ECCLESHALL CASTLE FARMS LIMITED
🌳Matureactive
02149796 · ltd · incorporated 1987-07-23
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 26.8y 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
What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 01410
Sector: Agriculture, forestry & fishing
Investor take
PursueActive trading company with a 60-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.
Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (70/100, director aged 60). 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 (73/100).
🏦
Refinance opportunity
1 live charge · oldest 26.8y
65/100
clean up first
Refinance viable after a tidy-up — address the highlighted items first.
- · Oldest live charge is 26.8 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, 1 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
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
102 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 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 | 200 | 200 |
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
0
filings
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (23 events)Click to expand
- 2025-10-28📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2025-09-15📄change-person-director-company-with-change-dateofficers · CH01
- 2024-10-04📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2023-11-23📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2023-05-18📄termination-secretary-company-with-name-termination-dateofficers · TM02
- 2022-10-31📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2021-12-21📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2021-09-22📄termination-director-company-with-name-termination-dateofficers · TM01
- 2021-08-17➖CARTER, Cecilia Catherine resignedsecretary
- 2021-08-17➖CARTER, Cecilia Catherine resigneddirector
- 2020-12-21📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2019-12-12📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2018-11-29📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2018-09-06📄change-person-director-company-with-change-dateofficers · CH01
- 2017-12-08📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2017-10-23📄termination-director-company-with-name-termination-dateofficers · TM01
- 2016-12-14📄resolutionresolution · RESOLUTIONS
- 2016-12-14📄capital-name-of-class-of-sharescapital · SH08
- 2016-01-15➖CARTER, Thomas Mark resigneddirector
- 1999-09-28🔒Charge registered #1Lender: Hsbc Bank PLC
- 1999-03-31➕CARTER-MOTLEY, Mark Charles appointeddirector
- 1999-03-31➕CARTER-MOTLEY, Melissa appointeddirector
- 1987-07-23🏢Company incorporatedAs ECCLESHALL CASTLE FARMS LIMITED
Owner dependency
84/100
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.
- +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 27 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
- +Senior director age: Director aged approximately 60 — approaching natural succession window.
- +Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.
Succession & seller-readiness
76/100
Likely off-market candidateStrong acquirability signals converging. Worth approaching directly — this is how off-market deals start.
SIGNALS
- secondaryFounder aged 58+: Senior director is approximately 60. Early succession window.
- secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
- primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 27 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
- secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 39 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Melissa Carter-Motley Individual · British · DOB 07/1966 · age 60 | 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.
Similar companies
Active · Agriculture · ST postcode area| Company | Est. value | Turnover | Net worth | Staff | Age | Opp | Director |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| D&V FARMS LTD→ 12641922 · est 2020 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 5y | — | — |
| DARLINGTONS UK LIMITED→ 06445955 · est 2007 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 18y | — | — |
| DOG DAYZZ LTD→ 16094136 · est 2024 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 1y | — | — |
| DOWNES EQUINE LTD→ 13188143 · est 2021 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 5y | — | — |
| DW GENETICS LTD→ 16878825 · est 2025 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| E & S MAYMAN LIMITED→ 08998810 · est 2014 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 12y | — | — |
| E. TURNOCK LIMITED→ 00601341 · est 1958 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 68y | — | — |
| EARLSDALE LTD→ 10537511 · est 2016 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 9y | — | — |
| EARTH SYSTEMS CONSERVATION LTD→ 15631835 · est 2024 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 2y | — | — |
| ECCLESHALL ANIMAL HEALTH & FOOD CENTRE LIMITED→ 03091521 · est 1995 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 30y | — | — |
| EGG WELL FARMING LIMITED→ 13448015 · est 2021 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 4y | — | — |
| EJ & WM WEBSTER LTD→ 04491519 · est 2002 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 23y | — | — |
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
Incorporated1987-07-23
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC01410 — SIC 01410
Registered office
Eccleshall Castle
Eccleshall
Stafford
Staffordshire
ST21 6LS
Filing status
Accounts
Next due: 2026-12-31
Last made up to: 2025-03-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-09-18
Last: 2025-09-04
Officers (2 active · 3 resigned)
CARTER-MOTLEY, Mark Charles→
Activedirector · ~60y · appointed 1999-03-31
View their other companies + combined net worth →
CARTER-MOTLEY, Melissa→
Activedirector · ~60y · appointed 1999-03-31
View their other companies + combined net worth →
CARTER, Cecilia Catherine→
Resignedsecretary · resigned 2021-08-17
CARTER, Cecilia Catherine→
Resigneddirector · ~86y · resigned 2021-08-17
CARTER, Thomas Mark→
Resigneddirector · ~90y · resigned 2016-01-15
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 | HSBC Hsbc Bank PLC | Debenture | 1 property | 28/09/1999 | — |
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.
Recent filings (102 total)
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-10-28
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2025-09-15
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-09-15
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-10-04
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-09-11
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-11-23
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-09-20
termination-secretary-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM02
2023-05-18
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-10-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-09-27
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-12-21
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-10-12
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2021-09-22
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-12-21
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-09-29