BLACKWELL'S PASTIES LIMITED

💤Zombieactive
04499661 · ltd · incorporated 2002-07-31
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 Oct 2024
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
🔔
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What this business does
Primary activity: Manufacture of bread; manufacture of fresh pastry goods and cakes
Sector: Manufacturing
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 60-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (70/100, director aged 60). 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 (73/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

1 live charge · oldest 23.7y

45/100
under pressure

Refinance would be pressure-driven, not opportunity-driven. Expect tighter margins and covenant scrutiny.

  • · Oldest live charge is 23.7 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
  • · Distress signals active — lender appetite narrows.

Data confidence

Overall: medium (76/100)

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
1 charges (1/1 with lender, 1/1 with type)
90
Directors & officers
5 officers (2 active, 5 linked, 2 with DOB)
78
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
70 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£0Oct 2023Oct 2024

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2024-10-312023-10-31
Average employees400300

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 (25 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-08-12
    📄
    termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM01
  2. 2025-08-12
    📄
    cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
  3. 2025-07-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  4. 2025-04-10
    ➖
    BLACKWELL, John Leonard resigned
    director
  5. 2024-07-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  6. 2023-07-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  7. 2022-07-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  8. 2021-10-01
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  9. 2020-07-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  10. 2019-07-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  11. 2018-07-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  12. 2017-07-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  13. 2016-11-29
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  14. 2016-07-07
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  15. 2015-09-01
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  16. 2015-07-09
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  17. 2002-09-18
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: Hsbc Bank PLC
  18. 2002-07-31
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As BLACKWELL'S PASTIES LIMITED
  19. 2002-07-31
    ➕
    BLACKWELL, Jill appointed
    secretary
  20. 2002-07-31
    ➕
    BLACKWELL, Andrew Leonard appointed
    director
  21. 2002-07-31
    ➕
    SECRETARIAL APPOINTMENTS LIMITED appointed
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  22. 2002-07-31
    ➖
    SECRETARIAL APPOINTMENTS LIMITED resigned
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  23. 2002-07-31
    ➕
    BLACKWELL, John Leonard appointed
    director
  24. 2002-07-31
    ➕
    CORPORATE APPOINTMENTS LIMITED appointed
    corporate-nominee-director
  25. 2002-07-31
    ➖
    CORPORATE APPOINTMENTS LIMITED resigned
    corporate-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 "BLACKWELL" — strong identity link between founder and business.
  • +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 24 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Senior director age: Director aged approximately 60 — approaching natural succession window.

Succession & seller-readiness

85/100
Likely off-market candidate

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

SIGNALS
  • secondaryFounder aged 58+: Senior director is approximately 60. Early succession window.
  • primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
  • primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 24 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 24 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 Andrew Leonard Blackwell
Individual · British · DOB 06/1966 · age 60
50–75%
50–75%50-75% shares · 50-75% voting31/07/2016
1 historic (ceased) PSC
  • Mr John Leonard Blackwellceased 10/04/2025· board control

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.

See pricing →

Company details

Statusactive
Typeltd
Incorporated2002-07-31
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC10710 — Manufacture of bread; manufacture of fresh pastry goods and cakes

Registered office

12 High Street
Torrington
Devon
EX38 8HN
England

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-07-31
Last made up to: 2024-10-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-08-14
Last: 2025-07-31

Officers (2 active · 3 resigned)

BLACKWELL, Jill→
secretary · appointed 2002-07-31
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
BLACKWELL, Andrew Leonard→
director · ~60y · appointed 2002-07-31
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
SECRETARIAL APPOINTMENTS LIMITED→
corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 2002-07-31 · resigned 2002-07-31
Resigned
BLACKWELL, John Leonard→
director · ~89y · appointed 2002-07-31 · resigned 2025-04-10
Resigned
CORPORATE APPOINTMENTS LIMITED→
corporate-nominee-director · appointed 2002-07-31 · resigned 2002-07-31
Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

1
Total charges
1
Outstanding
1
Active lenders
Status:Lender:1 of 1 shown
TypeProperties
outstanding
HSBC
Hsbc Bank PLC
Debenture1 property18/09/2002—
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (70 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-09-06
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2025-08-12
cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
2025-08-12
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-07-28
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-09-12
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-07-30
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-08-21
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-07-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-08-08
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-07-31
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-10-01
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-09-10
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-10-26
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2020-07-30
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-09-10