FORTITUDE COFFEE ROASTERS LTD

🌳Matureactive
SC529954 · ltd · incorporated 2016-03-17
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
hardening · 12-months
Already tight — no obvious softening catalysts on the horizon.
  • · Thesis: well-run, low negotiation leverage
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Mar 2025
Net worth
£27.3k
book net assets
Opportunity
75/100
Strong
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What this business does
Primary activity: Wholesale of coffee, tea, cocoa and spices
Sector: Wholesale & retail
Investor take
Pursue
Strong opportunity: active trading company with strong profile and bankable structure.

Opportunity 75/100 (strong), bankability 80/100. High owner-dependency — earn-out structure likely required for clean transition. Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Cash flow review and working-capital discipline. Cash down -54% YoY — forensic review of receivables, stock turns, and creditor days. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (58/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

1 live charge · oldest 9.8y

45/100
under pressure

Refinance would be pressure-driven, not opportunity-driven. Expect tighter margins and covenant scrutiny.

  • · Oldest live charge is 9.8 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
  • · Cashflow trend is negative — lender view likely cautious.

Data confidence

Overall: high (80/100)

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
1 charges (1/1 with lender, 1/1 with type)
90
Directors & officers
2 officers (2 active, 2 linked, 2 with DOB)
90
Ownership & PSC
2 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared
90
Director network
2 connected companies via shared directors
51
Filing history
29 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
70
Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.
Acquirability
55
Some acquirability indicators.
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 £27,294
Cash draining
Cash down 54% YoY
Cash YoY
-54%
Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
£3k
↓ 54% YoY
Net Worth
£27k
↑ 32% YoY
Current Assets
£28k
↓ 7.0% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
£0£6k£12k£18k£24k£30kMar 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
Total assets£32.5k£27.0k
Current assets£27.5k£29.6k
Cash£2.7k£5.8k
Debtors£14.3k£15.3k
Net assets£27.3k£20.7k

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
0
filings
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 (20 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-12-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2025-07-25
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  3. 2025-07-25
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  4. 2025-07-25
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  5. 2025-07-25
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  6. 2024-12-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  7. 2024-04-16
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  8. 2024-04-16
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  9. 2024-04-16
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  10. 2023-12-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  11. 2022-12-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  12. 2021-12-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  13. 2021-03-11
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  14. 2019-12-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  15. 2018-12-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  16. 2018-03-16
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  17. 2016-07-07
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: Edinburgh Alternative Finance Limited (Trading as Lending Crowd)
  18. 2016-03-17
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As FORTITUDE COFFEE ROASTERS LTD
  19. 2016-03-17
    ➕
    CARROLL, Matthew Thomas appointed
    director
  20. 2016-03-17
    ➕
    COBURN, Helen Jean appointed
    director

Owner dependency

63/100
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.
  • +No director turnover: Company is 10 years old with no director changes — suggests a very tight-knit founder team never broadened.

Succession & seller-readiness

41/100
Moderate signal

Some succession indicators present. Worth watching; approach if sector/strategy fits.

SIGNALS
  • secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
  • 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
Mrs Helen Jean Coburn
Individual · British · DOB 01/1986 · age 40
25–50%
25–50%25-50% shares · 25-50% voting06/04/2016
Mr Matthew Thomas Carroll
Individual · British · DOB 01/1987 · age 39
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.

🔒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.

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Company details

Statusactive
Typeltd
Incorporated2016-03-17
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC46370 — Wholesale of coffee, tea, cocoa and spices

Registered office

C/O Neil Nisbet & Co. 2nd Floor, Thain House
226 Queensferry Road
Edinburgh
EH4 2BP
United Kingdom

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-12-30
Last made up to: 2025-03-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-03-30
Last: 2026-03-16

Officers (2 active · 0 resigned)

CARROLL, Matthew Thomas→
director · ~39y · appointed 2016-03-17
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
COBURN, Helen Jean→
director · ~40y · appointed 2016-03-17
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active

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
Edinburgh Alternative Finance (Trading as Lending Crowd)
Edinburgh Alternative Finance Limited (Trading as Lending Crowd)
A registered charge—07/07/2016—
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (29 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-03-18
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-12-31
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2025-07-25
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2025-07-25
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2025-07-25
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2025-07-25
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-03-21
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-12-30
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2024-04-16
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2024-04-16
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2024-04-16
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-03-27
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-12-30
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-03-19
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-12-31