ARABICA BOROUGH LIMITED

🌳Matureactive
08462221 · ltd · incorporated 2013-03-26
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 12.3y old — refinance window within 12 months
🔒Estimated value
Upgrade to see
Turnover
year to Sept 2024
Net worth
£1.83M
book net assets
Opportunity
80/100
Exceptional
🔔
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What this business does
Primary activity: Retail sale of fruit and vegetables in specialised stores
Sector: Wholesale & retail
ALSO REGISTERED FOR
  • 47220Retail sale of meat and meat products in specialised stores
  • 47240Retail sale of bread, cakes, flour confectionery and sugar confectionery in specialised stores
  • 56101Licenced restaurants
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 79-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 80/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (68/100, director aged 79). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (73/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

1 live charge · oldest 12.3y

85/100
ready

Refinance conversation should be productive — structure clean and timing right.

  • · Oldest live charge is 12.3 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
  • · Legal-friction score 15/100 — clean.

Data confidence

Overall: high (84/100)

Strong data coverage across all sections. AI outputs should be trusted with minimal caveats.

Company profile
address, 4 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 (2 active, 3 linked, 3 with DOB)
90
Ownership & PSC
2 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared
90
Director network
14 connected companies via shared directors
87
Filing history
43 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
75
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 · FRS 102
Positive net assets
Net assets £1,834,143
Cash YoY
-7%
Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
£557k
↓ 7.4% YoY
Net Worth
£1.8m
↑ 13% YoY
Current Assets
£2.2m
↑ 10% YoY
Current Liabilities
£0£431k£863k£1.3m£1.7m£2.2mSept 2023Sept 2024

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102
Metric2024-09-302023-09-30
Total assets£1.89M£1.70M
Current assets£2.16M£1.95M
Cash£557.1k£601.6k
Debtors£1.58M£1.33M
Net assets£1.83M£1.62M

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
3
filings
  • 1 confirmation-statement
  • 1 persons-with-significant-control
  • 1 officers
Last 180 days
3
filings
  • 1 confirmation-statement
  • 1 persons-with-significant-control
  • 1 officers
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (22 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-03-20
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  2. 2026-03-20
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  3. 2025-10-21
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  4. 2025-06-04
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  5. 2024-06-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  6. 2023-08-17
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  7. 2023-06-21
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  8. 2022-06-24
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  9. 2021-06-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  10. 2021-06-04
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  11. 2020-09-24
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  12. 2020-01-30
    📄
    resolution
    resolution · RESOLUTIONS
  13. 2019-06-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  14. 2019-04-10
    📄
    capital-alter-shares-subdivision
    capital · SH02
  15. 2018-08-02
    📄
    appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
    officers · AP01
  16. 2018-07-27
    GOTTLIEB, Michael appointed
    director
  17. 2018-06-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  18. 2016-11-10
    WALTERS, Raymond resigned
    director
  19. 2014-02-10
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: Hsbc Bank PLC
  20. 2013-03-26
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As ARABICA BOROUGH LIMITED
  21. 2013-03-26
    WALTERS, James Paul appointed
    director
  22. 2013-03-26
    WALTERS, Raymond appointed
    director

Owner dependency

73/100
High — earn-out structure required

Material founder dependency. Consider a 2-3 year earn-out and build in a handover plan before completion.

FACTORS
  • +Two-director setup: Only two active directors — typical of owner-managed SMEs but limits succession.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 79 — succession pressure is live.

Succession & seller-readiness

79/100
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 79 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 13 years.
  • 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.)

Group structure

The Arabica Food & Spice Company Limited holds 25-50% — a significant corporate investor but not a controlling parent.

🏛️
The Arabica Food & Spice Company Limited
Corporate parent · holds 25-50% shares
significant stake
ARABICA BOROUGH LIMITED
This company · 08462221

Parent relationships inferred from Persons with Significant Control filings. Full subsidiary tree requires reverse-lookup (coming).

Shareholders & ownership

2 active beneficial owners
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr James Paul Walters
Individual · British · DOB 09/1978 · age 48
5075%
50–75%board control50-75% shares · 50-75% voting · board control06/04/2016
The Arabica Food & Spice Company Limited
Corporate entity
2550%
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.

🔒Co-director network graph

Radial SVG graph showing every company connected via shared directors, colour-coded by status.

Available from the Pro tier upwards.

See pricing →

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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
Incorporated2013-03-26
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC47210 — Retail sale of fruit and vegetables in specialised stores

Registered office

71-75 Shelton Street
Covent Garden
London
WC2H 9JQ
England

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-06-30
Last made up to: 2024-09-30
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-04-09
Last: 2026-03-26

Officers (2 active · 1 resigned)

GOTTLIEB, Michael
director · ~79y · appointed 2018-07-27
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
WALTERS, James Paul
director · ~48y · appointed 2013-03-26
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
WALTERS, Raymond
director · ~76y · appointed 2013-03-26 · resigned 2016-11-10
Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

1
Total charges
1
Outstanding
1
Active lenders
Status:Lender:1 of 1 shown
TypeProperties
outstanding
HSBC
Hsbc Bank PLC
A registered charge1 property10/02/2014
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (43 total)

confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-04-07
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2026-03-20
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2026-03-20
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2025-10-21
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-06-04
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-04-10
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-06-27
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-04-16
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-08-17
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2023-06-21
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-04-18
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-06-24
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-04-06
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-06-29
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2021-06-04