ARDEN LEA NURSERIES LIMITED

🌳Matureactive

00475644 · ltd · incorporated 1949-12-03

Investment thesis

Well-run mature business — low negotiation leverage; premium likely.

Why interesting: Textbook target; clean filings, stable trading.

Why risky: No pressure on seller; any deal likely at full price.

Opportunity decay

approaching window · 12-months

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

· Oldest live charge 49.5y old — refinance window within 12 months

🔒Estimated value

—

Upgrade to see

Turnover

—

year to Nov 2024

Net worth

—

book net assets

Opportunity

79/100

Strong

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What this business does

Primary activity: SIC 01300

Sector: Agriculture, forestry & fishing

Investor take

Pursue

Active trading company. Family succession underway — not a classic acquisition target.

Opportunity 79/100 (strong), bankability 65/100. Same-surname younger director in place — likely family handover, not open to sale. Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Discharge stale live charges. 5 live charge(s) created 15+ years ago — likely paid but undischarged. Clean register. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

6 live charges · 2 lenders · oldest 49.5y

50/100

clean up first

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

· Oldest live charge is 49.5 years old — likely at or near maturity.
· Two lenders — manageable, but coordination required.
· Legal-friction score 25/100 — workable, but lender will want more DD.

Data confidence

Overall: medium (72/100)

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

Lenders & charges

6 charges (6/6 with lender, 6/6 with type)

Directors & officers

10 officers (7 active, 10 linked, 8 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared

Director network

1 connected companies via shared directors

Filing history

126 filings on record

Gazette notices

No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)

Opportunity Score

79/100Strong

PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional

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

Business quality

Adequate — check latest filings for context.

Acquirability

Strong succession / seller-readiness signals.

Risk profile

Few red flags.

Signal strength

100

Good data coverage for analysis.

Key financials

1 year extracted from filed iXBRL accounts

Cash

—

Net Worth

—

Current Assets

—

Current Liabilities

—

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102

Metric	2024-11-30
Average employees	79

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

Recent activity

Last 30 days

filings

Last 90 days

filings

Last 180 days

filings

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (33 events)Click to expand

2025-08-12
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-small
accounts · AA
2024-09-09
📄
memorandum-articles
incorporation · MA
2024-09-09
📄
resolution
resolution · RESOLUTIONS
2024-09-09
📄
capital-name-of-class-of-shares
capital · SH08
2024-09-06
📄
capital-variation-of-rights-attached-to-shares
capital · SH10
2024-08-29
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-small
accounts · AA
2024-07-16
📄
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2024-07-08
➕
TAYLOR, Samuel David appointed
director
2023-05-23
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-small
accounts · AA
2022-08-22
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-small
accounts · AA
2022-05-17
📄
second-filing-of-confirmation-statement-with-made-up-date
confirmation-statement · RP04CS01
2022-05-16
📄
second-filing-of-confirmation-statement-with-made-up-date
confirmation-statement · RP04CS01
2022-05-13
📄
second-filing-of-confirmation-statement-with-made-up-date
confirmation-statement · RP04CS01
2021-05-19
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-small
accounts · AA
2020-11-26
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-full
accounts · AA
2020-11-11
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2020-11-11
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2019-07-25
📄
change-account-reference-date-company-current-extended
accounts · AA01
2013-02-28
🔒
Charge registered #6
Lender: Rbs Invoice Finance Limited
2007-08-12
➕
TAYLOR, Nicholas appointed
secretary
2007-08-12
➖
TAYLOR, Jean resigned
secretary
2007-08-12
➖
TAYLOR, Jean resigned
director
2005-07-31
➕
TAYLOR, Rebecca Anne appointed
director
2005-07-31
➕
TAYLOR, Stuart appointed
director
2003-03-31
🔒
Charge registered #5
Lender: National Westminster Bank PLC
2003-03-07
🔒
Charge registered #4
Lender: National Westminster Bank PLC
2003-03-07
🔒
Charge registered #3
Lender: National Westminster Bank PLC
1998-11-07
➕
TAYLOR, Emma Jane appointed
director
1998-04-10
➖
TAYLOR, Graham resigned
director
1993-09-17
➕
TAYLOR, Nicholas appointed
director
1989-11-06
🔒
Charge registered #1
Lender: National Westminster Bank PLC
1976-12-07
🔒
Charge registered #2
Lender: National Westminster Bank PLC
1949-12-03
🏢
Company incorporated
As ARDEN LEA NURSERIES LIMITED

Owner dependency

73/100

High — earn-out structure required

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

FACTORS

-6 active directors: Broader management team in place — suggests transferable governance.
+Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 33 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
+Founder age: Director aged approximately 80 — succession pressure is live.
+Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

Succession & seller-readiness

40/100

Moderate signal

Some succession indicators present. Worth watching; approach if sector/strategy fits.

SIGNALS

primaryFamily succession underway: Not a takeover target — TAYLOR, Samuel David (same surname) appointed 2024-07-08. Pattern consistent with intra-family handover.
primaryFounder aged 70+: Senior director is approximately 80 years old. Natural succession window is now.
primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 33 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

1 low

6 live charges

low

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

Shareholders & ownership

1 active beneficial owner

Name	Shares	Voting rights	Nature of control	Notified
Mr Duncan Taylor Individual · British · DOB 09/1946 · age 80	25–50%	—	25-50% shares	06/04/2016

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.

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🔒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

Incorporated1949-12-03

Jurisdictionengland-wales

Primary SIC01300 — SIC 01300

Registered office

Arden Lea

61 Moss Lane

Hesketh Bank

Preston

PR4 6AA

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2026-08-31

Last made up to: 2024-11-30

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2026-07-30

Last: 2025-07-16