AFRICA PRODUCTS LIMITED

🌳Matureactive
03162191 · ltd · incorporated 1996-02-21
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
hardening · 12-months
Already tight — no obvious softening catalysts on the horizon.
  • · Thesis: well-run, low negotiation leverage
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Mar 2025
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
80/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: Wholesale of fruit and vegetables
Sector: Wholesale & retail
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 80-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 80/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (63/100, director aged 80). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

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
Confirmed no charges registered
85
Directors & officers
5 officers (4 active, 5 linked, 3 with DOB)
82
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
2 connected companies via shared directors
51
Filing history
73 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
80/100Exceptional
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
90
Good data coverage for analysis.

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
—
Net Worth
—
Current Assets
—
Current Liabilities
—
£0£0£0£0£0£0Mar 2024Mar 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102
Metric2025-03-312024-03-31
Average employees5400

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 confirmation-statement
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (22 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-11-24
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2025-02-04
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  3. 2025-02-04
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  4. 2024-09-02
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  5. 2023-09-21
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  6. 2022-08-11
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  7. 2021-10-21
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  8. 2020-09-02
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  9. 2019-10-13
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  10. 2019-09-30
    📄
    appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
    officers · AP01
  11. 2019-09-30
    📄
    appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
    officers · AP01
  12. 2019-09-01
    ➕
    ROBERTS, Daniel Martyn appointed
    director
  13. 2019-09-01
    ➕
    ROBERTS, Simon Paul appointed
    director
  14. 2018-11-05
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  15. 2017-09-14
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  16. 2016-10-10
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  17. 2016-02-08
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  18. 1996-11-26
    ➕
    ROBERTS, Daniel Martyn appointed
    secretary
  19. 1996-11-26
    ➖
    ROBERTS, Simon Paul resigned
    secretary
  20. 1996-02-21
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As AFRICA PRODUCTS LIMITED
  21. 1996-02-21
    ➕
    ROBERTS, Keith John appointed
    director
  22. 1996-02-21
    ➕
    ROBERTS, Simon Paul appointed
    secretary

Owner dependency

83/100
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
  • +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 30 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 80 — 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 candidate

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

SIGNALS
  • primaryFounder aged 70+: Senior director is approximately 80 years old. Natural succession window is now.
  • primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 30 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 30 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.)

Shareholders & ownership

1 active beneficial owner
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr. Keith John Roberts
Individual · British · DOB 10/1946 · age 80
——sig. influencesignificant influence06/04/2016

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

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.

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Company details

Statusactive
Typeltd
Incorporated1996-02-21
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC46310 — Wholesale of fruit and vegetables

Registered office

Lynwood House Crofton Road
Orpington
Kent
BR6 8QE

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-12-31
Last made up to: 2025-03-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-02-17
Last: 2026-02-03

Officers (4 active · 1 resigned)

ROBERTS, Daniel Martyn→
secretary · appointed 1996-11-26
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
ROBERTS, Daniel Martyn→
director · ~51y · appointed 2019-09-01
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
ROBERTS, Keith John→
director · ~80y · appointed 1996-02-21
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
ROBERTS, Simon Paul→
director · ~54y · appointed 2019-09-01
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
ROBERTS, Simon Paul→
secretary · appointed 1996-02-21 · resigned 1996-11-26
Resigned

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

Recent filings (73 total)

confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-02-03
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-11-24
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-02-04
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2025-02-04
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2025-02-04
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-09-02
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-02-05
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-09-21
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-02-06
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-08-11
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-03-14
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-10-21
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-02-05
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-09-02
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-02-04