DIRECT MEATS (KNIGHTS FARM) LTD

🌳Matureactive

03037523 · ltd · incorporated 1995-03-24

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.

🔒Estimated value

—

Upgrade to see

Turnover

—

year to Dec 2025

Net worth

£4.86M

book net assets

Opportunity

70/100

Strong

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What this business does

Primary activity: Processing and preserving of meat

Sector: Manufacturing

ALSO REGISTERED FOR

10130SIC 10130
46320Wholesale of meat and meat products

Investor take

Pursue

Strong opportunity: active trading company with strong profile and acceptable with review structure.

Opportunity 70/100 (strong), bankability 57/100. Asset purchase likely safer than share purchase given structural signals. Biggest value-creation lever: Consolidate lender relationships. 9 distinct lenders creates friction — refinance into single-lender structure for cleaner diligence. Most likely exit: strategic trade sale (38/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

13 live charges · 9 lenders · oldest 28.5y

25/100

too messy

Structure is too messy for a clean refinance right now — clean up first or expect bespoke terms.

· Oldest live charge is 28.5 years old — likely at or near maturity.
· 9 lenders named — inter-creditor friction likely.
· Legal-friction score 55/100 (high).

Data confidence

Overall: medium (73/100)

Adequate coverage. AI outputs are reliable for the sections scored high; verify the rest in diligence.

Company profile

address, 3 SIC codes, incorporation date

100

Financials

1 year of iXBRL accounts extracted (no YoY comparison) + narrative notes parsed

Lenders & charges

13 charges (13/13 with lender, 13/13 with type)

Directors & officers

19 officers (7 active, 19 linked, 15 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

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

Director network

4 connected companies via shared directors

Filing history

143 filings on record

Gazette notices

No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)

Opportunity Score

70/100Strong

PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional

Solid opportunity signal. Worth a dedicated memo and management meeting.

Business quality

Adequate — check latest filings for context.

Acquirability

Some acquirability indicators.

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 £4,855,322

Key financials

1 year extracted from filed iXBRL accounts

Cash

£280k

Net Worth

£4.9m

Current Assets

£6.3m

Current Liabilities

—

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown

Metric	2025-12-31
Total assets	£6.35M
Current assets	£6.33M
Cash	£280.0k
Debtors	£4.35M
Net assets	£4.86M

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

🔒Filing-note intelligence

4 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

Last 180 days

filings

• 3 mortgage
• 3 officers
• 3 accounts

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (73 events)Click to expand

2026-03-11
📄
mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
mortgage · MR04
2026-03-11
🔓
Charge satisfied #9
2026-03-09
➕
GLEED, Sarah appointed
director
2026-03-09
➖
WADDINGTON, Graham John resigned
director
2026-03-09
📄
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2026-03-09
📄
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2026-03-01
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-medium
accounts · AA
2026-02-27
📄
change-account-reference-date-company-previous-shortened
accounts · AA01
2026-02-27
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-medium
accounts · AA
2026-02-27
📄
mortgage-create-with-deed-with-charge-number-charge-creation-date
mortgage · MR01
2026-02-26
🔒
Charge registered #13
Lender: Hsbc Invoice Finance (UK) Limited
2026-02-17
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2026-01-23
📄
mortgage-create-with-deed-with-charge-number-charge-creation-date
mortgage · MR01
2026-01-20
🔒
Charge registered #12
Lender: Hsbc UK Bank PLC
2025-02-28
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-medium
accounts · AA
2024-02-28
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-full
accounts · AA
2024-02-02
📄
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2024-02-01
➕
WADDINGTON, Graham John appointed
director
2023-04-17
📄
second-filing-of-confirmation-statement-with-made-up-date
confirmation-statement · RP04CS01
2023-04-03
📄
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2023-04-03
📄
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2023-04-03
📄
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2023-04-01
➕
LAMB, Nicholas Phillip appointed
director
2023-04-01
➕
LAMB, Terri-Anne appointed
director
2023-04-01
➖
CHANDLER, Nicola Louise resigned
director
2023-03-28
📄
resolution
resolution · RESOLUTIONS
2023-03-23
📄
capital-allotment-shares
capital · SH01
2023-02-28
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-full
accounts · AA
2022-08-01
➕
BURROWS, Craig John appointed
director
2022-08-01
📄
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2020-10-21
➕
LI, Haojia appointed
director
2020-10-21
➖
BLACKWELL, Linda resigned
director
2020-10-21
➖
HAYWARD, Mark Alexis resigned
director
2020-09-25
➖
BLUCK, Donald Peter resigned
director
2020-07-30
🔒
Charge registered #11
Lender: Barclays Bank PLC
2019-01-25
🔓
Charge satisfied #8
2018-03-01
➕
CHANDLER, Nicola Louise appointed
director
2016-04-22
🔒
Charge registered #10
Lender: Barclays Bank PLC
2014-10-01
➕
HAYWARD, Mark Alexis appointed
director
2014-06-01
➕
BLACKWELL, Linda appointed
director
2013-09-27
🔓
Charge satisfied #6
2013-09-27
🔓
Charge satisfied #5
2013-09-25
🔓
Charge satisfied #7
2013-09-12
🔒
Charge registered #9
Lender: Centric SPV1 Limited
2013-08-19
🔓
Charge satisfied #4
2013-07-09
➖
KENT, John Leslie resigned
director
2013-03-18
➕
MESSINGER, Robert Paul appointed
secretary
2013-03-18
➖
KENT, John Leslie resigned
secretary
2012-02-15
🔓
Charge satisfied #2
2011-10-11
🔒
Charge registered #8
Lender: Hsbc Bank PLC

Showing most recent 50 of 73 events

Owner dependency

58/100

Moderate — manageable with handover

Some founder dependency, but not acute. A structured handover period should cover most risk.

FACTORS

-6 active directors: Broader management team in place — suggests transferable governance.
+Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 31 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
+Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

Succession & seller-readiness

50/100

Moderate signal

Some succession indicators present. Worth watching; approach if sector/strategy fits.

SIGNALS

primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 31 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
supportingClean filings + long tenure: Disciplined long-tenure operator — classic lifestyle-business pattern that often sells quietly.

Red flags

1 med · 1 low

Charge satisfaction-then-recreation pattern

medium

Multiple instances where a charge was satisfied and a new charge created within 6 months. Suggests active refinancing cycle.

5 live charges

low

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

Group structure

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

🏛️

Direct Holdings Limited

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

ultimate parent

⬇

DIRECT MEATS (KNIGHTS FARM) LTD

This company · 03037523

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
Direct Holdings Limited Corporate entity	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 →

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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.

See pricing →

Company details

Statusactive

Typeltd

Incorporated1995-03-24

Jurisdictionengland-wales

Primary SIC10110 — Processing and preserving of meat

Registered office

Dickens House

Guithavon Street

Witham

Essex

CM8 1BJ

United Kingdom

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2027-09-30

Last made up to: 2025-12-31

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2027-02-16

Last: 2026-02-02