ASSOCIATED BRITISH FOODS PLC

🌳Matureactive

00293262 · plc · incorporated 1934-10-20

Investment thesis

Established operating company — standard diligence applies, no dominant angle.

Why interesting: Live, filing, normal profile.

Why risky: No standout signals in either direction.

Opportunity decay

approaching window · 12-months

Approaching a transaction window — refinance or sale event plausible in the next 12 months.

· Oldest live charge 31.7y old — refinance window within 12 months

🔒Estimated value

—

Upgrade to see

Turnover

—

not disclosed

Net worth

—

book net assets

Opportunity

83/100

Exceptional

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What this business does

Primary activity: Activities of head offices

Sector: Professional, scientific & technical

Investor take

Pursue

Active trading company with a 71-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 83/100 (exceptional), bankability 85/100. Strong seller-intent signal (63/100, director aged 71). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

1 live charge · oldest 31.7y

65/100

clean up first

Refinance viable after a tidy-up — address the highlighted items first.

· Oldest live charge is 31.7 years old — likely at or near maturity.
· Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
· Legal-friction score 28/100 — workable, but lender will want more DD.

Data confidence

Overall: low (53/100)

Sparse data coverage. Treat AI-generated outputs as preliminary. Manual diligence essential.

Company profile

address, 1 SIC codes, incorporation date

100

Financials

No iXBRL financials extracted

Lenders & charges

1 charges (1/1 with lender, 1/1 with type)

Directors & officers

41 officers (11 active, 41 linked, 36 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

No PSCs filed (unusual — worth investigating)

Director network

18 connected companies via shared directors

Filing history

1138 filings on record

Gazette notices

No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)

Opportunity Score

83/100Exceptional

PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional

Strong composite across quality, acquirability, and risk. High-priority target — progress to serious diligence.

Business quality

Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.

Acquirability

Strong succession / seller-readiness signals.

Risk profile

Few red flags.

Signal strength

100

Good data coverage for analysis.

Recent activity

Last 30 days

filings

• 25 capital

Last 90 days

filings

• 25 capital

Last 180 days

filings

• 25 capital

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (93 events)Click to expand

2026-06-04
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capital · SH06
2026-06-04
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2026-06-04
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capital · SH06
2026-06-04
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capital · SH06
2026-06-04
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capital · SH06
2026-06-04
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capital · SH06
2026-06-04
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capital · SH06
2026-06-04
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capital · SH06
2026-06-04
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capital · SH06
2026-06-04
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capital · SH03
2026-06-04
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capital · SH03
2026-05-27
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capital · SH06
2026-05-27
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capital · SH06
2026-05-27
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capital · SH06
2026-05-27
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capital · SH03
2026-05-18
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capital · SH06
2026-05-18
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capital · SH06
2026-05-18
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capital · SH06
2026-05-18
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capital · SH06
2026-05-18
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capital · SH06
2026-05-18
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capital · SH06
2026-05-18
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capital · SH06
2026-05-18
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capital · SH06
2026-05-18
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capital · SH06
2026-05-18
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capital · SH06
2026-03-05
➕
EDWARDS, Joana Lidia appointed
director
2025-04-30
➖
REID, Richard Harry resigned
director
2024-10-01
➕
WOODHOUSE, Loraine appointed
director
2024-01-18
➖
HAUSER, Wolfhart Gunnar, Dr resigned
director
2023-12-01
➕
BAYAZIT BESSON, Kumsal appointed
director
2023-09-06
➕
MURPHY, Anne Louise appointed
director
2023-08-31
➖
CAIRNIE, Linda Ruth resigned
director
2023-04-28
➖
BASON, John George resigned
director
2023-02-06
➕
TONGE, Eoin Philip appointed
director
2021-03-01
➕
RABBATTS, Heather Victoria, Dame appointed
director
2018-12-07
➖
FERRAN LARRAZ, Francisco Javier resigned
director
2018-09-05
➕
ALLAN, Graham Denis, Mr. appointed
director
2018-04-11
➖
SINCLAIR, Charles James Francis resigned
director
2017-11-30
➖
CLARKE, Timothy resigned
director
2017-11-01
➕
MCLINTOCK, Michael George Alexander appointed
director
2016-04-14
➕
REID, Richard Harry appointed
director
2016-04-13
➖
SMITH, Peter Alan resigned
director
2015-11-30
➖
JAY, Michael Hastings, Lord resigned
director
2015-01-14
➕
HAUSER, Wolfhart Gunnar, Dr appointed
director
2014-05-01
➕
CAIRNIE, Linda Ruth appointed
director
2011-12-09
➕
ADAMO, Emma Susan appointed
director
2011-12-09
➖
WESTON, Willard Gordon Galen resigned
director
2010-06-01
🔓
Charge satisfied #1
2009-04-21
➖
ADAMSON, Martin Gardiner resigned
director
2008-10-01
➕
SINCLAIR, Charles James Francis appointed
director

Showing most recent 50 of 93 events

Owner dependency

65/100

High — earn-out structure required

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

FACTORS

-10 active directors: Broader management team in place — suggests transferable governance.
+Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 27 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
+Founder age: Director aged approximately 71 — succession pressure is live.

Succession & seller-readiness

80/100

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 71 years old. Natural succession window is now.
primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 27 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
supportingClean filings + long tenure: Disciplined long-tenure operator — classic lifestyle-business pattern that often sells quietly.

Red flags

clean

No red flags detected from available public data. (This is not a clean bill of health — detailed accounts review still recommended.)

🔒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

7 specific questions generated from this company's actual signals — liquidity, leverage, director age, charge count, red flags, age-of-company.

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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.

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Company details

Statusactive

Typeplc

Incorporated1934-10-20

Jurisdictionengland-wales

Primary SIC70100 — Activities of head offices

Registered office

Weston Centre

10 Grosvenor Street

London

W1K 4QY

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2027-03-15

Last made up to: 2025-09-13

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2026-11-19

Last: 2025-11-05