ASTWELL CASTLE FARM LIMITED

🌳Matureactive
00562808 · ltd · incorporated 1956-03-16
Investment thesis
Property vehicle with a workable charge structure — clean refinance potential.
Why interesting: Asset-backed; value largely in underlying property; lender engagement likely possible.
Why risky: Dependent on title and valuation due diligence; standard property risks.
Opportunity decay
approaching window · 12-months
Approaching a transaction window — refinance or sale event plausible in the next 12 months.
  • · Oldest live charge 37.9y old — refinance window within 12 months
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Mar 2025
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: Growing of cereals (except rice), leguminous crops and oil seeds
Sector: Agriculture, forestry & fishing
ALSO REGISTERED FOR
  • 28302SIC 28302
  • 68100Buying and selling of own real estate
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 64-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 85/100. Strong seller-intent signal (70/100, director aged 64). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (73/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

1 live charge · oldest 37.9y

85/100
ready

Refinance conversation should be productive — structure clean and timing right.

  • · Oldest live charge is 37.9 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
  • · Legal-friction score 15/100 — clean.

Data confidence

Overall: medium (79/100)

Adequate coverage. AI outputs are reliable for the sections scored high; verify the rest in diligence.

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
1 charges (1/1 with lender, 1/1 with type)
90
Directors & officers
5 officers (2 active, 5 linked, 4 with DOB)
86
Ownership & PSC
2 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared
90
Director network
1 connected companies via shared directors
48
Filing history
95 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
82/100Exceptional
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional 

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

Business quality
70
Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.
Acquirability
80
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£0£0£0£0£0Mar 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
Average employees3300

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 confirmation-statement
Last 180 days
3
filings
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
  • • 1 address
  • • 1 accounts
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (23 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-01-13
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  2. 2025-12-24
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  3. 2024-12-24
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  4. 2023-12-21
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  5. 2022-12-16
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  6. 2022-11-26
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  7. 2021-12-22
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  8. 2021-02-01
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  9. 2019-11-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  10. 2018-12-06
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  11. 2017-12-20
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  12. 2017-01-07
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  13. 2016-03-14
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  14. 2016-01-11
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  15. 2015-03-16
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  16. 2013-11-19
    ➖
    PIDGEON, Gillian resigned
    director
  17. 2009-03-07
    ➖
    PIDGEON, Gillian resigned
    secretary
  18. 2008-01-01
    ➕
    PIDGEON, Sandra Jane appointed
    director
  19. 1996-12-21
    ➖
    PIDGEON, Graham George resigned
    director
  20. 1995-12-14
    ➕
    PIDGEON, Christopher appointed
    director
  21. 1989-06-28
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #1
  22. 1988-06-22
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: Mercantile Credit Company Limited.
  23. 1956-03-16
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As ASTWELL CASTLE FARM LIMITED

Owner dependency

84/100
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
  • +Two-director setup: Only two active directors — typical of owner-managed SMEs but limits succession.
  • +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 30 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Senior director age: Director aged approximately 64 — approaching natural succession window.
  • +Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

Succession & seller-readiness

86/100
Likely off-market candidate

Strong acquirability signals converging. Worth approaching directly — this is how off-market deals start.

SIGNALS
  • primaryFounder aged 63+: Senior director is approximately 64. Approaching typical UK retirement age — succession thinking likely.
  • secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
  • primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 30 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 70 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

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

Shareholders & ownership

2 active beneficial owners · dominant holder ≥75%
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr Chris Pidgeon
Individual · British · DOB 05/1962 · age 64
75–100%
—75-100% shares07/04/2016
Mrs Sandra Jane Pidgeon
Individual · British · DOB 09/1963 · age 63
——sig. influencesignificant influence07/04/2016

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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————7y——
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15534323 · est 2024 · no financials extracted
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———————
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Peers ranked by estimated value, then turnover, then opportunity score.See all →
🔒Tailored diligence questions

6 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
Incorporated1956-03-16
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC01110 — Growing of cereals (except rice), leguminous crops and oil seeds

Registered office

Grove Cottage Falcutt Road
Helmdon
Brackley
Northants
NN13 5QU
England

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-12-31
Last made up to: 2025-03-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-03-21
Last: 2026-03-07

Officers (2 active · 3 resigned)

PIDGEON, Christopher→
director · ~64y · appointed 1995-12-14
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
PIDGEON, Sandra Jane→
director · ~63y · appointed 2008-01-01
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
PIDGEON, Gillian→
secretary · resigned 2009-03-07
Resigned
PIDGEON, Gillian→
director · ~94y · resigned 2013-11-19
Resigned
PIDGEON, Graham George→
director · ~94y · resigned 1996-12-21
Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

1
Total charges
0
Outstanding
0
Active lenders
Status:Lender:1 of 1 shown
TypeProperties
satisfied
Mercantile Credit Company .
Mercantile Credit Company Limited.
Charge1 property22/06/198828/06/1989

Recent filings (95 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-03-09
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2026-01-13
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-12-24
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-03-21
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-12-24
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-03-08
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-12-21
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-03-08
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-12-16
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2022-11-26
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-03-09
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-12-22
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-03-10
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-02-01
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-03-12