A.E. LENTON LIMITED

🌳Matureactive
00473649 · ltd · incorporated 1949-10-06
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.
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Apr 2025
Net worth
£8.60M
book net assets
Opportunity
78/100
Strong
🔔
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What this business does
Primary activity: Wholesale of fruit and vegetables
Sector: Wholesale & retail
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 79-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 78/100 (strong), bankability 57/100. Strong seller-intent signal (63/100, director aged 79). 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 (65/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

9 live charges · 3 lenders · oldest 65.0y

35/100
too messy

Refinance path is blocked by complexity. Rethink structure or expect bespoke, expensive terms.

  • · Oldest live charge is 65.0 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · 3 lenders named — inter-creditor friction likely.
  • · Legal-friction score 35/100 — workable, but lender will want more DD.

Data confidence

Overall: high (83/100)

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

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
9 charges (9/9 with lender, 9/9 with type)
90
Directors & officers
6 officers (4 active, 6 linked, 5 with DOB)
87
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
13 connected companies via shared directors
84
Filing history
117 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
78/100Strong
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional 

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

Business quality
60
Adequate — check latest filings for context.
Acquirability
80
Strong succession / seller-readiness signals.
Risk profile
82
Few red flags.
Signal strength
100
Good data coverage for analysis.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · accounting standard not declared
Positive net assets
Net assets £8,598,951
Cash YoY
+15%
Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
£21k
↑ 15% YoY
Net Worth
£8.6m
↑ 5.4% YoY
Current Assets
£5.4m
↓ 9.6% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
£0£1.7m£3.4m£5.2m£6.9m£8.6mApr 2024Apr 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2025-04-302024-04-30
Total assets£9.38M£9.03M
Current assets£5.44M£6.02M
Cash£21.2k£18.5k
Debtors£4.32M£5.21M
Net assets£8.60M£8.16M

Amounts extracted automatically from iXBRL. Fields left blank were not reported or not mapped. Values in GBP unless stated.

🔒Filing-note intelligence

2 signals 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
1
filing
  • • 1 accounts
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (32 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-12-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2025-01-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  3. 2024-10-15
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC05
  4. 2024-01-22
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  5. 2023-10-17
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC05
  6. 2022-12-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  7. 2022-01-12
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  8. 2021-02-18
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-small
    accounts · AA
  9. 2019-12-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-small
    accounts · AA
  10. 2019-07-05
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  11. 2019-07-05
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  12. 2019-07-04
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC05
  13. 2019-07-04
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  14. 2019-07-04
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  15. 2019-07-03
    📍
    move-registers-to-sail-company-with-new-address
    address · AD03
  16. 2019-06-28
    📄
    mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
    mortgage · MR04
  17. 2019-06-28
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #6
  18. 2018-12-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-small
    accounts · AA
  19. 2012-12-21
    🔒
    Charge registered #9
    Lender: The Agricultural Mortgage Corporation PLC
  20. 2012-12-21
    🔒
    Charge registered #8
    Lender: The Agricultural Mortgage Corporation PLC
  21. 2012-12-21
    🔒
    Charge registered #7
    Lender: The Agricultural Mortgage Corporation PLC
  22. 2007-07-30
    🔒
    Charge registered #6
    Lender: The Agricultural Mortgage Corporation PLC
  23. 2004-11-01
    ➕
    BURNETT, Markham Timothy Lenton appointed
    director
  24. 2004-11-01
    ➕
    SHOOTER, Oliver John Lenton appointed
    director
  25. 2003-01-30
    ➖
    LENTON, Gwendolen resigned
    director
  26. 1998-02-24
    🔒
    Charge registered #5
    Lender: Amc Bank Limited
  27. 1993-06-01
    ➖
    UMPLEBY, Graham Harold resigned
    director
  28. 1987-06-01
    🔒
    Charge registered #4
    Lender: The Agricultural Mortgage Corporation PLC
  29. 1977-03-28
    🔒
    Charge registered #3
    Lender: Lloyds Bank PLC
  30. 1964-09-08
    🔒
    Charge registered #2
    Lender: Lloyds Bank PLC
  31. 1961-06-05
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: Lloyds Bank PLC
  32. 1949-10-06
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As A.E. LENTON LIMITED

