IAN G DONALD (POTATOES) LTD

🌳Matureactive
SC331783 · ltd · incorporated 2007-10-03
Investment thesis
Established operating company — standard diligence applies, no dominant angle.
Why interesting: Live, filing, normal profile.
Why risky: No standout signals in either direction.
Why now
Window steady · high confidence
Mixed signals — 3 changes over 30 days, no clear direction yet.
  • · Bankability: 75 → 80
  • · Refinance opportunity: no_debt → clean_up_first
  • · Live charges: 0 → 1
What changed my view
Last 30 days

Mixed signals in the last 30 days — 1 improved, 1 worsened.

  • ↑Bankability: 75 → 80
  • ↓Live charges: 0 → 1
  • ·Refinance opportunity: no_debt → clean_up_first
Last 90 days

No snapshot from 90 days ago — start tracking from today.

Last 180 days

No snapshot from 180 days ago — start tracking from today.

🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Mar 2025
Net worth
£2.95M
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 01130
Sector: Agriculture, forestry & fishing
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 62-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (70/100, director aged 62). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

1 live charge · oldest 0.1y

50/100
clean up first

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

  • · Newest facility, 0.1 years old — likely still in initial term.
  • · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
  • · Legal-friction score 15/100 — clean.

Data confidence

Overall: medium (76/100)

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
1 charges (1/1 with lender, 1/1 with type)
90
Directors & officers
5 officers (3 active, 5 linked, 2 with DOB)
78
Ownership & PSC
2 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
66 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.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · accounting standard not declared
Positive net assets
Net assets £2,946,322
Cash YoY
+146%
Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
£768k
↑ 146% YoY
Net Worth
£2.9m
↑ 29% YoY
Current Assets
—
Current Liabilities
—
£0£589k£1.2m£1.8m£2.4m£2.9mMar 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
Cash£767.9k£312.8k
Net assets£2.95M£2.29M

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

🔒Filing-note intelligence

4 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 mortgage
Last 180 days
2
filings
  • • 1 mortgage
  • • 1 accounts
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (28 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-06-02
    📄
    mortgage-create-with-deed-with-charge-number-charge-creation-date
    mortgage · MR01
  2. 2026-05-22
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: Nationwide Building Society (Trading as Virgin Money)
  3. 2026-03-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  4. 2025-04-09
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  5. 2025-01-10
    📄
    change-account-reference-date-company-previous-shortened
    accounts · AA01
  6. 2024-05-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  7. 2023-05-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  8. 2022-10-18
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  9. 2022-10-18
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  10. 2022-05-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  11. 2021-05-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  12. 2020-03-16
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  13. 2020-03-16
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  14. 2020-03-16
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  15. 2020-03-16
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  16. 2020-02-21
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  17. 2019-12-10
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  18. 2019-12-10
    📄
    change-person-secretary-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH03
  19. 2019-12-10
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  20. 2019-12-10
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  21. 2008-01-03
    ➖
    BRIAN REID LTD. resigned
    corporate-secretary
  22. 2008-01-03
    ➖
    STEPHEN MABBOTT LTD. resigned
    corporate-director
  23. 2007-10-03
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As IAN G DONALD (POTATOES) LTD
  24. 2007-10-03
    ➕
    DONALD, Mary Gordon appointed
    secretary
  25. 2007-10-03
    ➕
    DONALD, Alan Gordon appointed
    director
  26. 2007-10-03
    ➕
    DONALD, David appointed
    director
  27. 2007-10-03
    ➕
    BRIAN REID LTD. appointed
    corporate-secretary
  28. 2007-10-03
    ➕
    STEPHEN MABBOTT LTD. appointed
    corporate-director

Owner dependency

99/100
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 "DONALD" — strong identity link between founder and business.
  • +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 19 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

69/100
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.
  • secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
  • secondary12+ year tenure: Director in role 19 years.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 19 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
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Alan Gordon Donald
Individual · British · DOB 01/1964 · age 62
25–50%
25–50%25-50% shares · 25-50% voting06/04/2016
David Donald
Individual · British · DOB 08/1965 · age 61
25–50%
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.

Similar companies

Active · Agriculture · AB postcode area
CompanyEst. valueTurnoverNet worthStaffAgeOppDirector
EAST COAST VINERS (PEAS AND BEANS) LIMITED→
SC465480 · est 2013
£8.08M
£6.21M–£9.94M
£13.37M—180012y8579y
TREETOP FORESTRY LIMITED→
SC292083 · est 2005
£5.00M
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£12.98M—460020y8772y
ALTNAHARRA ESTATE LIMITED→
SC228455 · est 2002
£634.2k
£487.8k–£780.5k
——824y8571y
CHALLENGE FISHING COMPANY LIMITED→
SC192237 · est 1998
———627y8369y
FORTRIE FARMS LIMITED→
SC158055 · est 1995
———1031y8376y
GARDINER ICM LIMITED→
SC197812 · est 1999
——£2.60M—26y8364y
LORANTHUS FISHING COMPANY LIMITED→
SC312585 · est 2006
———019y8370y
M B AQUARIUS LIMITED→
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———022y8370y
M.V. QUANTUS LIMITED→
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——£32.29M—32y8369y
MEARNS TRACTORS LIMITED→
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———122y8362y
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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
Incorporated2007-10-03
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC01130 — SIC 01130

Registered office

Hungryhills
Longmanhill
Banff
AB45 3RR

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-12-31
Last made up to: 2025-03-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-10-13
Last: 2025-09-29

Officers (3 active · 2 resigned)

DONALD, Mary Gordon→
secretary · appointed 2007-10-03
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
DONALD, Alan Gordon→
director · ~62y · appointed 2007-10-03
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
DONALD, David→
director · ~61y · appointed 2007-10-03
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
BRIAN REID LTD.→
corporate-secretary · appointed 2007-10-03 · resigned 2008-01-03
Resigned
STEPHEN MABBOTT LTD.→
corporate-director · appointed 2007-10-03 · resigned 2008-01-03
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
Nationwide
Nationwide Building Society (Trading as Virgin Money)
A registered charge—22/05/2026—
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (66 total)

mortgage-create-with-deed-with-charge-number-charge-creation-date
mortgage · MR01
2026-06-02
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2026-03-31
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-10-07
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-04-09
change-account-reference-date-company-previous-shortened
accounts · AA01
2025-01-10
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-10-20
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-05-23
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-10-17
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-05-31
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2022-10-18
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2022-10-18
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-10-18
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-05-31
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-11-09
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-05-31