A H BELL & SON LIMITED
🌳Matureactive
06822813 · ltd · incorporated 2009-02-18
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 16.7y old — refinance window within 12 months
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Apr 2025
Net worth
£1.19M
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
What this business does
Primary activity: Growing of cereals (except rice), leguminous crops and oil seeds
Sector: Agriculture, forestry & fishing
ALSO REGISTERED FOR
- 01470SIC 01470
Investor take
PursueAsset-holding vehicle with a 69-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.
Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 85/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 69). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).
🏦
Refinance opportunity
1 live charge · oldest 16.7y
85/100
ready
Refinance conversation should be productive — structure clean and timing right.
- · Oldest live charge is 16.7 years old — likely at or near maturity.
- · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
- · Legal-friction score 15/100 — clean.
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, 2 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
3 officers (3 active, 3 linked, 2 with DOB)
83
Ownership & PSC
2 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
45 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.
Signals from accounts
Derived from iXBRL accounts · accounting standard not declaredPositive net assets
Net assets £1,194,643
Cash YoY
+11%
Year on year
Key financials
2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accountsCash
£768k
↑ 11% YoY
Net Worth
£1.2m
↑ 17% YoY
Current Assets
£1.0m
↑ 22% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series
Financials
Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown| Metric | 2025-04-05 | 2024-04-05 |
|---|---|---|
| Total assets | £1.22M | £1.05M |
| Current assets | £1.02M | £837.2k |
| Cash | £768.2k | £692.5k |
| Debtors | £143.0k | £36.4k |
| Net assets | £1.19M | £1.02M |
Amounts extracted automatically from iXBRL. Fields left blank were not reported or not mapped. Values in GBP unless stated.
🔒Filing-note intelligence
1 signal 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 capital
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (21 events)Click to expand
- 2025-11-27📄capital-name-of-class-of-sharescapital · SH08
- 2025-09-10📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2024-07-02📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2023-11-22📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2023-06-20📄mortgage-satisfy-charge-fullmortgage · MR04
- 2023-06-20🔓Charge satisfied #1
- 2023-02-27📄change-to-a-person-with-significant-controlpersons-with-significant-control · PSC04
- 2023-02-27📄change-to-a-person-with-significant-controlpersons-with-significant-control · PSC04
- 2022-11-04📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2021-12-22📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2020-12-23📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2019-12-18📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2018-11-27📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2017-12-29📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2016-12-30📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-smallaccounts · AA
- 2016-03-16📄annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholdersannual-return · AR01
- 2009-09-04🔒Charge registered #1Lender: Lloyds Tsb Bank PLC
- 2009-08-17➕BELL, Jennifer Ann appointeddirector
- 2009-02-18🏢Company incorporatedAs A H BELL & SON LIMITED
- 2009-02-18➕BELL, Jennifer Ann appointedsecretary
- 2009-02-18➕BELL, David appointeddirector
Owner dependency
100/100
Critical — business is the founderThe 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 "BELL" — strong identity link between founder and business.
- +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 17 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
- +Founder age: Director aged approximately 69 — succession pressure is live.
- +Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.
Succession & seller-readiness
79/100
Likely off-market candidateStrong acquirability signals converging. Worth approaching directly — this is how off-market deals start.
SIGNALS
- primaryFounder aged 63+: Senior director is approximately 69. Approaching typical UK retirement age — succession thinking likely.
- secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
- secondary12+ year tenure: Director in role 17 years.
- secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 17 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 Bell Individual · British · DOB 05/1957 · age 69 | 25–50% | 25–50% | board control25-50% shares · 25-50% voting · board control | 06/04/2016 |
Mrs Jennifer Ann Bell Individual · British · DOB 05/1963 · age 63 | 25–50% | 25–50% | board control25-50% shares · 25-50% voting · board control | 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
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
Incorporated2009-02-18
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC01110 — Growing of cereals (except rice), leguminous crops and oil seeds
Registered office
15 Newland
Lincoln
Lincolnshire
LN1 1XG
Filing status
Accounts
Next due: 2027-01-05
Last made up to: 2025-04-05
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-03-04
Last: 2026-02-18
Officers (3 active · 0 resigned)
BELL, Jennifer Ann→
Activesecretary · appointed 2009-02-18
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
BELL, Jennifer Ann→
Activedirector · ~63y · appointed 2009-08-17
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Click a director name to see their full track record across all companies.
Mortgages & charges
1
Total charges
0
Outstanding
0
Active lenders
Status:Lender:1 of 1 shown
| Type | Properties | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| satisfied | Lloyds Banking Group Lloyds Tsb Bank PLC | Debenture | 1 property | 04/09/2009 | 20/06/2023 |
Recent filings (45 total)
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-02-20
capital-name-of-class-of-shares
capital · SH08
2025-11-27
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-09-10
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-02-19
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-07-02
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-03-05
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-11-22
mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
mortgage · MR04
2023-06-20
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-02-27
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2023-02-27
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2023-02-27
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-11-04
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-02-21
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-12-22
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-03-02