately 69. Approaching typical UK retirement age — succession thinking likely.
  • secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.

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
Mr Allan Ewart Duncan
Individual · Scottish · DOB 04/1957 · age 69
25–50%
25–50%board control25-50% shares · 25-50% voting · board control11/06/2021
Mrs Margaret Carruthers Duncan
Individual · Scottish · DOB 12/1957 · age 69
25–50%
25–50%board control25-50% shares · 25-50% voting · board control11/06/2021

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
Incorporated2021-06-11
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC55100 — Hotels and similar accommodation

Registered office

Crown Hotel 10 King Street
Inverbervie
Montrose
DD10 0RG
Scotland

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2027-03-31
Last made up to: 2025-06-30
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-06-24
Last: 2025-06-10

Officers (2 active · 2 resigned)

DUNCAN, Allan Ewart→
director · ~69y · appointed 2021-06-11
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
DUNCAN, Margaret Carruthers→
director · ~69y · appointed 2021-06-11
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
DUNCAN, Holly Elizabeth→
secretary · appointed 2021-06-11 · resigned 2021-10-01
Resigned
DUNCAN, Andrew Robert→
director · ~41y · appointed 2021-06-11 · resigned 2021-10-01
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
The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
A registered charge—31/05/2022—
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (14 total)

accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2026-03-26
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-07-31
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2025-03-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-06-10
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2024-04-02
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-06-21
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2023-06-08
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2022-06-29
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-06-22
mortgage-create-with-deed-with-charge-number-charge-creation-date
mortgage · MR01
2022-06-07
termination-secretary-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM02
2021-10-06
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2021-10-06
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2021-09-28
incorporation-company
incorporation · NEWINC
2021-06-11