A.E. WILLOWS & SON LIMITED
🌳Matureactive
01069833 · ltd · incorporated 1972-09-05
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 33.1y old — refinance window within 12 months
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Apr 2025
Net worth
£367.5k
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
What this business does
Primary activity: Growing of cereals (except rice), leguminous crops and oil seeds
Sector: Agriculture, forestry & fishing
ALSO REGISTERED FOR
- 49410Freight transport by road
Investor take
PursueActive trading company with a 81-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.
Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (63/100, director aged 81). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Discharge stale live charges. 1 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
1 live charge · oldest 33.1y
65/100
clean up first
Refinance viable after a tidy-up — address the highlighted items first.
- · Oldest live charge is 33.1 years old — likely at or near maturity.
- · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
- · Legal-friction score 25/100 — workable, but lender will want more DD.
Data confidence
Overall: medium (78/100)Adequate coverage. AI outputs are reliable for the sections scored high; verify the rest in diligence.
Company profile
address, 2 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 (4 active, 5 linked, 4 with DOB)
86
Ownership & PSC
3 active PSC(s) of 3 total, 3 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
93 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.
Signals from accounts
Derived from iXBRL accounts · accounting standard not declaredPositive net assets
Net assets £367,485
Net assets shrinking
Down £30,793 YoY
Cash YoY
+7%
Year on year
Key financials
2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accountsCash
£201k
↑ 6.9% YoY
Net Worth
£367k
↓ 7.7% YoY
Current Assets
£476k
↑ 12% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series
Financials
Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown| Metric | 2025-04-30 | 2024-04-30 |
|---|---|---|
| Total assets | £1.27M | £1.12M |
| Current assets | £476.3k | £423.8k |
| Cash | £200.8k | £188.0k |
| Debtors | £275.5k | £235.8k |
| Net assets | £367.5k | £398.3k |
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
0
filings
Last 180 days
1
filing
- • 1 accounts
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (21 events)Click to expand
- 2026-01-30📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2024-12-02📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2023-12-19📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2022-09-20📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2022-05-26📍change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-addressaddress · AD01
- 2022-04-13📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2021-03-02📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2020-01-28📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2019-01-11📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2018-01-31📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2017-06-29📄notification-of-a-person-with-significant-controlpersons-with-significant-control · PSC01
- 2017-06-29📄notification-of-a-person-with-significant-controlpersons-with-significant-control · PSC01
- 2017-06-29📄notification-of-a-person-with-significant-controlpersons-with-significant-control · PSC01
- 2017-01-30📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-smallaccounts · AA
- 2016-05-09📄annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholdersannual-return · AR01
- 2016-01-29📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-smallaccounts · AA
- 2004-02-09➕WILLOWS, Richard Adam appointeddirector
- 2004-02-09➕WILLOWS, Stuart Eric appointeddirector
- 2004-02-09➖WILLOWS, Arthur Eric resigneddirector
- 1993-03-24🔒Charge registered #1Lender: Lloyds Bank PLC
- 1972-09-05🏢Company incorporatedAs A.E. WILLOWS & SON LIMITED
Owner dependency
98/100
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
- +Founder name in company name: Company name contains director surname "WILLOWS" — strong identity link between founder and business.
- +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 22 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
- +Founder age: Director aged approximately 81 — 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 candidateStrong acquirability signals converging. Worth approaching directly — this is how off-market deals start.
SIGNALS
- primaryFounder aged 70+: Senior director is approximately 81 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 54 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
3 active beneficial owners| Name | Shares | Voting rights | Nature of control | Notified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Mr Stuart Eric Willows Individual · British · DOB 02/1973 · age 53 | 25–50% | 25–50% | 25-50% shares · 25-50% voting | 06/04/2016 |
Mr Richard Adam Willows Individual · British · DOB 08/1976 · age 50 | 25–50% | 25–50% | 25-50% shares · 25-50% voting | 06/04/2016 |
Mr Anthony Eric Willows Individual · British · DOB 09/1945 · age 81 | 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.
Similar companies
Active · Agriculture · NG postcode area| Company | Est. value | Turnover | Net worth | Staff | Age | Opp | Director |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A R WILSON AGRICULTURAL LIMITED→ 14206521 · est 2022 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 3y | — | — |
| A. & B. WHITE (FRINKLEY) LIMITED→ 02514905 · est 1990 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 35y | — | — |
| A. NORCROSS & SON LIMITED→ 01237812 · est 1975 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 50y | — | — |
| A.E. BOWRING & SONS LIMITED→ 00906484 · est 1967 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 58y | — | — |
| A.G. HOWICK (FARMERS) LIMITED→ 00929073 · est 1968 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 58y | — | — |
| A.J. BOWRING CATTLE LIMITED→ 09806341 · est 2015 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 10y | — | — |
| A.N.KERR FARMS LIMITED→ 12172487 · est 2019 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 6y | — | — |
| ABBEY HOUSE ENVIRONMENTAL LIMITED→ 10490511 · est 2016 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 9y | — | — |
| ACTIVE PAWS NOTTINGHAM LTD→ 16168283 · est 2025 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 1y | — | — |
| ADAM FARMS LIMITED→ 02927508 · est 1994 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 31y | — | — |
| ADLG LIMITED→ 16352219 · est 2025 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 1y | — | — |
| AERIAL ASPECT IMAGING LTD.→ 08954469 · est 2014 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 12y | — | — |
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
Incorporated1972-09-05
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC01110 — Growing of cereals (except rice), leguminous crops and oil seeds
Registered office
Moor Farm
Thorney
Newark
Nottinghamshire
NG23 7DG
United Kingdom
Filing status
Accounts
Next due: 2027-01-31
Last made up to: 2025-04-30
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-05-17
Last: 2025-05-03
Officers (4 active · 1 resigned)
Active
Active
WILLOWS, Richard Adam→
Activedirector · ~50y · appointed 2004-02-09
View their other companies + combined net worth →
WILLOWS, Stuart Eric→
Activedirector · ~53y · appointed 2004-02-09
View their other companies + combined net worth →
WILLOWS, Arthur Eric→
Resigneddirector · ~109y · resigned 2004-02-09
Click a director name to see their full track record across all companies.
Mortgages & charges
1
Total charges
1
Outstanding
1
Active lenders
Status:Lender:1 of 1 shown
| Type | Properties | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| outstanding | Lloyds Banking Group Lloyds Bank PLC | Single debenture | 1 property | 24/03/1993 | — |
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.
Recent filings (93 total)
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2026-01-30
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-05-19
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-12-02
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-05-09
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2023-12-19
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-05-10
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2022-09-20
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2022-05-26
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-05-03
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-04-13
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-05-04
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-03-02
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-04-30
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-01-28
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-04-30