EXPRESS CONTRACT DRYING LTD

🌳Matureactive

03216491 · ltd · incorporated 1996-06-25

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 26.4y old — refinance window within 12 months

🔒Estimated value

—

Upgrade to see

Turnover

—

year to Apr 2025

Net worth

£4.60M

book net assets

Opportunity

80/100

Exceptional

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What this business does

Primary activity: SIC 10890

Sector: Manufacturing

Investor take

Pursue

Active trading company with a 77-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 80/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (73/100, director aged 77). 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

7 live charges · 2 lenders · oldest 26.4y

50/100

clean up first

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

· Oldest live charge is 26.4 years old — likely at or near maturity.
· Two lenders — manageable, but coordination required.
· Legal-friction score 25/100 — workable, but lender will want more DD.

Data confidence

Overall: medium (69/100)

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

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

Lenders & charges

7 charges (7/7 with lender, 7/7 with type)

Directors & officers

11 officers (6 active, 11 linked, 5 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

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

Director network

Network not yet resolved

Filing history

124 filings on record

Gazette notices

No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)

Opportunity Score

80/100Exceptional

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 · FRS 102

Positive net assets

Net assets £4,601,723

Key financials

1 year extracted from filed iXBRL accounts

Cash

£2.0m

Net Worth

£4.6m

Current Assets

£4.7m

Current Liabilities

—

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102

Metric	2025-04-30
Total assets	£4.66M
Current assets	£4.75M
Cash	£2.00M
Debtors	£2.22M
Net assets	£4.60M

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

Recent activity

Last 30 days

filing

• 1 confirmation-statement

Last 90 days

filing

• 1 confirmation-statement

Last 180 days

filings

• 1 confirmation-statement
• 1 accounts

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (49 events)Click to expand

2026-02-13
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2025-10-21
📄
change-account-reference-date-company-current-shortened
accounts · AA01
2025-04-30
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2024-06-29
📄
mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
mortgage · MR04
2024-06-29
📄
mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
mortgage · MR04
2024-06-29
📄
mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
mortgage · MR04
2024-06-29
📄
mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
mortgage · MR04
2024-06-29
📄
mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
mortgage · MR04
2024-06-29
🔓
Charge satisfied #7
2024-06-29
🔓
Charge satisfied #6
2024-06-29
🔓
Charge satisfied #4
2024-06-29
🔓
Charge satisfied #3
2024-06-29
🔓
Charge satisfied #1
2024-01-30
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2023-01-27
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2023-01-24
📄
resolution
resolution · RESOLUTIONS
2023-01-24
📄
memorandum-articles
incorporation · MA
2022-01-31
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2021-05-27
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2021-05-27
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2021-05-27
📄
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2021-05-07
📄
accounts-amended-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AAMD
2020-10-19
📄
resolution
resolution · RESOLUTIONS
2020-10-19
📄
memorandum-articles
incorporation · MA
2017-03-01
➕
MCDONAGH, Patrick appointed
director
2014-07-17
🔒
Charge registered #7
Lender: National Westminster Bank PLC
2012-02-01
➕
BALL, Nicholas Jonathan appointed
director
2011-08-12
🔓
Charge satisfied #5
2010-02-22
🔒
Charge registered #6
Lender: National Westminster Bank PLC
2009-06-10
➕
FUDGE, Diane May appointed
director
2005-03-23
🔒
Charge registered #5
Lender: Welsh Development Agency
2004-10-07
➖
MCDERMOTT, Brendan resigned
secretary
2004-05-01
➕
SPAVIN, Jacqueline appointed
secretary
2004-03-23
➕
SPAVIN, Jacqueline appointed
director
2003-07-11
🔒
Charge registered #4
Lender: National Westminster Bank PLC
2002-03-14
🔒
Charge registered #3
Lender: National Westminster Bank PLC
2002-03-14
🔒
Charge registered #2
Lender: Welsh Development Agency
2000-03-23
🔒
Charge registered #1
Lender: National Westminster Bank PLC
1996-08-20
➕
MCDERMOTT, David Patrick appointed
director
1996-08-20
➖
HARRISON, Irene Lesley resigned
nominee-secretary
1996-08-20
➕
MATHIAS, Clive Stanley appointed
secretary
1996-08-20
➖
MATHIAS, Clive Stanley resigned
secretary
1996-08-20
➕
MCDERMOTT, Brendan appointed
secretary
1996-08-20
➖
BUSINESS INFORMATION RESEARCH & REPORTING LIMITED resigned
corporate-nominee-director
1996-08-20
➕
FARMERS FABRICATIONS LIMITED appointed
corporate-director
1996-08-20
➖
FARMERS FABRICATIONS LIMITED resigned
corporate-director
1996-06-25
🏢
Company incorporated
As EXPRESS CONTRACT DRYING LTD
1996-06-25
➕
HARRISON, Irene Lesley appointed
nominee-secretary
1996-06-25
➕
BUSINESS INFORMATION RESEARCH & REPORTING LIMITED appointed
corporate-nominee-director

Owner dependency

65/100

High — earn-out structure required

Material founder dependency. Consider a 2-3 year earn-out and build in a handover plan before completion.

FACTORS

-5 active directors: Broader management team in place — suggests transferable governance.
+Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 30 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
+Founder age: Director aged approximately 77 — 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 77 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

1 med ·

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.

Shareholders & ownership

1 active beneficial owner · dominant holder ≥75%

Name	Shares	Voting rights	Nature of control	Notified
Mr David Patrick Mcdermott Individual · British · DOB 01/1949 · age 77	75–100%	—	75-100% shares	25/06/2017

From Companies House Persons with Significant Control filings. Share ranges are banded per the public PSC regime.

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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

Incorporated1996-06-25

Jurisdictionengland-wales

Primary SIC10890 — SIC 10890

Registered office

Flat 5.02 2-7 Elmdale Road

Clifton

Bristol

BS8 1SZ

United Kingdom

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2026-09-30

Last made up to: 2025-04-30

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2027-07-09

Last: 2026-06-25