EAST COAST ORGANICS LTD

🌳Matureactive

SC297585 · ltd · incorporated 2006-02-22

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 17.4y old — refinance window within 12 months

🔒Estimated value

—

Upgrade to see

Turnover

—

year to Mar 2025

Net worth

£1.21M

book net assets

Opportunity

83/100

Exceptional

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What this business does

Primary activity: SIC 01500

Sector: Agriculture, forestry & fishing

ALSO REGISTERED FOR

47810Retail sale via stalls and markets of food, beverages and tobacco products
47990Other retail sale not in stores, stalls or markets

Investor take

Pursue

Active trading company with a 63-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 83/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (70/100, director aged 63). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Discharge stale live charges. 2 live charge(s) created 15+ years ago — likely paid but undischarged. Clean register. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

2 live charges · oldest 17.4y

65/100

clean up first

Refinance viable after a tidy-up — address the highlighted items first.

· Oldest live charge is 17.4 years old — likely at or near maturity.
· Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
· Legal-friction score 25/100 — workable, but lender will want more DD.

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, 3 SIC codes, incorporation date

100

Financials

2 years of iXBRL accounts extracted (YoY deltas available) + narrative notes parsed

Lenders & charges

2 charges (2/2 with lender, 2/2 with type)

Directors & officers

4 officers (3 active, 4 linked, 2 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

2 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared

Director network

Network not yet resolved

Filing history

50 filings on record

Gazette notices

No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)

Opportunity Score

83/100Exceptional

PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional

Strong composite across quality, acquirability, and risk. High-priority target — progress to serious diligence.

Business quality

Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.

Acquirability

Strong succession / seller-readiness signals.

Risk profile

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 £1,212,770

Net assets shrinking

Down £61,014 YoY

Cash YoY

+4%

Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts

Cash

£316k

↑ 4.2% YoY

Net Worth

£1.2m

↓ 4.8% YoY

Current Assets

£478k

↑ 3.6% YoY

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
Total assets	£1.24M	£1.34M
Current assets	£477.7k	£461.3k
Cash	£316.0k	£303.3k
Debtors	£62.8k	£66.2k
Net assets	£1.21M	£1.27M

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

filings

Last 90 days

filing

• 1 confirmation-statement

Last 180 days

filing

• 1 confirmation-statement

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (23 events)Click to expand

2025-10-23
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-12-11
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-11-07
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-10-03
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-09-23
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2020-11-13
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2019-10-02
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2018-12-20
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2017-12-21
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2016-09-23
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2016-03-01
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2015-12-08
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2015-02-23
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2014-10-02
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2014-02-24
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2008-12-18
🔒
Charge registered #2
Lender: Triodos Bank Nv
2008-12-12
🔒
Charge registered #1
Lender: Triodos Bank Nv
2006-02-22
🏢
Company incorporated
As EAST COAST ORGANICS LTD
2006-02-22
➕
CALLENDER, Michael Frank appointed
secretary
2006-02-22
➕
AYKROYD, Susannah Margaret Victoria appointed
director
2006-02-22
➕
CALLENDER, Michael Frank appointed
director
2006-02-22
➕
OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED appointed
corporate-nominee-secretary
2006-02-22
➖
OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED resigned
corporate-nominee-secretary

Owner dependency

76/100

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.
+Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 20 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
+Senior director age: Director aged approximately 63 — approaching natural succession window.

Succession & seller-readiness

86/100

Likely off-market candidate

Strong acquirability signals converging. Worth approaching directly — this is how off-market deals start.

SIGNALS

primaryFounder aged 63+: Senior director is approximately 63. Approaching typical UK retirement age — succession thinking likely.
secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 20 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 20 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

2 active beneficial owners

Name	Shares	Voting rights	Nature of control	Notified
Mr Michael Frank Callender Individual · British · DOB 05/1963 · age 63	25–50%	—	25-50% shares	06/04/2016
Miss Susannah Margaret Victoria Aykroyd Individual · British · DOB 06/1964 · age 62	25–50%	—	25-50% shares	06/04/2016

From Companies House Persons with Significant Control filings. Share ranges are banded per the public PSC regime.

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CRAIGENGILLAN ESTATES (NO 1) COMPANY LIMITED→ SC124520 · est 1990	£3.87M £2.98M–£4.77M	—	—	0	36y	83	63y
APF INTERNATIONAL FOREST MACHINERY EXHIBITION LTD.→ SC228249 · est 2002	£278.2k £214.0k–£342.4k	—	—	500	24y	95	79y
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CAITHNESS POTATO BREEDERS LIMITED→ SC082730 · est 1983	—	—	£1.36M	—	43y	83	68y
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DENHOLM POTATO GROWERS LIMITED→ SC089295 · est 1984	—	—	£453.8k	—	41y	83	61y
DODS OF HADDINGTON LIMITED→ SC056452 · est 1974	—	—	£2.26M	—	51y	83	72y
DOUGLAS ORR & COMPANY LIMITED→ SC185757 · est 1998	—	—	—	1	27y	83	70y
E.C. TIMBER LIMITED→ SC170450 · est 1996	—	—	—	—	29y	83	99y
EAST LOTHIAN PRODUCE LIMITED→ SC185473 · est 1998	—	—	£8.19M	—	27y	83	73y
S & M GRUHAM LTD→ SC585555 · est 2018 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	8y	—	—
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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.

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Company details

Statusactive

Typeltd

Incorporated2006-02-22

Jurisdictionscotland

Primary SIC01500 — SIC 01500

Registered office

24 Boggs Holdings

Pencaitland

East Lothian

EH34 5BD

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2026-12-31

Last made up to: 2025-03-31

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2027-03-08

Last: 2026-02-22

Officers (3 active · 1 resigned)

CALLENDER, Michael Frank→

secretary · appointed 2006-02-22

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

AYKROYD, Susannah Margaret Victoria→

director · ~62y · appointed 2006-02-22

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

CALLENDER, Michael Frank→

director · ~63y · appointed 2006-02-22

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED→

corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 2006-02-22 · resigned 2006-02-22

Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

Total charges

Outstanding

Active lenders

Status:Lender:2 of 2 shown

			Type	Properties
	outstanding	Triodos Bank Nv	Standard security	1 property	18/12/2008	—
	outstanding	Triodos Bank Nv	Bond & floating charge	1 property	12/12/2008	—

Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.