SIMON AINSCOUGH FARMS LIMITED

💤Zombieactive
03497652 · ltd · incorporated 1998-01-22
Investment thesis
Zombie company — trading but stalled; unlikely mover.
Why interesting: Quiet, steady; could be a succession or carve-out candidate with the right conversation.
Why risky: No growth signal; thin margin for error on price.
🔒Estimated value
Upgrade to see
Turnover
year to Apr 2025
Net worth
book net assets
Opportunity
80/100
Exceptional
🔔
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What this business does
Primary activity: Growing of cereals (except rice), leguminous crops and oil seeds
Sector: Agriculture, forestry & fishing
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 68-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 80/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 68). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Broaden director team. Sole director creates succession risk and reduces buyer comfort. Appoint a second director or strong #2. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (73/100).

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
4 officers (2 active, 4 linked, 2 with DOB)
80
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
1 connected companies via shared directors
48
Filing history
67 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£0Apr 2024Apr 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2025-04-302024-04-30
Average employees2200

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
2
filings
  • 1 confirmation-statement
  • 1 accounts
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (22 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-01-15
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  2. 2025-01-16
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  3. 2024-01-19
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  4. 2023-01-13
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  5. 2022-01-05
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  6. 2021-01-08
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  7. 2019-09-24
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  8. 2018-12-17
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  9. 2018-02-02
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC05
  10. 2017-12-18
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  11. 2017-02-13
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  12. 2017-01-13
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  13. 2016-02-09
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  14. 2016-01-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  15. 2015-01-26
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  16. 1998-01-22
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As SIMON AINSCOUGH FARMS LIMITED
  17. 1998-01-22
    AINSCOUGH, Dorothy Susan appointed
    secretary
  18. 1998-01-22
    AINSCOUGH, Simon Nicholas appointed
    director
  19. 1998-01-22
    AVIS, Michael Geoffrey appointed
    nominee-secretary
  20. 1998-01-22
    AVIS, Michael Geoffrey resigned
    nominee-secretary
  21. 1998-01-22
    AVIS, Christine Susan appointed
    nominee-director
  22. 1998-01-22
    AVIS, Christine Susan resigned
    nominee-director

Owner dependency

100/100
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
  • +Sole director: Only one active director — all governance concentrated on one person.
  • +Founder name in company name: Company name contains director surname "AINSCOUGH" — strong identity link between founder and business.
  • +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 28 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 68 — succession pressure is live.

Succession & seller-readiness

95/100
Likely off-market candidate

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

SIGNALS
  • primaryFounder aged 63+: Senior director is approximately 68. Approaching typical UK retirement age — succession thinking likely.
  • primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
  • primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 28 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 28 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

Ainscough Farm Company is the ultimate parent — holding 75%+ shares. This company sits inside their group.

🏛️
Ainscough Farm Company
Corporate parent · holds 75-100% shares · board control
ultimate parent
SIMON AINSCOUGH FARMS LIMITED
This company · 03497652

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%
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Ainscough Farm Company
Corporate entity
75100%
75–100%board control75-100% shares · 75-100% voting · board control06/04/2016

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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00368118 · est 1941 · no financials extracted
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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
Incorporated1998-01-22
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC01110 — Growing of cereals (except rice), leguminous crops and oil seeds

Registered office

17 Walkergate
Berwick-Upon-Tweed
Northumberland
TD15 1DJ
United Kingdom

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2027-01-31
Last made up to: 2025-04-30
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-02-05
Last: 2026-01-22

Officers (2 active · 2 resigned)

AINSCOUGH, Dorothy Susan
secretary · appointed 1998-01-22
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
AINSCOUGH, Simon Nicholas
director · ~68y · appointed 1998-01-22
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
AVIS, Michael Geoffrey
nominee-secretary · appointed 1998-01-22 · resigned 1998-01-22
Resigned
AVIS, Christine Susan
nominee-director · ~62y · appointed 1998-01-22 · resigned 1998-01-22
Resigned

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

Recent filings (67 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-01-27
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2026-01-15
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-01-28
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-01-16
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-01-29
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-01-19
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-01-26
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-01-13
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-02-03
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-01-05
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-02-02
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-01-08
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-01-31
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2019-09-24
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-01-22