FIRST CHOICE LANDSCAPES LIMITED

💤Zombieactive
04622735 · ltd · incorporated 2002-12-20
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 Dec 2024
Net worth
book net assets
Opportunity
77/100
Strong
🔔
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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
Strong opportunity: active trading company with strong profile and bankable structure.

Opportunity 77/100 (strong), bankability 80/100. High owner-dependency — earn-out structure likely required for clean transition. 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 (58/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

1 live charge · oldest 19.9y

45/100
under pressure

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

  • · Oldest live charge is 19.9 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 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
58 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
77/100Strong
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional 

Solid opportunity signal. Worth a dedicated memo and management meeting.

Business quality
70
Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.
Acquirability
60
Some acquirability indicators.
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£28k£56k£84k£111k£139kDec 2023Dec 2024

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2024-12-312023-12-31
Total assets£167.6k
Current assets£20.9k
Net assets£139.4k
Average employees100

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

Recent activity

Last 30 days
0
filings
Last 90 days
0
filings
Last 180 days
2
filings
  • 1 confirmation-statement
  • 1 address
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (25 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-12-01
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  2. 2025-09-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  3. 2024-09-17
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  4. 2023-09-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  5. 2022-09-07
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  6. 2021-09-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  7. 2020-12-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  8. 2019-03-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  9. 2018-09-24
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  10. 2017-03-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  11. 2016-08-25
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  12. 2015-12-21
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  13. 2015-09-25
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  14. 2015-01-07
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  15. 2014-05-08
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  16. 2010-03-31
    CHAMBERS, Derek resigned
    director
  17. 2006-07-11
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: Hsbc Bank PLC
  18. 2002-12-20
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As FIRST CHOICE LANDSCAPES LIMITED
  19. 2002-12-20
    CHAMBERS, Neil James appointed
    secretary
  20. 2002-12-20
    CHAMBERS, Neil James appointed
    director
  21. 2002-12-20
    A.C. SECRETARIES LIMITED appointed
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  22. 2002-12-20
    A.C. SECRETARIES LIMITED resigned
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  23. 2002-12-20
    CHAMBERS, Derek appointed
    director
  24. 2002-12-20
    A.C. DIRECTORS LIMITED appointed
    corporate-nominee-director
  25. 2002-12-20
    A.C. DIRECTORS LIMITED resigned
    corporate-nominee-director

Owner dependency

85/100
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.
  • +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 23 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.

Succession & seller-readiness

75/100
Likely off-market candidate

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

SIGNALS
  • primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
  • primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 23 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 23 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 · dominant holder ≥75%
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr Neil James Chambers
Individual · British · DOB 09/1975 · age 51
75100%
75–100%75-100% shares · 75-100% voting20/12/2016

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 →
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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
Incorporated2002-12-20
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC01110 — Growing of cereals (except rice), leguminous crops and oil seeds

Registered office

C/O Appleton Dale Ltd, Office 43, Hq Wakefield
225 Denby Dale Road
Wakefield
WF2 7AJ
England

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-09-30
Last made up to: 2024-12-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-01-02
Last: 2025-12-19

Officers (2 active · 3 resigned)

CHAMBERS, Neil James
secretary · appointed 2002-12-20
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
CHAMBERS, Neil James
director · ~51y · appointed 2002-12-20
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
A.C. SECRETARIES LIMITED
corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 2002-12-20 · resigned 2002-12-20
Resigned
CHAMBERS, Derek
director · ~79y · appointed 2002-12-20 · resigned 2010-03-31
Resigned
A.C. DIRECTORS LIMITED
corporate-nominee-director · appointed 2002-12-20 · resigned 2002-12-20
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 property11/07/2006
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (58 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-01-22
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2025-12-01
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-09-30
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-12-19
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-09-17
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-01-04
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-09-27
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-12-20
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-09-07
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-12-31
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-09-29
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-01-07
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2020-12-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-12-20
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2019-03-27