M.E. WATERHOUSE LIMITED

🌳Matureactive

01877781 · ltd · incorporated 1985-01-15

Investment thesis

Established operating company — standard diligence applies, no dominant angle.

Why interesting: Live, filing, normal profile.

Why risky: No standout signals in either direction.

Why now

Window steady · low confidence

Stable recent picture — watch for any upcoming trigger event.

Opportunity decay

approaching window · 12-months

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

· Oldest live charge 40.7y old — refinance window within 12 months

What changed my view

Last 30 days

No material changes in the last 30 days.

Last 90 days

No snapshot from 90 days ago — start tracking from today.

Last 180 days

No snapshot from 180 days ago — start tracking from today.

🔒Estimated value

—

Upgrade to see

Turnover

—

year to Aug 2025

Net worth

£1.93M

book net assets

Opportunity

82/100

Exceptional

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What this business does

Primary activity: SIC 10910

Sector: Manufacturing

Investor take

Pursue

Active trading company with a 86-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (63/100, director aged 86). 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 · oldest 40.7y

65/100

clean up first

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

· Oldest live charge is 40.7 years old — likely at or near maturity.
· Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
· Legal-friction score 30/100 — workable, but lender will want more DD.

Data confidence

Overall: high (83/100)

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

Lenders & charges

2 charges (2/2 with lender, 2/2 with type)

Directors & officers

16 officers (7 active, 16 linked, 12 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

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

Director network

12 connected companies via shared directors

Filing history

130 filings on record

Gazette notices

No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)

Opportunity Score

82/100Exceptional

PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional

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

Business quality

Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.

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 £1,926,002

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts

Cash

—

Net Worth

£1.9m

~ YoY

Current Assets

—

Current Liabilities

—

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown

Metric	2025-08-31	2024-08-31
Total assets	£1.93M	£1.93M
Debtors	£1.93M	£1.93M
Net assets	£1.93M	£1.93M

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

🔒Filing-note intelligence

2 signals 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

filings

• 1 confirmation-statement
• 1 accounts

Last 180 days

filings

• 1 confirmation-statement
• 1 accounts

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (42 events)Click to expand

2026-05-05
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-small
accounts · AA
2025-05-06
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-small
accounts · AA
2024-09-17
📄
second-filing-of-confirmation-statement-with-made-up-date
confirmation-statement · RP04CS01
2024-05-07
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-small
accounts · AA
2024-04-30
📄
cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
2024-04-30
📄
notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC02
2023-05-03
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-small
accounts · AA
2022-07-13
📄
appoint-person-secretary-company-with-name-date
officers · AP03
2022-07-13
📄
termination-secretary-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM02
2022-07-01
➕
COOKSON, Mark Thomas appointed
secretary
2022-07-01
➖
ROWE, Andrew Peter Mclaren resigned
secretary
2022-05-04
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-small
accounts · AA
2021-05-10
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-small
accounts · AA
2020-10-26
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2020-10-26
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2020-10-26
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2020-10-26
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2020-08-06
📄
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2020-07-31
➖
JEPSON, Michael John resigned
director
2020-05-26
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-small
accounts · AA
2019-07-02
📄
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2019-06-28
➖
WARR, David resigned
director
2014-06-27
➖
WATERHOUSE, Jonathan Victor resigned
director
2013-02-28
➕
JAMIESON, Keith appointed
director
2013-02-28
➕
LEA, Edward Philip appointed
director
2013-02-28
➕
LEA, James John appointed
director
2013-02-28
➕
LEA, John Edward appointed
director
2013-02-28
➕
PRESTON, Arthur appointed
director
2013-02-28
➕
ROWE, Andrew Peter Mclaren appointed
secretary
2013-02-28
➖
WATERHOUSE, Jonathan Victor resigned
secretary
2013-02-28
➕
JEPSON, Michael John appointed
director
2013-02-28
➕
WARR, David appointed
director
2013-02-28
➖
WATERHOUSE, Margaret resigned
director
2013-02-28
➖
WATERHOUSE, Michael Edward resigned
director
2010-08-31
➖
RYLANDS, Thomas Gordon resigned
director
2004-11-16
➕
WATERHOUSE, Jonathan Victor appointed
secretary
2004-11-16
➖
WATERHOUSE, Margaret resigned
secretary
2000-09-01
➕
WATERHOUSE, Andrew Charles appointed
director
1995-06-01
➕
WATERHOUSE, Jonathan Victor appointed
director
1989-12-05
🔒
Charge registered #2
Lender: Barclays Bank PLC
1985-11-18
🔒
Charge registered #1
Lender: Barclays Bank PLC
1985-01-15
🏢
Company incorporated
As M.E. WATERHOUSE LIMITED

