CRAWLEAS FARMING LIMITED

🌳Matureactive
06554282 · ltd · incorporated 2008-04-03
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
hardening · 12-months
Already tight — no obvious softening catalysts on the horizon.
  • · Thesis: well-run, low negotiation leverage
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Mar 2025
Net worth
—
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
Active trading company with a 73-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 80/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (63/100, director aged 73). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

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
Confirmed no charges registered
85
Directors & officers
7 officers (4 active, 7 linked, 4 with DOB)
81
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
56 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.

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 employees300300

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
0
filings
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (25 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-11-17
    📄
    cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
  2. 2025-10-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  3. 2024-11-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  4. 2023-11-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  5. 2022-10-17
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  6. 2021-09-24
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  7. 2020-12-08
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  8. 2020-04-08
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  9. 2020-04-08
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  10. 2019-10-03
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  11. 2018-10-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  12. 2018-04-04
    📄
    notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
  13. 2017-09-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  14. 2016-10-11
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  15. 2016-03-21
    ➕
    STEPHENSON, John Robert Arthur appointed
    director
  16. 2011-09-27
    ➕
    STEVENSON, John Robert Arthur appointed
    director
  17. 2011-09-27
    ➖
    STEVENSON, John Robert Arthur resigned
    director
  18. 2008-04-03
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As CRAWLEAS FARMING LIMITED
  19. 2008-04-03
    ➕
    STEPHENSON, Sheila appointed
    secretary
  20. 2008-04-03
    ➕
    STEPHENSON, John appointed
    director
  21. 2008-04-03
    ➕
    STEPHENSON, Sheila appointed
    director
  22. 2008-04-03
    ➕
    TEMPLE SECRETARIES LIMITED appointed
    corporate-secretary
  23. 2008-04-03
    ➖
    TEMPLE SECRETARIES LIMITED resigned
    corporate-secretary
  24. 2008-04-03
    ➕
    COMPANY DIRECTORS LIMITED appointed
    corporate-director
  25. 2008-04-03
    ➖
    COMPANY DIRECTORS LIMITED resigned
    corporate-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 18 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 73 — succession pressure is live.
  • +Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

Succession & seller-readiness

83/100
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 73 years old. Natural succession window is now.
  • secondary12+ year tenure: Director in role 18 years.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 18 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
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr John Robert Arthur Stephenson
Individual · British · DOB 03/1993 · age 33
50–75%
—50-75% shares04/04/2018
1 historic (ceased) PSC
  • Mr John Stephensonceased 04/11/2025· 25-50% shares

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

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ARKLE MOOR RIDING CENTRE LTD→
14543487 · est 2022 · no financials extracted
————3y——
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16401914 · est 2025 · no financials extracted
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11349831 · est 2018 · no financials extracted
————7y——
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16679153 · est 2025 · no financials extracted
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03273784 · est 1996 · no financials extracted
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————9y——
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————2y——
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————12y——
COMPLETE ANIMAL HEALTH LIMITED→
05318772 · est 2004 · no financials extracted
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COWCLOSE FARM (DARLINGTON) LIMITED→
09770839 · est 2015 · no financials extracted
————10y——
CRAIG GOWLAND LIMITED→
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CRM AGRI LIMITED→
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————9y——
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
Incorporated2008-04-03
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC01110 — Growing of cereals (except rice), leguminous crops and oil seeds

Registered office

Crawleas Farm
Leasingthorne
Bishop Auckland
Co Durham
DL14 8EQ

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-12-31
Last made up to: 2025-03-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-12-03
Last: 2025-11-19

Officers (4 active · 3 resigned)

STEPHENSON, Sheila→
secretary · appointed 2008-04-03
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
STEPHENSON, John Robert Arthur→
director · ~33y · appointed 2016-03-21
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
STEPHENSON, John→
director · ~73y · appointed 2008-04-03
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
STEPHENSON, Sheila→
director · ~68y · appointed 2008-04-03
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
TEMPLE SECRETARIES LIMITED→
corporate-secretary · appointed 2008-04-03 · resigned 2008-04-03
Resigned
STEVENSON, John Robert Arthur→
director · ~33y · appointed 2011-09-27 · resigned 2011-09-27
Resigned
COMPANY DIRECTORS LIMITED→
corporate-director · appointed 2008-04-03 · resigned 2008-04-03
Resigned

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

Recent filings (56 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-11-19
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-11-17
cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
2025-11-17
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-10-31
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-04-02
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-11-29
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-04-08
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-11-23
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-05-11
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-10-17
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-04-07
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-09-24
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-05-07
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2020-12-08
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-04-09