A.R.LANE(COWSDEN)LIMITED

💤Zombieactive
00370700 · ltd · incorporated 1941-11-18
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 Mar 2025
Net worth
book net assets
Opportunity
79/100
Strong
🔔
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What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 01500
Sector: Agriculture, forestry & fishing
ALSO REGISTERED FOR
  • 46900Non-specialised wholesale trade
  • 68209Other letting and operating of own or leased real estate
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 78-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 79/100 (strong), bankability 77/100. Strong seller-intent signal (78/100, director aged 78). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Consolidate lender relationships. 3 distinct lenders creates friction — refinance into single-lender structure for cleaner diligence. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (73/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

3 live charges · 3 lenders · oldest 55.9y

15/100
under pressure

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

  • · Oldest live charge is 55.9 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · 3 lenders named — inter-creditor friction likely.
  • · Distress signals active — lender appetite narrows.

Data confidence

Overall: high (81/100)

Strong data coverage across all sections. AI outputs should be trusted with minimal caveats.

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
3 charges (3/3 with lender, 3/3 with type)
90
Directors & officers
5 officers (2 active, 5 linked, 3 with DOB)
82
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
7 connected companies via shared directors
66
Filing history
99 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
79/100Strong
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional 

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

Business quality
70
Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.
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£255k£511k£766k£1.0m£1.3mMar 2024Mar 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2025-03-312024-03-31
Total assets£1.28M
Current assets£192.6k
Net assets£1.28M
Average employees1

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
0
filings
Last 180 days
0
filings
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (26 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-10-22
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-08-02
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  3. 2023-12-15
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  4. 2022-09-15
    📄
    mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
    mortgage · MR04
  5. 2022-09-15
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #3
  6. 2022-09-06
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  7. 2021-09-07
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  8. 2020-09-22
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  9. 2019-11-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  10. 2018-12-19
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  11. 2017-12-18
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  12. 2016-10-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  13. 2015-09-11
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  14. 2015-09-10
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  15. 2014-12-11
    📄
    mortgage-create-with-deed-with-charge-number-charge-creation-date
    mortgage · MR01
  16. 2014-12-10
    🔒
    Charge registered #3
    Lender: Hsbc Bank PLC
  17. 2014-09-13
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  18. 2013-03-31
    LANE, Deborah Mary resigned
    secretary
  19. 2013-03-28
    LANE, Patrick William resigned
    director
  20. 2013-01-02
    BAKER, Katharine Elizabeth appointed
    secretary
  21. 2011-02-23
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #2
  22. 2011-02-23
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #1
  23. 2003-02-12
    LANE, Alfred Reginald resigned
    director
  24. 1997-08-27
    🔒
    Charge registered #2
    Lender: Midland Bank PLC
  25. 1970-08-04
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: Midland Bank LTD
  26. 1941-11-18
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As A.R.LANE(COWSDEN)LIMITED

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 "LANE" — strong identity link between founder and business.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 78 — succession pressure is live.

Succession & seller-readiness

85/100
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 78 years old. Natural succession window is now.
  • primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 85 years old and no new directors in the last 3 years — succession not yet being planned internally.

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 David Reginald Lane
Individual · British · DOB 03/1948 · age 78
75100%
75-100% shares06/04/2016

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

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
Incorporated1941-11-18
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC01500 — SIC 01500

Registered office

Cowsden Hall
Upton Snodsbury
Worcester
WR7 4NZ

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-12-25
Last made up to: 2025-03-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-09-27
Last: 2025-09-13

Officers (2 active · 3 resigned)

BAKER, Katharine Elizabeth
secretary · appointed 2013-01-02
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
LANE, David Reginald
director · ~78y
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
LANE, Deborah Mary
secretary · resigned 2013-03-31
Resigned
LANE, Alfred Reginald
director · ~118y · resigned 2003-02-12
Resigned
LANE, Patrick William
director · ~78y · resigned 2013-03-28
Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

3
Total charges
0
Outstanding
0
Active lenders
Status:Lender:3 of 3 shown
TypeProperties
satisfied
HSBC
Hsbc Bank PLC
A registered charge1 property10/12/201415/09/2022
satisfied
Midland Bank
Midland Bank PLC
Debenture1 property27/08/199723/02/2011
satisfied
Midland Bank
Midland Bank LTD
Mortgage1 property04/08/197023/02/2011

Recent filings (99 total)

accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-10-22
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-09-16
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-09-15
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-08-02
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-12-15
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-09-13
mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
mortgage · MR04
2022-09-15
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-09-06
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-09-05
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-09-07
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-09-05
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2020-09-22
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-09-05
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2019-11-29
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-09-07