Owner dependency

83/100
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
  • +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 22 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 79 — succession pressure is live.
  • +Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

Succession & seller-readiness

90/100
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 79 years old. Natural succession window is now.
  • primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 22 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 77 years old and no new directors in the last 3 years — succession not yet being planned internally.
  • supportingClean filings + long tenure: Disciplined long-tenure operator — classic lifestyle-business pattern that often sells quietly.

Red flags

1 low
8 live charges
low

Heavily leveraged with multiple live security positions — understand the capital structure before proceeding.

Group structure

A.E. Lenton (Holdings) Limited is the ultimate parent — holding 75%+ shares. This company sits inside their group.

🏛️
A.E. Lenton (Holdings) Limited
Corporate parent · holds 75-100% shares · board control
ultimate parent
⬇
A.E. LENTON LIMITED
This company · 00473649

Parent relationships inferred from Persons with Significant Control filings. Full subsidiary tree requires reverse-lookup (coming).

Shareholders & ownership

1 active beneficial owner · dominant holder ≥75%
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
A.E. Lenton (Holdings) Limited
Corporate entity
75–100%
75–100%board control75-100% shares · 75-100% voting · board control06/04/2016

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
Incorporated1949-10-06
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC46310 — Wholesale of fruit and vegetables

Registered office

Church End
Friskney
Boston
Lincolnshire
PE22 8NE
England

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2027-01-31
Last made up to: 2025-04-30
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-10-19
Last: 2025-10-05

Officers (4 active · 2 resigned)

SHOOTER, Marlene→
secretary
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
BURNETT, Markham Timothy Lenton→
director · ~59y · appointed 2004-11-01
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
SHOOTER, Graham John→
director · ~79y
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
SHOOTER, Oliver John Lenton→
director · ~46y · appointed 2004-11-01
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
LENTON, Gwendolen→
director · ~108y · resigned 2003-01-30
Resigned
UMPLEBY, Graham Harold→
director · ~79y · resigned 1993-06-01
Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

9
Total charges
8
Outstanding
3
Active lenders
Status:Lender:9 of 9 shown
TypeProperties
outstanding
The Agricultural Mortgage Corporation
The Agricultural Mortgage Corporation PLC
Mortgage deed1 property21/12/2012—
outstanding
The Agricultural Mortgage Corporation
The Agricultural Mortgage Corporation PLC
Mortgage deed1 property21/12/2012—
outstanding
The Agricultural Mortgage Corporation
The Agricultural Mortgage Corporation PLC
Mortgage deed1 property21/12/2012—
satisfied
The Agricultural Mortgage Corporation
The Agricultural Mortgage Corporation PLC
Legal charge1 property30/07/200728/06/2019
outstanding
Amc Bank
Amc Bank Limited
Deed of transitional charge1 property24/02/1998—
outstanding
The Agricultural Mortgage Corporation
The Agricultural Mortgage Corporation PLC
Legal charge1 property01/06/1987—
outstanding
Lloyds Banking Group
Lloyds Bank PLC
Mortgage1 property28/03/1977—
outstanding
Lloyds Banking Group
Lloyds Bank PLC
Memo of deposit of deeds1 property08/09/1964—
outstanding
Lloyds Banking Group
Lloyds Bank PLC
Memo of deposit1 property05/06/1961—
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (117 total)

accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-12-23
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-10-06
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-01-27
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC05
2024-10-15
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-10-15
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-01-22
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-10-17
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC05
2023-10-17
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-12-23
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-10-20
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-01-12
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-10-20
accounts-with-accounts-type-small
accounts · AA
2021-02-18
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-10-26
accounts-with-accounts-type-small
accounts · AA
2019-12-23