EBM HELME & SONS LIMITED
🌳Matureactive
07168190 · ltd · incorporated 2010-02-24
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 11.1y old — refinance window within 12 months
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Mar 2025
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 01470
Sector: Agriculture, forestry & fishing
Investor take
PursueActive trading company with a 72-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.
Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 72). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).
🏦
Refinance opportunity
2 live charges · oldest 11.1y
85/100
ready
Refinance conversation should be productive — structure clean and timing right.
- · Oldest live charge is 11.1 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, 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
5 officers (3 active, 5 linked, 3 with DOB)
82
Ownership & PSC
2 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
57 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 | 2025-03-31 | 2024-03-31 |
|---|---|---|
| Average employees | 500 | 500 |
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
1
filing
- • 1 confirmation-statement
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (26 events)Click to expand
- 2025-12-22📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2024-12-05📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2024-03-15📄change-person-director-company-with-change-dateofficers · CH01
- 2024-03-15📄change-person-director-company-with-change-dateofficers · CH01
- 2024-03-15📄change-person-secretary-company-with-change-dateofficers · CH03
- 2024-03-15📄change-to-a-person-with-significant-controlpersons-with-significant-control · PSC04
- 2024-03-15📄change-to-a-person-with-significant-controlpersons-with-significant-control · PSC04
- 2024-03-15📍change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-addressaddress · AD01
- 2023-12-04📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2022-11-30📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2021-11-15📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2021-02-25📄change-to-a-person-with-significant-controlpersons-with-significant-control · PSC04
- 2021-02-25📄notification-of-a-person-with-significant-controlpersons-with-significant-control · PSC01
- 2020-11-26📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2019-11-26📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2018-12-17📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2015-07-27🔒Charge registered #2Lender: Barclays Bank PLC
- 2015-06-16🔒Charge registered #1Lender: Barclays Bank PLC
- 2010-02-24🏢Company incorporatedAs EBM HELME & SONS LIMITED
- 2010-02-24➕HELME, Nicholas John appointedsecretary
- 2010-02-24➕HELME, Jeremy Simon Jacques appointeddirector
- 2010-02-24➕HELME, Nicholas John appointeddirector
- 2010-02-24➕WATERLOW SECRETARIES LIMITED appointedcorporate-secretary
- 2010-02-24➖WATERLOW SECRETARIES LIMITED resignedcorporate-secretary
- 2010-02-24➕DAVIES, Dunstana Adeshola appointeddirector
- 2010-02-24➖DAVIES, Dunstana Adeshola resigneddirector
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 "HELME" — strong identity link between founder and business.
- +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 16 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
- +Founder age: Director aged approximately 72 — succession pressure is live.
- +Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.
Succession & seller-readiness
89/100
Likely off-market candidateStrong acquirability signals converging. Worth approaching directly — this is how off-market deals start.
SIGNALS
- primaryFounder aged 70+: Senior director is approximately 72 years old. Natural succession window is now.
- secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
- 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
2 active beneficial owners| Name | Shares | Voting rights | Nature of control | Notified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Mr Jeremy Simon Jacques Helme Individual · British · DOB 06/1960 · age 66 | 25–50% | — | 25-50% shares | 01/01/2021 |
Mr Nicolas John Helme Individual · British · DOB 10/1954 · age 72 | 25–50% | — | 25-50% shares | 23/02/2017 |
From Companies House Persons with Significant Control filings. Share ranges are banded per the public PSC regime.
Similar companies
Active · Agriculture · HR postcode area| Company | Est. value | Turnover | Net worth | Staff | Age | Opp | Director |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DRILLING INVESTMENTS LTD→ 08964821 · est 2014 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 12y | — | — |
| EDWARDS TREE SERVICES LTD→ 09038193 · est 2014 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 11y | — | — |
| EG COLLECTIVE LTD→ 16058999 · est 2024 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 1y | — | — |
| FAR HEATH FARMING LIMITED→ 13257137 · est 2021 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 5y | — | — |
| FESTIVE FORESTRY SERVICES LIMITED→ 03869904 · est 1999 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 26y | — | — |
| FIELD RESOURCES LTD→ 16982590 · est 2026 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| FLORALMILE ROSES LIMITED→ 01167333 · est 1974 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 51y | — | — |
| FOREST FRESH MUSHROOMS LTD→ 14968968 · est 2023 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 2y | — | — |
| FOY EGGS LTD→ 08045474 · est 2012 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 13y | — | — |
| FREEMAN FARMING LTD→ 16481010 · est 2025 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| FREEMAN FORESTRY LTD→ 16480875 · est 2025 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| FRESHFIELDS FRUIT LTD→ 08443633 · est 2013 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 13y | — | — |
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
Incorporated2010-02-24
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC01470 — SIC 01470
Registered office
Turkey Tump Barn
Llanwarne
Hereford
HR2 8JJ
United Kingdom
Filing status
Accounts
Next due: 2026-12-31
Last made up to: 2025-03-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-03-05
Last: 2026-02-19
Officers (3 active · 2 resigned)
HELME, Nicholas John→
Activesecretary · appointed 2010-02-24
View their other companies + combined net worth →
HELME, Jeremy Simon Jacques→
Activedirector · ~66y · appointed 2010-02-24
View their other companies + combined net worth →
HELME, Nicholas John→
Activedirector · ~72y · appointed 2010-02-24
View their other companies + combined net worth →
WATERLOW SECRETARIES LIMITED→
Resignedcorporate-secretary · appointed 2010-02-24 · resigned 2010-02-24
DAVIES, Dunstana Adeshola→
Resigneddirector · ~72y · appointed 2010-02-24 · resigned 2010-02-24
Click a director name to see their full track record across all companies.
Mortgages & charges
2
Total charges
2
Outstanding
1
Active lenders
Status:Lender:2 of 2 shown
| Type | Properties | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| outstanding | Barclays Barclays Bank PLC | A registered charge | 1 property | 27/07/2015 | — | |
| outstanding | Barclays Barclays Bank PLC | A registered charge | — | 16/06/2015 | — |
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.
Recent filings (57 total)
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-03-04
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-12-22
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-02-20
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-12-05
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2024-03-15
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2024-03-15
change-person-secretary-company-with-change-date
officers · CH03
2024-03-15
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2024-03-15
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2024-03-15
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2024-03-15
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-02-19
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-12-04
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-03-01
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2022-11-30
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-02-25