E.HOLTBY & SON LIMITED

🌳Matureactive

00568820 · ltd · incorporated 1956-07-11

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 63.3y old — refinance window within 12 months

🔒Estimated value

—

Upgrade to see

Turnover

—

year to Apr 2025

Net worth

£574.4k

book net assets

Opportunity

78/100

Strong

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What this business does

Primary activity: Growing of cereals (except rice), leguminous crops and oil seeds

Sector: Agriculture, forestry & fishing

Investor take

Pursue

Active trading company with a 69-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 78/100 (strong), bankability 65/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 69). 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

5 live charges · 2 lenders · oldest 63.3y

50/100

clean up first

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

· Oldest live charge is 63.3 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: medium (79/100)

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

2 years of iXBRL accounts extracted (YoY deltas available) + narrative notes parsed

Lenders & charges

5 charges (5/5 with lender, 5/5 with type)

Directors & officers

8 officers (3 active, 8 linked, 6 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

2 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared

Director network

1 connected companies via shared directors

Filing history

100 filings on record

Gazette notices

No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)

Opportunity Score

78/100Strong

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.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · accounting standard not declared

Positive net assets

Net assets £574,391

Net assets shrinking

Down £85,088 YoY

Cash YoY

+41%

Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts

Cash

£242k

↑ 41% YoY

Net Worth

£574k

↓ 13% YoY

Current Assets

£633k

~ YoY

Current Liabilities

—

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown

Metric	2025-04-05	2024-04-05
Total assets	£686.9k	£830.4k
Current assets	£633.5k	£628.9k
Cash	£241.8k	£172.0k
Debtors	£96.1k	£29.1k
Net assets	£574.4k	£659.5k

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

filings

Last 90 days

filing

• 1 confirmation-statement

Last 180 days

filings

• 2 confirmation-statement

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (29 events)Click to expand

2026-05-15
📄
replacement-filing-of-confirmation-statement-with-made-up-date
confirmation-statement · RP01CS01
2025-12-31
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-12-31
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-01-03
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-01-05
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-12-20
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-01-07
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2019-12-30
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2019-01-02
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2018-01-02
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2016-12-28
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2016-04-20
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2015-12-29
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2015-04-15
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2014-12-31
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2006-03-28
➖
HOLTBY, David resigned
director
2005-01-06
➖
HOLTBY, Thomas resigned
director
2002-04-05
➖
HOLTBY, Sonia resigned
director
2001-01-06
➕
HOLTBY, Caroline Marjery appointed
secretary
2001-01-06
➖
HOLTBY, Robert Leslie resigned
secretary
2001-01-06
➖
HOLTBY, Robert Leslie resigned
director
1997-04-03
➕
HOLTBY, Caroline Marjery appointed
director
1993-11-30
🔒
Charge registered #5
Lender: Midland Bank PLC
1992-12-23
➕
HOLTBY, Thomas appointed
director
1982-11-23
🔒
Charge registered #4
Lender: Midland Bank PLC
1982-11-08
🔒
Charge registered #3
Lender: Midland Bank PLC
1977-08-24
🔒
Charge registered #2
Lender: Forward Trust Limited
1963-03-26
🔒
Charge registered #1
Lender: Midland Bank PLC
1956-07-11
🏢
Company incorporated
As E.HOLTBY & SON 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

+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 "HOLTBY" — strong identity link between founder and business.
+Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 29 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
+Founder age: Director aged approximately 69 — succession pressure is live.
+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 69. 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 29 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

1 low

5 live charges

low

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

Shareholders & ownership

2 active beneficial owners

Name	Shares	Voting rights	Nature of control	Notified
Mr John Holtby Individual · British · DOB 03/1957 · age 69	50–75%	50–75%	50-75% shares · 50-75% voting	06/04/2016
Caroline Marjery Holtby Individual · British · DOB 09/1957 · age 69	25–50%	25–50%	25-50% shares · 25-50% voting	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 · HU postcode area

Company	Est. value	Turnover	Net worth	Staff	Age	Opp	Director
ARRAM GRANGE PIGS LIMITED→ 01336642 · est 1977 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	48y	—	—
CATTLE (HOLDERNESS) LIMITED→ 00599804 · est 1958 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	68y	—	—
COTE FARM ROOS LIMITED→ 13556156 · est 2021 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	4y	—	—
D.A. WILLIAMS & SONS LIMITED→ 11820399 · est 2019 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	7y	—	—
DOCKWISH LTD→ 06031463 · est 2006 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	19y	—	—
DUMBLE FARM LIMITED→ 13986866 · est 2022 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	4y	—	—
EASTFIELD FARM LIMITED→ 09767550 · est 2015 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	10y	—	—
EASTFIELD FARM RESIDENTIAL HOME LIMITED→ 04729163 · est 2003 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	23y	—	—
EASTYORKSHIRE MARINE LTD→ 16060473 · est 2024 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	1y	—	—
EDWARD BAARDA LIMITED→ 00374596 · est 1942 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	83y	—	—
ELLEN WHITAKER SHOW JUMPING LIMITED→ 10569752 · est 2017 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	9y	—	—
EPP EGGS LTD→ 11813465 · est 2019 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	7y	—	—

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.

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Company details

Statusactive

Typeltd

Incorporated1956-07-11

Jurisdictionengland-wales

Primary SIC01110 — Growing of cereals (except rice), leguminous crops and oil seeds

Registered office

Dowthorpe Hall

Skirlaugh

E Yorkshire

HU11 5AE

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2027-01-05

Last made up to: 2025-04-05

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2027-04-18

Last: 2026-04-04

Officers (3 active · 5 resigned)

HOLTBY, Caroline Marjery→

secretary · appointed 2001-01-06

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

HOLTBY, Caroline Marjery→

director · ~69y · appointed 1997-04-03

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

HOLTBY, John→

director · ~69y

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

HOLTBY, Robert Leslie→

secretary · resigned 2001-01-06

Resigned

HOLTBY, David→

director · ~72y · resigned 2006-03-28

Resigned

HOLTBY, Robert Leslie→

director · ~102y · resigned 2001-01-06

Resigned

HOLTBY, Sonia→

director · ~97y · resigned 2002-04-05

Resigned

HOLTBY, Thomas→

director · ~64y · appointed 1992-12-23 · resigned 2005-01-06

Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

Total charges

Outstanding

Active lenders

Status:Lender:5 of 5 shown

		Type	Properties
outstanding	Midland Bank Midland Bank PLC	Legal charge	1 property	30/11/1993	—
outstanding	Midland Bank Midland Bank PLC	Chattels mortgage	1 property	23/11/1982	—
outstanding	Midland Bank Midland Bank PLC	Charge	1 property	08/11/1982	—
outstanding	Forward Trust Forward Trust Limited	Chattels mortgage	1 property	24/08/1977	—
outstanding	Midland Bank Midland Bank PLC	Charge	1 property	26/03/1963	—

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