S.D. BELL & COMPANY, LIMITED

🌳Matureactive
NI000412 · ltd · incorporated 1927-05-23
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 70.1y old — refinance window within 12 months
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Dec 2024
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 10831
Sector: Manufacturing
ALSO REGISTERED FOR
  • 10832SIC 10832
  • 46370Wholesale of coffee, tea, cocoa and spices
  • 56102Unlicenced restaurants and cafes
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 62-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (60/100, director aged 62). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

4 live charges · 2 lenders · oldest 70.1y

70/100
ready

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

  • · Oldest live charge is 70.1 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Two lenders — manageable, but coordination required.
  • · Legal-friction score 15/100 — clean.

Data confidence

Overall: high (80/100)

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
4 charges (4/4 with lender, 4/4 with type)
90
Directors & officers
8 officers (3 active, 8 linked, 7 with DOB)
88
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
1 connected companies via shared directors
48
Filing history
193 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 accounts
Cash
—
Net Worth
—
Current Assets
—
Current Liabilities
—
£0£0£0£0£0£0Dec 2023Dec 2024

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102
Metric2024-12-312023-12-31
Average employees29003100

Amounts extracted automatically from iXBRL. Fields left blank were not reported or not mapped. Values in GBP unless stated.

🔒Filing-note intelligence

2 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
1
filing
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
Last 180 days
1
filing
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (31 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-04-08
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-05-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  3. 2024-01-25
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  4. 2023-09-27
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  5. 2022-09-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  6. 2022-05-23
    📄
    termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM01
  7. 2021-12-13
    ➖
    BELL, William Barry Scott resigned
    director
  8. 2021-09-17
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  9. 2020-12-10
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  10. 2019-04-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  11. 2018-07-11
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  12. 2018-05-08
    ➕
    BELL, Jill Elizabeth appointed
    director
  13. 2018-05-08
    📄
    appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
    officers · AP01
  14. 2017-06-07
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  15. 2017-04-28
    📄
    termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM01
  16. 2017-04-28
    📄
    termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM01
  17. 2017-04-25
    🔒
    Charge registered #4
    Lender: Northern Bank Limited
  18. 2016-06-01
    ➖
    CLOSE, Seamus Anthony resigned
    secretary
  19. 2016-06-01
    ➖
    BELL, Hilary Anne Miss resigned
    director
  20. 2016-06-01
    ➖
    BELL, Jane Barklie resigned
    director
  21. 2016-06-01
    ➖
    CLOSE, Seamus Anthony resigned
    director
  22. 2015-09-02
    ➕
    JOHNSTON, William appointed
    director
  23. 2014-08-15
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #3
  24. 2014-08-15
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #2
  25. 2005-02-07
    ➕
    BELL, Robert William Jackson appointed
    director
  26. 2005-02-07
    ➕
    BELL, Hilary Anne Miss appointed
    director
  27. 1984-10-18
    🔒
    Charge registered #3
    Lender: Ulster Bank LTD
  28. 1974-10-22
    🔒
    Charge registered #2
    Lender: Ulster Bank LTD
  29. 1973-12-07
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #1
  30. 1956-04-26
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: Ulster Bank LTD
  31. 1927-05-23
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As S.D. BELL & COMPANY, LIMITED

Owner dependency

91/100
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
  • +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 21 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Senior director age: Director aged approximately 62 — approaching natural succession window.
  • +Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

Succession & seller-readiness

70/100
Strong succession signal

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

SIGNALS
  • secondaryFounder aged 58+: Senior director is approximately 62. Early succession window.
  • primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 21 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 99 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

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
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr Robert William Jackson Bell
Individual · British · DOB 10/1964 · age 62
——sig. influencesignificant influence · trust interest · firm interest01/06/2016

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

6 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
Incorporated1927-05-23
Jurisdictionnorthern-ireland
Primary SIC10831 — SIC 10831

Registered office

516 Upper Newtownards Road
Belfast
BT4 3HL

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-09-30
Last made up to: 2024-12-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-02-08
Last: 2026-01-25

Officers (3 active · 5 resigned)

BELL, Jill Elizabeth→
director · ~60y · appointed 2018-05-08
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
BELL, Robert William Jackson→
director · ~62y · appointed 2005-02-07
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
JOHNSTON, William→
director · ~38y · appointed 2015-09-02
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
CLOSE, Seamus Anthony→
secretary · resigned 2016-06-01
Resigned
BELL, Hilary Anne Miss→
director · ~89y · appointed 2005-02-07 · resigned 2016-06-01
Resigned
BELL, Jane Barklie→
director · ~93y · resigned 2016-06-01
Resigned
BELL, William Barry Scott→
director · ~92y · resigned 2021-12-13
Resigned
CLOSE, Seamus Anthony→
director · ~79y · resigned 2016-06-01
Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

4
Total charges
1
Outstanding
1
Active lenders
Status:Lender:4 of 4 shown
TypeProperties
outstanding
Northern Bank
Northern Bank Limited
A registered charge1 property25/04/2017—
satisfied
NatWest Group
Ulster Bank LTD
Mortgage or charge1 property18/10/198415/08/2014
satisfied
NatWest Group
Ulster Bank LTD
Mortgage or charge1 property22/10/197415/08/2014
satisfied
NatWest Group
Ulster Bank LTD
Mortgage or charge1 property26/04/195607/12/1973
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (193 total)

confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-04-10
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-04-08
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-03-03
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-05-28
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-01-25
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2024-01-25
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-09-27
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-03-08
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-09-29
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-06-14
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-05-23
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2022-05-23
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-09-17
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-05-14
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-12-10