A&J BIG TOPS LIMITED

🌳Matureactive
03666098 · ltd · incorporated 1998-11-12
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 Nov 2024
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: Renting and leasing of other machinery, equipment and tangible goods n.e.c.
Sector: Administrative & support services
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 82-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 82). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

4 live charges · 2 lenders · oldest 26.4y

70/100
ready

Refinance conversation should be productive — structure clean and timing right.

  • · Oldest live charge is 26.4 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Two lenders — manageable, but coordination required.
  • · Legal-friction score 15/100 — clean.

Data confidence

Overall: medium (79/100)

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
4 charges (4/4 with lender, 4/4 with type)
90
Directors & officers
6 officers (3 active, 6 linked, 3 with DOB)
80
Ownership & PSC
3 active PSC(s) of 3 total, 3 with control declared
90
Director network
3 connected companies via shared directors
54
Filing history
75 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 accounts
Cash
—
Net Worth
—
Current Assets
—
Current Liabilities
—
£0£0£0£0£0£0Nov 2023Nov 2024

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2024-11-302023-11-30
Average employees33003100

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 (32 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-08-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2025-01-10
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  3. 2025-01-10
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  4. 2025-01-10
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  5. 2025-01-10
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  6. 2025-01-10
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  7. 2025-01-10
    📄
    change-person-secretary-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH03
  8. 2025-01-10
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  9. 2024-08-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  10. 2023-08-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  11. 2022-08-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  12. 2021-07-21
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  13. 2020-08-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  14. 2019-04-01
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  15. 2018-08-24
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  16. 2017-06-06
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  17. 2012-07-06
    🔒
    Charge registered #4
    Lender: Barclays Bank PLC
  18. 2012-06-15
    🔒
    Charge registered #3
    Lender: National Westminster Bank PLC
  19. 2011-12-12
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #1
  20. 2009-01-22
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #2
  21. 2008-01-25
    🔒
    Charge registered #2
    Lender: National Westminster Bank PLC
  22. 2000-07-10
    ➕
    FOSSETT ROBERTS, John appointed
    secretary
  23. 2000-07-10
    ➖
    ROBERTS, Antonia Cisto resigned
    secretary
  24. 2000-07-10
    ➖
    ROBERTS, Antonia Cisto resigned
    director
  25. 2000-02-21
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: Barclays Bank PLC
  26. 1998-11-12
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As A&J BIG TOPS LIMITED
  27. 1998-11-12
    ➕
    ROBERTS, John Alejandro Thomas Fossett appointed
    director
  28. 1998-11-12
    ➕
    ROBERTS, John Fossett appointed
    director
  29. 1998-11-12
    ➕
    ROBERTS, Antonia Cisto appointed
    secretary
  30. 1998-11-12
    ➕
    SWIFT INCORPORATIONS LIMITED appointed
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  31. 1998-11-12
    ➖
    SWIFT INCORPORATIONS LIMITED resigned
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  32. 1998-11-12
    ➕
    ROBERTS, Antonia Cisto appointed
    director

Owner dependency

91/100
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
  • +Two-director setup: Only two active directors — typical of owner-managed SMEs but limits succession.
  • +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 28 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 82 — succession pressure is live.
  • +Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

Succession & seller-readiness

96/100
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 82 years old. Natural succession window is now.
  • secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
  • 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.)

Shareholders & ownership

3 active beneficial owners
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr John Alejandro Thomas Fossett Roberts
Individual · British · DOB 05/1976 · age 50
25–50%
25–50%25-50% shares · 25-50% voting06/04/2016
Mr John Fossett Roberts
Individual · British · DOB 06/1944 · age 82
25–50%
25–50%25-50% shares · 25-50% voting06/04/2016
Mrs Antonia Cisto Roberts
Individual · Spanish · DOB 05/1950 · age 76
25–50%
25–50%25-50% shares · 25-50% voting06/04/2016

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.

See pricing →

Company details

Statusactive
Typeltd
Incorporated1998-11-12
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC77390 — Renting and leasing of other machinery, equipment and tangible goods n.e.c.

Registered office

America Farm Cottage
Oxney Road
Peterborough
PE1 5YR
England

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-08-31
Last made up to: 2024-11-30
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-11-24
Last: 2025-11-10

Officers (3 active · 3 resigned)

FOSSETT ROBERTS, John→
secretary · appointed 2000-07-10
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
ROBERTS, John Alejandro Thomas Fossett→
director · ~50y · appointed 1998-11-12
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
ROBERTS, John Fossett→
director · ~82y · appointed 1998-11-12
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
ROBERTS, Antonia Cisto→
secretary · appointed 1998-11-12 · resigned 2000-07-10
Resigned
SWIFT INCORPORATIONS LIMITED→
corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 1998-11-12 · resigned 1998-11-12
Resigned
ROBERTS, Antonia Cisto→
director · ~76y · appointed 1998-11-12 · resigned 2000-07-10
Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

4
Total charges
2
Outstanding
2
Active lenders
Status:Lender:4 of 4 shown
TypeProperties
outstanding
Barclays
Barclays Bank PLC
Guarantee and debenture1 property06/07/2012—
outstanding
National Westminster Bank
National Westminster Bank PLC
Debenture1 property15/06/2012—
satisfied
National Westminster Bank
National Westminster Bank PLC
Debenture1 property25/01/200822/01/2009
satisfied
Barclays
Barclays Bank PLC
Guarantee & debenture1 property21/02/200012/12/2011
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (75 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-11-13
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-08-29
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2025-01-10
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2025-01-10
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2025-01-10
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2025-01-10
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2025-01-10
change-person-secretary-company-with-change-date
officers · CH03
2025-01-10
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2025-01-10
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-11-28
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-08-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-11-10
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-08-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-11-21
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-08-29