ALAN C COWAN LTD

🌿Early-stageactive
14051647 · ltd · incorporated 2022-04-19
Investment thesis
Growth-phase business — story-led; valuation sensitive to momentum.
Why interesting: Trading is scaling; acquirers paying for trajectory get disproportionate leverage.
Why risky: Price often leads fundamentals; dependency on founder often high.
🔒Estimated value
Upgrade to see
Turnover
year to Mar 2025
Net worth
book net assets
Opportunity
75/100
Strong
🔔
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What this business does
Primary activity: Support activities for crop production
Sector: Agriculture, forestry & fishing
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 70-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 75/100 (strong), bankability 70/100. Strong seller-intent signal (60/100, director aged 70). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (73/100).

Data confidence

Overall: medium (78/100)

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
2 officers (2 active, 2 linked, 2 with DOB)
90
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
10 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
75/100Strong
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional 

Solid opportunity signal. Worth a dedicated memo and management meeting.

Business quality
60
Adequate — check latest filings for context.
Acquirability
70
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 employees2200

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
1
filing
  • 1 confirmation-statement
Last 90 days
1
filing
  • 1 confirmation-statement
Last 180 days
2
filings
  • 1 confirmation-statement
  • 1 accounts
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (9 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-12-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-11-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  3. 2024-10-01
    COWAN, Janet Elizabeth appointed
    director
  4. 2024-10-01
    📄
    appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
    officers · AP01
  5. 2024-09-26
    📄
    change-account-reference-date-company-previous-shortened
    accounts · AA01
  6. 2024-01-09
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
    accounts · AA
  7. 2022-04-19
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As ALAN C COWAN LTD
  8. 2022-04-19
    COWAN, Alan Christopher appointed
    director
  9. 2022-04-19
    📄
    incorporation-company
    incorporation · NEWINC

Owner dependency

96/100
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
  • +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 "COWAN" — strong identity link between founder and business.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 70 — succession pressure is live.
  • +Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

Succession & seller-readiness

66/100
Strong succession signal

Multiple signals suggest succession is on the horizon. Candidate for proactive outreach.

SIGNALS
  • primaryFounder aged 70+: Senior director is approximately 70 years old. Natural succession window is now.
  • secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.

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 · dominant holder ≥75%
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Alan Christopher Cowan
Individual · British · DOB 11/1956 · age 70
75100%
75–100%board control75-100% shares · 75-100% voting · board control19/04/2022

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

8 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
Incorporated2022-04-19
Jurisdictionengland-wales
Primary SIC01610 — Support activities for crop production

Registered office

A1 Marquis Court
Team Valley Trading Estate
Gateshead
NE11 0RU
United Kingdom

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-12-31
Last made up to: 2025-03-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-05-02
Last: 2026-04-18

Officers (2 active · 0 resigned)

COWAN, Alan Christopher
director · ~70y · appointed 2022-04-19
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
COWAN, Janet Elizabeth
director · ~66y · appointed 2024-10-01
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active

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

Recent filings (10 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-04-20
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-12-23
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-04-22
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-11-27
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2024-10-01
change-account-reference-date-company-previous-shortened
accounts · AA01
2024-09-26
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-04-18
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2024-01-09
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-05-23
incorporation-company
incorporation · NEWINC
2022-04-19