Owner dependency

80/100

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

-6 active directors: Broader management team in place — suggests transferable governance.
+Founder name in company name: Company name contains director surname "WATERHOUSE" — strong identity link between founder and business.
+Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 26 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
+Founder age: Director aged approximately 86 — succession pressure is live.

Succession & seller-readiness

90/100

Likely off-market candidate

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

SIGNALS

primaryFounder aged 70+: Senior director is approximately 86 years old. Natural succession window is now.
primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 26 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 41 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.)

Group structure

Agri Feed Holdings Limited is the ultimate parent — holding 75%+ shares. This company sits inside their group.

🏛️

Agri Feed Holdings Limited

Corporate parent · holds 75-100% shares · board control

ultimate parent

⬇

M.E. WATERHOUSE LIMITED

This company · 01877781

Parent relationships inferred from Persons with Significant Control filings. Full subsidiary tree requires reverse-lookup (coming).

Shareholders & ownership

1 active beneficial owner · dominant holder ≥75%

Name	Shares	Voting rights	Nature of control	Notified
Agri Feed Holdings Limited Corporate entity	75–100%	75–100%	board control75-100% shares · 75-100% voting · board control	05/04/2024

1 historic (ceased) PSC

Oakes Millers Limitedceased 05/04/2024· 75-100% shares

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 · Food & drink · CW postcode area

Company	Est. value	Turnover	Net worth	Staff	Age	Opp	Director
JOSEPH HELER LIMITED→ 01071486 · est 1972	£13.58M £10.01M–£17.15M	—	—	17300	53y	92	69y
BUCKLEY FOODS LIMITED→ 04517233 · est 2002	£811.1k £597.7k–£1.02M	£39.70M	—	9600	23y	93	80y
NEWPORT SILOS LIMITED→ 00569911 · est 1956	£310.7k £229.0k–£392.5k	£517.0k	—	0	69y	93	80y
BARTEC PAPER & PACKAGING LIMITED→ 01620531 · est 1982	—	—	—	1700	44y	83	59y
CHEMCOLLOIDS LIMITED→ 02512530 · est 1990	—	—	—	6	36y	83	75y
BEESONS LIMITED→ 01069258 · est 1972	—	—	—	25	53y	82	58y
CHESHIRE CREAMERIES LTD→ 03739926 · est 1999	—	—	£45.2k	—	27y	82	64y
G.C. & I.G. WILLIAMS LIMITED→ 00793547 · est 1964	—	—	—	27	62y	82	65y
PACE'S FARM EGGS LIMITED→ 04926264 · est 2003	—	—	—	31	22y	82	94y
BEARTOWN BREWERY LIMITED→ 08626869 · est 2013	—	—	£598.1k	—	12y	80	75y
DARLINGTON AND DAUGHTERS→ 06255483 · est 2007 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	19y	80	88y
MERRYFALL CAKES BAKERY LIMITED→ 15145961 · est 2023 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	2y	—	—

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

Incorporated1985-01-15

Jurisdictionengland-wales

Primary SIC10910 — SIC 10910

Registered office

Aston Mill

Aston

Nantwich

Cheshire

CW5 8DH

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2027-05-31

Last made up to: 2025-08-31

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2027-06-14

Last: 2026-05-31