DERNWOOD FARMS LIMITED

🌳Matureactive
05650083 · ltd · incorporated 2005-12-09
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 Apr 2025
Net worth
£-337
book net assets
Opportunity
80/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 01470
Sector: Agriculture, forestry & fishing
Investor take
Pass (distressed without resilience)
Distressed active trading company — structural issues outweigh the discount.

Opportunity 80/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (63/100, director aged 82). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

Data confidence

Overall: medium (77/100)

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
Confirmed no charges registered
85
Directors & officers
4 officers (4 active, 4 linked, 3 with DOB)
85
Ownership & PSC
2 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
49 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
80/100Exceptional
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
90
Good data coverage for analysis.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · accounting standard not declared
Negative net assets
Liabilities exceed assets by £337
Net assets shrinking
Down £758 YoY
Cash YoY
+120%
Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
£1k
↑ 120% YoY
Net Worth
-£337
↓ 180% YoY
Current Assets
£30k
↑ 2.9% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
-£337£6k£12k£18k£24k£30kApr 2024Apr 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2025-04-302024-04-30
Total assets£-226£684
Current assets£30.1k£29.2k
Cash£1.1k£504
Debtors£29.0k£28.7k
Net assets£-337£421

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
2
filings
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
  • • 1 accounts
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (20 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-01-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2025-01-15
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  3. 2023-11-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  4. 2023-01-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  5. 2022-04-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  6. 2021-04-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  7. 2020-01-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  8. 2019-01-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  9. 2018-01-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  10. 2017-01-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  11. 2016-02-01
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  12. 2015-12-30
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  13. 2015-12-30
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  14. 2015-01-06
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  15. 2014-11-10
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  16. 2007-11-21
    ➕
    BANNISTER, Alistair James Lee appointed
    director
  17. 2007-11-21
    ➕
    BROWN, Emma Charlotte appointed
    director
  18. 2005-12-09
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As DERNWOOD FARMS LIMITED
  19. 2005-12-09
    ➕
    BANNISTER, Jean Elizabeth Anne appointed
    secretary
  20. 2005-12-09
    ➕
    BANNISTER, Christopher Richard Lee appointed
    director

Owner dependency

83/100
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
  • +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 21 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 82 — succession pressure is live.
  • +Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

Succession & seller-readiness

90/100
Likely off-market candidate

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

SIGNALS
  • primaryFounder aged 70+: Senior director is approximately 82 years old. Natural succession window is now.
  • primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 21 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 21 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 Jean Elizabeth Anne Bannister
Individual · British · DOB 11/1943 · age 83
25–50%
25–50%25-50% shares · 25-50% voting06/04/2016
Mr Christopher Richard Lee Bannister
Individual · British · DOB 01/1944 · age 82
25–50%
25–50%25-50% shares · 25-50% voting06/04/2016

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

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01255331 · est 1976 · no financials extracted
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08435434 · est 2013 · no financials extracted
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DE ROSA-MAXTED (PROPERTIES) LIMITED→
15003691 · est 2023 · no financials extracted
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10894145 · est 2017 · no financials extracted
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15627886 · est 2024 · no financials extracted
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EAST SUSSEX FOODS LIMITED→
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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
Incorporated2005-12-09
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC01470 — SIC 01470

Registered office

Wilson House
48 Brooklyn Road
Seaford
East Sussex
BN25 2DX

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2027-01-31
Last made up to: 2025-04-30
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-12-23
Last: 2025-12-09

Officers (4 active · 0 resigned)

BANNISTER, Jean Elizabeth Anne→
secretary · appointed 2005-12-09
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
BANNISTER, Alistair James Lee→
director · ~53y · appointed 2007-11-21
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
BANNISTER, Christopher Richard Lee→
director · ~82y · appointed 2005-12-09
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
BROWN, Emma Charlotte→
director · ~51y · appointed 2007-11-21
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active

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

Recent filings (49 total)

confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-02-05
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2026-01-27
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-01-15
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-01-03
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-12-13
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-11-30
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-01-31
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-12-28
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-04-27
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-12-13
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-04-26
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-12-17
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-01-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-12-16
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-01-31