BABTHORPE HALL FARM LIMITED

🌳Matureactive
04686502 · ltd · incorporated 2003-03-05
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 22.8y old — refinance window within 12 months
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Mar 2025
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 01430
Sector: Agriculture, forestry & fishing
ALSO REGISTERED FOR
  • 01470SIC 01470
  • 01500SIC 01500
  • 46110Agents selling agricultural raw materials, live animals, textile raw materials and semi-finished goods
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 68-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 68). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Discharge stale live charges. 2 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

2 live charges · oldest 22.8y

65/100
clean up first

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

  • · Oldest live charge is 22.8 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
  • · Legal-friction score 25/100 — workable, but lender will want more DD.

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, 4 SIC codes, incorporation date
100
Financials
2 years of iXBRL accounts extracted (YoY deltas available) + narrative notes parsed
75
Lenders & charges
2 charges (2/2 with lender, 2/2 with type)
90
Directors & officers
5 officers (3 active, 5 linked, 2 with DOB)
78
Ownership & PSC
2 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
60 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£0Mar 2024Mar 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2025-03-312024-03-31
Average employees500500

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
1
filing
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
Last 180 days
2
filings
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
  • • 1 accounts
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (25 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-12-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-12-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  3. 2023-12-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  4. 2022-12-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  5. 2021-12-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  6. 2021-03-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  7. 2019-12-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  8. 2018-12-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  9. 2017-12-15
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  10. 2016-12-12
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  11. 2016-03-11
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  12. 2015-12-20
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  13. 2015-03-09
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  14. 2014-12-22
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  15. 2014-03-12
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  16. 2003-10-09
    🔒
    Charge registered #2
    Lender: Hsbc Bank PLC
  17. 2003-09-16
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: Hsbc Bank PLC
  18. 2003-03-05
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As BABTHORPE HALL FARM LIMITED
  19. 2003-03-05
    ➕
    SEELS, Richard appointed
    secretary
  20. 2003-03-05
    ➕
    SEELS, Richard appointed
    director
  21. 2003-03-05
    ➕
    SEELS, Sheena appointed
    director
  22. 2003-03-05
    ➕
    TEMPLE SECRETARIES LIMITED appointed
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  23. 2003-03-05
    ➖
    TEMPLE SECRETARIES LIMITED resigned
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  24. 2003-03-05
    ➕
    COMPANY DIRECTORS LIMITED appointed
    corporate-nominee-director
  25. 2003-03-05
    ➖
    COMPANY DIRECTORS LIMITED resigned
    corporate-nominee-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 23 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 68 — succession pressure is live.
  • +Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

Succession & seller-readiness

86/100
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.
  • secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
  • 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

2 active beneficial owners
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mrs Sheena Seels
Individual · British · DOB 02/1965 · age 61
25–50%
—25-50% shares01/07/2016
Mr Richard Seels
Individual · British · DOB 08/1958 · age 68
25–50%
—25-50% shares01/07/2016

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

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———————
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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
Incorporated2003-03-05
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC01430 — SIC 01430

Registered office

Babthorpe Hall Farm
Hemingbrough
Selby
North Yorkshire
YO8 7EH

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-12-31
Last made up to: 2025-03-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-03-19
Last: 2026-03-05

Officers (3 active · 2 resigned)

SEELS, Richard→
secretary · appointed 2003-03-05
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
SEELS, Richard→
director · ~68y · appointed 2003-03-05
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
SEELS, Sheena→
director · ~61y · appointed 2003-03-05
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
TEMPLE SECRETARIES LIMITED→
corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 2003-03-05 · resigned 2003-03-05
Resigned
COMPANY DIRECTORS LIMITED→
corporate-nominee-director · appointed 2003-03-05 · resigned 2003-03-05
Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

2
Total charges
2
Outstanding
1
Active lenders
Status:Lender:2 of 2 shown
TypeProperties
outstanding
HSBC
Hsbc Bank PLC
Debenture1 property09/10/2003—
outstanding
HSBC
Hsbc Bank PLC
Legal mortgage1 property16/09/2003—
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (60 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-04-01
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-12-31
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-03-17
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-12-30
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-03-27
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-12-30
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-03-15
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-12-29
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-03-21
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-12-31
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-03-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-03-18
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-03-12
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2019-12-30
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-03-07