APPLE ORCHARDING SOLUTIONS LIMITED
💤Zombieactive
07165288 · ltd · incorporated 2010-02-23
Investment thesis
Zombie company — trading but stalled; unlikely mover.
Why interesting: Quiet, steady; could be a succession or carve-out candidate with the right conversation.
Why risky: No growth signal; thin margin for error on price.
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Apr 2025
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 01240
Sector: Agriculture, forestry & fishing
Investor take
PursueActive trading company with a 62-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.
Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (70/100, director aged 62). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Broaden director team. Sole director creates succession risk and reduces buyer comfort. Appoint a second director or strong #2. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (73/100).
🏦
Refinance opportunity
2 live charges · 2 lenders · oldest 6.9y
30/100
under pressure
Refinance would be pressure-driven, not opportunity-driven. Expect tighter margins and covenant scrutiny.
- · Oldest live charge is 6.9 years old — likely at or near maturity.
- · Two lenders — manageable, but coordination required.
- · Distress signals active — lender appetite narrows.
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
2 charges (2/2 with lender, 2/2 with type)
90
Directors & officers
2 officers (2 active, 2 linked, 1 with DOB)
80
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
37 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.
Key financials
2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accountsCash
—
Net Worth
—
Current Assets
—
Current Liabilities
—
Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series
Financials
Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown| Metric | 2025-04-30 | 2024-04-30 |
|---|---|---|
| Total assets | — | £876.2k |
| Current assets | — | £41.0k |
| Net assets | — | £256.3k |
| Average employees | 300 | — |
Amounts extracted automatically from iXBRL. Fields left blank were not reported or not mapped. Values in GBP unless stated.
🔒Filing-note intelligence
3 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 (19 events)Click to expand
- 2026-01-27📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2025-01-27📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2024-02-28📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2023-01-31📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2022-02-28📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2020-06-24📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2020-01-31📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2019-08-01📄mortgage-create-with-deed-with-charge-number-charge-creation-datemortgage · MR01
- 2019-08-01📄mortgage-create-with-deed-with-charge-number-charge-creation-datemortgage · MR01
- 2019-07-31🔒Charge registered #2Lender: Clementina Rose Davies
- 2019-07-31🔒Charge registered #1Lender: Clementina Rose Davies and Charles Edward Brabazon Clive-Ponsonby-Far
- 2019-02-01📍change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-addressaddress · AD01
- 2019-01-31📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2018-01-31📄accounts-with-accounts-type-groupaccounts · AA
- 2017-01-31📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-smallaccounts · AA
- 2016-03-10📄annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholdersannual-return · AR01
- 2010-02-23🏢Company incorporatedAs APPLE ORCHARDING SOLUTIONS LIMITED
- 2010-02-23➕WORLE, James appointedsecretary
- 2010-02-23➕WORLE, James Richard appointeddirector
Owner dependency
98/100
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
- +Sole director: Only one active director — all governance concentrated on one person.
- +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 16 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
- +Senior director age: Director aged approximately 62 — approaching natural succession window.
- +No director turnover: Company is 16 years old with no director changes — suggests a very tight-knit founder team never broadened.
Succession & seller-readiness
78/100
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 62. Early succession window.
- primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
- secondary12+ year tenure: Director in role 16 years.
- secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 16 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
1 active beneficial owner · dominant holder ≥75%| Name | Shares | Voting rights | Nature of control | Notified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Mr James Richard Worle Individual · British · DOB 05/1964 · age 62 | 75–100% | 75–100% | board controlsig. influence75-100% shares · 75-100% voting · board control · significant influence · trust interest · firm interest | 08/07/2016 |
From Companies House Persons with Significant Control filings. Share ranges are banded per the public PSC regime.
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| ARAN VALE PRODUCTS LIMITED→ 06463242 · est 2008 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 18y | — | — |
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| B.V & SON LIMITED→ 12334737 · est 2019 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 6y | — | — |
| BALLINGHAM HALL LIMITED→ 02890841 · est 1994 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 32y | — | — |
| BEARWOOD ASSOCIATES LIMITED→ 05438248 · est 2005 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 20y | — | — |
| BEDSTONE POULTRY LTD→ 11813347 · est 2019 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 7y | — | — |
| BENULA SPORTING ESTATE LTD→ 12398418 · est 2020 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 6y | — | — |
| BESTFOXCALL LIMITED→ 09321696 · est 2014 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 11y | — | — |
| BIOCHAR LTD→ 11562836 · est 2018 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 7y | — | — |
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
Incorporated2010-02-23
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC01240 — SIC 01240
Registered office
The School House
Moccas
Hereford
Herefordshire
HR2 9LQ
United Kingdom
Filing status
Accounts
Next due: 2027-01-31
Last made up to: 2025-04-30
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-02-03
Last: 2026-01-20
Officers (2 active · 0 resigned)
Active
WORLE, James Richard→
Activedirector · ~62y · appointed 2010-02-23
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Click a director name to see their full track record across all companies.
Mortgages & charges
2
Total charges
2
Outstanding
2
Active lenders
Status:Lender:2 of 2 shown
| Type | Properties | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| outstanding | Clementina Rose Davies | A registered charge | 1 property | 31/07/2019 | — | |
| outstanding | Clementina Rose Davies and Charles Edward Brabazon Clive-Ponsonby-Far | A registered charge | 1 property | 31/07/2019 | — |
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.
Recent filings (37 total)
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-02-09
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2026-01-27
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-02-25
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-01-27
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-02-28
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-02-14
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-01-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-01-26
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2022-02-28
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-01-28
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-02-10
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2020-06-24
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-01-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-01-20
mortgage-create-with-deed-with-charge-number-charge-creation-date
mortgage · MR01
2019-08-01