ESPRESSO SMITH LTD

🌿Early-stageactive
SC789741 · ltd · incorporated 2023-11-17
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.
🔒Estimated value
Upgrade to see
Turnover
year to Nov 2024
Net worth
£5.5k
book net assets
Opportunity
67/100
Strong
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What this business does
Primary activity: Other retail sale not in stores, stalls or markets
Sector: Wholesale & retail
Investor take
Pursue
Asset-holding vehicle. Reasonable fundamentals — worth a memo before deciding.

Opportunity 67/100 (strong), bankability 70/100. 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 (71/100)

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
1 year of iXBRL accounts extracted (no YoY comparison) + narrative notes parsed
50
Lenders & charges
Confirmed no charges registered
85
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
1 connected companies via shared directors
48
Filing history
5 filings
60
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
67/100Strong
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional 

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

Business quality
60
Adequate — check latest filings for context.
Acquirability
50
Some acquirability indicators.
Risk profile
77
Few red flags.
Signal strength
90
Good data coverage for analysis.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · FRS 105 (micro)
Positive net assets
Net assets £5,462

Key financials

1 year extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
Net Worth
£5k
Current Assets
£11k
Current Liabilities

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 105 (micro)
Metric2024-11-30
Total assets£5.5k
Current assets£11.4k
Net assets£5.5k

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
1
filing
  • 1 change-of-name
Last 180 days
1
filing
  • 1 change-of-name
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (5 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-03-02
    ✏️
    certificate-change-of-name-company
    change-of-name · CERTNM
  2. 2025-08-13
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  3. 2023-11-17
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As ESPRESSO SMITH LTD
  4. 2023-11-17
    SMITH, Dominic Steven appointed
    director
  5. 2023-11-17
    📄
    incorporation-company
    incorporation · NEWINC

Owner dependency

95/100
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 "SMITH" — strong identity link between founder and business.
  • +Young company: Only 2.4 years old — management layer unlikely to be developed.

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

1 med ·
Name changed recently
medium

Name changes can be benign (rebrand) but can also precede distress, phoenix activity, or buyer concealment.

Evidence: 2026-03-02: certificate-change-of-name-company

Shareholders & ownership

1 active beneficial owner · dominant holder ≥75%
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr Dominic Steven Smith
Individual · British · DOB 06/1976 · age 50
75100%
75–100%board control75-100% shares · 75-100% voting · board control17/11/2023

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.

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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.

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Company details

Statusactive
Typeltd
Incorporated2023-11-17
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC47990 — Other retail sale not in stores, stalls or markets

Registered office

Sunnyside
,
Sanquhar
Dumfries And Galloway
DG4 6JP
United Kingdom

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-08-31
Last made up to: 2024-11-30
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-11-06
Last: 2025-10-23

Officers (1 active · 0 resigned)

SMITH, Dominic Steven
director · ~50y · appointed 2023-11-17
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active

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

Recent filings (5 total)

certificate-change-of-name-company
change-of-name · CERTNM
2026-03-02
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-10-23
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-08-13
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-11-20
incorporation-company
incorporation · NEWINC
2023-11-17