MELFORT FARMS LIMITED

🌳Matureactive
SC077172 · ltd · incorporated 1982-01-14
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 43.1y old — refinance window within 12 months
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Dec 2024
Net worth
£390
book net assets
Opportunity
80/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 01450
Sector: Agriculture, forestry & fishing
Investor take
Pursue
Asset-holding vehicle with a 86-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 80/100 (exceptional), bankability 85/100. Strong seller-intent signal (73/100, director aged 86). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

3 live charges · 2 lenders · oldest 43.1y

70/100
ready

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

  • · Oldest live charge is 43.1 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Two lenders — manageable, but coordination required.
  • · Legal-friction score 15/100 — clean.

Data confidence

Overall: high (81/100)

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

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
3 charges (3/3 with lender, 3/3 with type)
90
Directors & officers
7 officers (5 active, 7 linked, 6 with DOB)
87
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared
90
Director network
5 connected companies via shared directors
60
Filing history
98 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
85
Strong succession / seller-readiness signals.
Risk profile
77
Few red flags.
Signal strength
100
Good data coverage for analysis.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · accounting standard not declared
Positive net assets
Net assets £390

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
—
Net Worth
£390
~ YoY
Current Assets
—
Current Liabilities
—
£0£78£156£234£312£390Dec 2023Dec 2024

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2024-12-312023-12-31
Total assets£390£390
Net assets£390£390

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

Recent activity

Last 30 days
0
filings
Last 90 days
0
filings
Last 180 days
0
filings
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (27 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-07-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-09-19
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  3. 2023-09-21
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  4. 2022-11-11
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  5. 2021-08-12
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  6. 2020-06-19
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  7. 2019-09-05
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  8. 2018-09-07
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  9. 2017-09-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  10. 2016-08-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  11. 2016-07-25
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  12. 2015-09-25
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  13. 2015-08-21
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  14. 2014-09-02
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  15. 2014-08-15
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  16. 2002-01-16
    ➕
    POTTER, Kate Fiona appointed
    director
  17. 2001-01-22
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #2
  18. 2001-01-22
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #1
  19. 1999-11-04
    ➕
    TILLY, Nicholas Charles appointed
    director
  20. 1995-08-28
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #4
  21. 1994-12-22
    🔒
    Charge registered #4
    Lender: A/S Gimmle (Kristiansand) and Others
  22. 1992-12-31
    ➕
    TILLY, Veronica Evelyn appointed
    director
  23. 1992-12-31
    ➖
    ATKINSON, James Edwin (Snr) resigned
    director
  24. 1992-12-31
    ➖
    YUILL, Peter Mortley resigned
    director
  25. 1986-04-14
    🔒
    Charge registered #2
    Lender: National Westminster Bank PLC
  26. 1983-03-28
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: National Westminster Bank PLC
  27. 1982-01-14
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As MELFORT FARMS LIMITED

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
  • -4 active directors: Broader management team in place — suggests transferable governance.
  • +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 33 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 86 — succession pressure is live.
  • +Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

Succession & seller-readiness

90/100
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 86 years old. Natural succession window is now.
  • primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 33 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 44 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

1 med ·
Charge satisfaction-then-recreation pattern
medium

Multiple instances where a charge was satisfied and a new charge created within 6 months. Suggests active refinancing cycle.

Shareholders & ownership

1 active beneficial owner
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr John Tilly
Individual · English · DOB 04/1940 · age 86
25–50%
—25-50% shares01/05/2016

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
Incorporated1982-01-14
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC01450 — SIC 01450

Registered office

23 Argyll Square
Oban
Argyll
PA34 4BD
Scotland

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-09-30
Last made up to: 2024-12-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-08-08
Last: 2025-07-25

Officers (5 active · 2 resigned)

TILLY, John→
secretary
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
POTTER, Kate Fiona→
director · ~57y · appointed 2002-01-16
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
TILLY, John→
director · ~86y
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
TILLY, Nicholas Charles→
director · ~60y · appointed 1999-11-04
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
TILLY, Veronica Evelyn→
director · ~83y · appointed 1992-12-31
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
ATKINSON, James Edwin (Snr)→
director · ~97y · resigned 1992-12-31
Resigned
YUILL, Peter Mortley→
director · ~77y · resigned 1992-12-31
Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

3
Total charges
0
Outstanding
0
Active lenders
Status:Lender:3 of 3 shown
TypeProperties
satisfied
A/S Gimmle (Kristiansand) and Others
Floating charge1 property22/12/199428/08/1995
satisfied
National Westminster Bank
National Westminster Bank PLC
Standard security1 property14/04/198622/01/2001
satisfied
National Westminster Bank
National Westminster Bank PLC
Standard security1 property28/03/198322/01/2001

Recent filings (98 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-07-28
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-07-28
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-09-19
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-07-25
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-09-21
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-07-31
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-11-11
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-07-25
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-08-12
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-07-26
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-09-29
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-06-19
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-09-05
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-08-07
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2018-09-07