A.L.ALSTON AND COMPANY LIMITED
🌳Matureactive
00567299 · ltd · incorporated 1956-06-08
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 46.3y old — refinance window within 12 months
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Mar 2025
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
79/100
Strong
What this business does
Primary activity: Growing of cereals (except rice), leguminous crops and oil seeds
Sector: Agriculture, forestry & fishing
Investor take
PursueActive trading company with a 84-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.
Opportunity 79/100 (strong), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (68/100, director aged 84). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Discharge stale live charges. 2 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
2 live charges · 2 lenders · oldest 46.3y
50/100
clean up first
Refinance viable after a tidy-up — address the highlighted items first.
- · Oldest live charge is 46.3 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: high (80/100)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
2 charges (2/2 with lender, 2/2 with type)
90
Directors & officers
7 officers (3 active, 7 linked, 3 with DOB)
79
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
5 connected companies via shared directors
60
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 accountsCash
—
Net Worth
—
Current Assets
—
Current Liabilities
—
Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series
Financials
Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102| Metric | 2025-03-31 | 2024-03-31 |
|---|---|---|
| Average employees | 600 | 600 |
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
2
filings
- • 1 confirmation-statement
- • 1 accounts
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (26 events)Click to expand
- 2025-12-10📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2025-03-03📄change-to-a-person-with-significant-controlpersons-with-significant-control · PSC04
- 2024-12-13📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2023-11-14📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2022-11-02📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2021-12-17📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2020-11-09📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2019-11-04📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2018-12-13📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2017-12-18📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2016-12-08📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-smallaccounts · AA
- 2016-03-31📄annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholdersannual-return · AR01
- 2016-02-17📄appoint-person-director-company-with-name-dateofficers · AP01
- 2015-11-04📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-smallaccounts · AA
- 2015-11-02➕ALEXANDER, Sebastian Ian appointeddirector
- 2015-08-25📄appoint-person-secretary-company-with-name-dateofficers · AP03
- 2015-08-18➕ALEXANDER, Sebastian Ian appointedsecretary
- 2015-08-18➖TUDDENHAM, Mary Elizabeth resignedsecretary
- 2005-10-20➕TUDDENHAM, Mary Elizabeth appointedsecretary
- 2005-10-20➖M&R SECRETARIAL SERVICES LIMITED resignedcorporate-secretary
- 2005-03-24➖ALSTON, David Neil resignedsecretary
- 2005-03-24➕M&R SECRETARIAL SERVICES LIMITED appointedcorporate-secretary
- 2005-03-15➖ALSTON, Peggy Primrose resigneddirector
- 2002-12-17🔒Charge registered #2Lender: Barclays Bank PLC
- 1980-01-30🔒Charge registered #1Lender: Barclays Bank LTD
- 1956-06-08🏢Company incorporatedAs A.L.ALSTON AND COMPANY LIMITED
Owner dependency
88/100
Critical — business is the founderThe 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.
- +Founder name in company name: Company name contains director surname "ALSTON" — strong identity link between founder and business.
- +Founder age: Director aged approximately 84 — succession pressure is live.
Succession & seller-readiness
81/100
Likely off-market candidateStrong acquirability signals converging. Worth approaching directly — this is how off-market deals start.
SIGNALS
- primaryFounder aged 70+: Senior director is approximately 84 years old. Natural succession window is now.
- secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
- 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
cleanNo 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%| Name | Shares | Voting rights | Nature of control | Notified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Mr David Neil Alston Individual · British · DOB 07/1942 · age 84 | 75–100% | 75–100% | board control75-100% shares · 75-100% voting · board control | 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 →Similar companies
Active · Agriculture · NR postcode area| Company | Est. value | Turnover | Net worth | Staff | Age | Opp | Director |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 LITTLE BIRDS NURSERIES LTD→ 17110454 · est 2026 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| A & R THORNTON FARMING LTD→ 14862339 · est 2023 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 2y | — | — |
| A. CLARK (TRUNCH) LIMITED→ 00975389 · est 1970 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 56y | — | — |
| A. FARRELL CONTRACTING LTD→ 11764597 · est 2019 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 7y | — | — |
| A.& E.COOKE(FARMERS)LIMITED→ 00421127 · est 1946 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 79y | — | — |
| A.G. DREW ELECTRICAL LIMITED→ 07399958 · est 2010 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 15y | — | — |
| A.H. SLATER & CO. LIMITED→ 01158577 · est 1974 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 52y | — | — |
| A.J. MCCALLUM LIMITED→ 04941743 · est 2003 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 22y | — | — |
| A.J. SHORTEN LIMITED→ 01517079 · est 1980 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 45y | — | — |
| ACE OF SPADES GARDENS LIMITED→ 07240377 · est 2010 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 15y | — | — |
| AD FEEDSTOCK LTD→ 09474868 · est 2015 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 11y | — | — |
| ADA COLE MEMORIAL STABLES→ 00669070 · est 1960 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 65y | — | — |
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.
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
Incorporated1956-06-08
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC01110 — Growing of cereals (except rice), leguminous crops and oil seeds
Registered office
Green Farm
East Tuddenham
East Dereham
Norfolk
NR20 3LR
Filing status
Accounts
Next due: 2026-12-30
Last made up to: 2025-03-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-04-14
Last: 2026-03-31
Officers (3 active · 4 resigned)
ALEXANDER, Sebastian Ian→
Activesecretary · appointed 2015-08-18
View their other companies + combined net worth →
ALEXANDER, Sebastian Ian→
Activedirector · ~52y · appointed 2015-11-02
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
ALSTON, David Neil→
Resignedsecretary · resigned 2005-03-24
TUDDENHAM, Mary Elizabeth→
Resignedsecretary · appointed 2005-10-20 · resigned 2015-08-18
M&R SECRETARIAL SERVICES LIMITED→
Resignedcorporate-secretary · appointed 2005-03-24 · resigned 2005-10-20
ALSTON, Peggy Primrose→
Resigneddirector · ~119y · resigned 2005-03-15
Click a director name to see their full track record across all companies.
Mortgages & charges
2
Total charges
2
Outstanding
1
Active lenders
Status:Lender:2 of 2 shown
| Type | Properties | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| outstanding | Barclays Barclays Bank PLC | Legal charge | 1 property | 17/12/2002 | — | |
| outstanding | Barclays Barclays Bank LTD | Legal charge | 1 property | 30/01/1980 | — |
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.
Recent filings (99 total)
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-04-02
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-12-10
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-04-15
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2025-03-03
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-12-13
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-04-03
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-11-14
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-04-12
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-11-02
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-04-13
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-12-17
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-04-13
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-11-09
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-04-08
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-11-04