A.A. READ (FARMS) LIMITED

🌳Matureactive

05159146 · ltd · incorporated 2004-06-21

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.

🔒Estimated value

—

Upgrade to see

Turnover

—

year to Mar 2025

Net worth

£931.7k

book net assets

Opportunity

80/100

Exceptional

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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: asset-holding vehicle with exceptional profile and bankable structure.

Opportunity 80/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (70/100, director aged 58). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

Data confidence

Overall: medium (78/100)

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

Lenders & charges

Confirmed no charges registered

Directors & officers

4 officers (3 active, 4 linked, 2 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

2 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared

Director network

1 connected companies via shared directors

Filing history

62 filings on record

Gazette notices

No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)

Opportunity Score

80/100Exceptional

PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional

Strong composite across quality, acquirability, and risk. High-priority target — progress to serious diligence.

Business quality

Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.

Acquirability

Strong succession / seller-readiness signals.

Risk profile

Few red flags.

Signal strength

Good data coverage for analysis.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · accounting standard not declared

Positive net assets

Net assets £931,654

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts

Cash

£825

Net Worth

£932k

Current Assets

£360k

Current Liabilities

—

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown

Metric	2025-03-31	2024-03-31
Total assets	£1.64M	—
Current assets	£359.7k	—
Cash	£825	—
Debtors	£96.6k	—
Net assets	£931.7k	—
Average employees	—	500

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

filings

Last 90 days

filings

Last 180 days

filing

• 1 accounts

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (22 events)Click to expand

2025-12-17
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-12-21
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-12-21
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-11-22
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-12-23
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-12-01
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-10-15
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2018-12-03
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2018-06-19
📄
notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
2018-06-19
📄
notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
2017-12-05
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2016-10-11
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2016-07-01
📍
move-registers-to-sail-company-with-new-address
address · AD03
2016-07-01
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2015-07-28
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2015-07-01
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2004-06-21
🏢
Company incorporated
As A.A. READ (FARMS) LIMITED
2004-06-21
➕
READ, Antony Arthur appointed
secretary
2004-06-21
➕
READ, Antony Arthur appointed
director
2004-06-21
➕
READ, Charlotte Jane Louise appointed
director
2004-06-21
➕
SWIFT INCORPORATIONS LIMITED appointed
corporate-nominee-secretary
2004-06-21
➖
SWIFT INCORPORATIONS LIMITED resigned
corporate-nominee-secretary

Owner dependency

99/100

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.
+Founder name in company name: Company name contains director surname "READ" — strong identity link between founder and business.
+Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 22 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
+Senior director age: Director aged approximately 58 — approaching natural succession window.
+Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

Succession & seller-readiness

76/100

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 58. 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

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

Name	Shares	Voting rights	Nature of control	Notified
Mr Antony Arthur Read Individual · British · DOB 06/1968 · age 58	50–75%	50–75%	board control50-75% shares · 50-75% voting · board control	06/04/2016
Charlotte Jane Louise Read Individual · British · DOB 11/1973 · age 53	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.

🔒Co-director network graph

Radial SVG graph showing every company connected via shared directors, colour-coded by status.

Available from the Pro tier upwards.

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Similar companies

Active · Agriculture · LN postcode area

Company	Est. value	Turnover	Net worth	Staff	Age	Opp	Director
A B GRANT (LANGRICK) LIMITED→ 09798753 · est 2015 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	10y	—	—
A L COX & SONS LIMITED→ 05761439 · est 2006 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	20y	—	—
A. POUCHER AND SONS (BARDNEY DAIRIES) LIMITED→ 01370484 · est 1978 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	47y	—	—
A.C.GILBERT & SON,LIMITED→ 00128636 · est 1913 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	112y	—	—
A.I.WALGATE & SON→ 00532342 · est 1954 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	71y	—	—
A.R.T. AGRICULTURAL DRONE SERVICES LTD→ 17069745 · est 2026 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
A.W. SMITH & SONS LIMITED→ 00530969 · est 1954 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	72y	—	—
AGHAUL LIMITED→ 06557402 · est 2008 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	18y	—	—
AGREX LIMITED→ 07500049 · est 2011 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	15y	—	—
AH FARMS LTD→ 11454371 · est 2018 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	7y	—	—
AJR TAYLOR FARMS LIMITED→ 04689796 · est 2003 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	23y	—	—
ALCHEMY AGRONOMY LTD→ 15210201 · est 2023 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	2y	—	—

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.

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Company details

Statusactive

Typeltd

Incorporated2004-06-21

Jurisdictionengland-wales

Primary SIC01110 — Growing of cereals (except rice), leguminous crops and oil seeds

Registered office

Barr Farm Lincoln Road

Edlington

Horncastle

Lincolnshire

LN9 5NA

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2026-12-31

Last made up to: 2025-03-31

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2026-07-05

Last: 2025-06-21

Officers (3 active · 1 resigned)

READ, Antony Arthur→

secretary · appointed 2004-06-21

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

READ, Antony Arthur→

director · ~58y · appointed 2004-06-21

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

READ, Charlotte Jane Louise→

director · ~53y · appointed 2004-06-21

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

SWIFT INCORPORATIONS LIMITED→

corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 2004-06-21 · resigned 2004-06-21

Resigned

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