ARDEN COFFEE LIMITED
🌳Matureactive
05047718 · ltd · incorporated 2004-02-18
Investment thesis
Established operating company — standard diligence applies, no dominant angle.
Why interesting: Live, filing, normal profile.
Why risky: No standout signals in either direction.
Opportunity decay
approaching window · 12-months
Approaching a transaction window — refinance or sale event plausible in the next 12 months.
- · Oldest live charge 21.8y old — refinance window within 12 months
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Apr 2025
Net worth
£363.3k
book net assets
Opportunity
83/100
Exceptional
What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 10832
Sector: Manufacturing
Investor take
PursueActive trading company with a 60-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.
Opportunity 83/100 (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 21.8y
65/100
clean up first
Refinance viable after a tidy-up — address the highlighted items first.
- · Oldest live charge is 21.8 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, 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
2 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
66 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
83/100Exceptional
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
85
Strong succession / seller-readiness signals.
Risk profile
85
Few red flags.
Signal strength
100
Good data coverage for analysis.
Signals from accounts
Derived from iXBRL accounts · FRS 102Positive net assets
Net assets £363,294
Cash YoY
+2%
Year on year
Key financials
2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accountsCash
£194k
↑ 1.7% YoY
Net Worth
£363k
↑ 3.3% YoY
Current Assets
£857k
↑ 21% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series
Financials
Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102| Metric | 2025-04-30 | 2024-04-30 |
|---|---|---|
| Total assets | £458.1k | £485.2k |
| Current assets | £857.1k | £709.2k |
| Cash | £193.6k | £190.4k |
| Debtors | £456.0k | £339.5k |
| Net assets | £363.3k | £351.7k |
Amounts extracted automatically from iXBRL. Fields left blank were not reported or not mapped. Values in GBP unless stated.
🔒Filing-note intelligence
2 signals 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
1
filing
- • 1 confirmation-statement
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (25 events)Click to expand
- 2025-10-01📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2024-11-22📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2023-09-22📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2022-11-16📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2021-11-15📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2021-02-22📄change-person-director-company-with-change-dateofficers · CH01
- 2021-02-22📄change-to-a-person-with-significant-controlpersons-with-significant-control · PSC04
- 2020-08-13📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2019-11-05📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2018-11-02📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2018-02-07📄change-person-director-company-with-change-dateofficers · CH01
- 2017-11-21📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2017-01-17📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-smallaccounts · AA
- 2016-03-01📄annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholdersannual-return · AR01
- 2016-01-18📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-smallaccounts · AA
- 2013-02-18➖KLS REGISTRARS LIMITED resignedcorporate-secretary
- 2004-08-10🔒Charge registered #1Lender: Boxspur Woodville Limited
- 2004-02-18🏢Company incorporatedAs ARDEN COFFEE LIMITED
- 2004-02-18➕BLAIR, David John appointeddirector
- 2004-02-18➕THORPE, Darren Peter appointeddirector
- 2004-02-18➕KLS REGISTRARS LIMITED appointedcorporate-secretary
- 2004-02-18➖THE COMPANY REGISTRATION AGENTS LIMITED resignedcorporate-nominee-secretary
- 2004-02-18➖LUCIENE JAMES LIMITED resignedcorporate-nominee-director
- 2004-02-17➕THE COMPANY REGISTRATION AGENTS LIMITED appointedcorporate-nominee-secretary
- 2004-02-17➕LUCIENE JAMES LIMITED appointedcorporate-nominee-director
Owner dependency
76/100
High — earn-out structure requiredMaterial founder dependency. Consider a 2-3 year earn-out and build in a handover plan before completion.
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 22 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
- +Senior director age: Director aged approximately 60 — approaching natural succession window.
Succession & seller-readiness
76/100
Likely off-market candidateStrong 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.
- secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
- primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 22 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
- secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 22 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
cleanNo 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| Name | Shares | Voting rights | Nature of control | Notified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Mr David John Blair Individual · British · DOB 12/1968 · age 58 | 25–50% | 25–50% | 25-50% shares · 25-50% voting | 06/04/2016 |
Mr Darren Peter Thorpe Individual · British · DOB 08/1966 · age 60 | 25–50% | 25–50% | 25-50% shares · 25-50% voting | 06/04/2016 |
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
6 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
Incorporated2004-02-18
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC10832 — SIC 10832
Registered office
3 Bakers Lane
Shutlanger
Towcester
Northamptonshire
NN12 7RT
Filing status
Accounts
Next due: 2027-01-31
Last made up to: 2025-04-30
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-03-04
Last: 2026-02-18
Officers (2 active · 3 resigned)
BLAIR, David John→
Activedirector · ~58y · appointed 2004-02-18
View their other companies + combined net worth →
THORPE, Darren Peter→
Activedirector · ~60y · appointed 2004-02-18
View their other companies + combined net worth →
KLS REGISTRARS LIMITED→
Resignedcorporate-secretary · appointed 2004-02-18 · resigned 2013-02-18
THE COMPANY REGISTRATION AGENTS LIMITED→
Resignedcorporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 2004-02-17 · resigned 2004-02-18
LUCIENE JAMES LIMITED→
Resignedcorporate-nominee-director · appointed 2004-02-17 · resigned 2004-02-18
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
| Type | Properties | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| outstanding | Boxspur Woodville Boxspur Woodville Limited | Rent deposit deed | 1 property | 10/08/2004 | — |
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.
Recent filings (66 total)
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-02-18
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-10-01
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-02-18
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-11-22
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-02-19
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-09-22
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-02-20
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-11-16
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-02-18
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-11-15
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2021-02-22
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2021-02-22
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-02-18
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-08-13
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-02-19