THE INSECT CAFE LTD

🌿Early-stageactive
SC783710 · ltd · incorporated 2023-09-25
Investment thesis
Growth-phase business — story-led; valuation sensitive to momentum.
Why interesting: Trading is scaling; acquirers paying for trajectory get disproportionate leverage.
Why risky: Price often leads fundamentals; dependency on founder often high.
🔒Estimated value
Upgrade to see
Turnover
year to Sept 2025
Net worth
£-15.4k
book net assets
Opportunity
70/100
Strong
🔔
Follow this company (free)
Email alerts on filings, charges, director changes, gazette notices. No account needed.

Unsubscribe any time from any email. GDPR-respectful.

What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 47890
Sector: Wholesale & retail
ALSO REGISTERED FOR
  • 56210Event catering activities
  • 56290Other food services
Investor take
Pass (distressed without resilience)
Distressed active trading company — structural issues outweigh the discount.

Opportunity 70/100 (strong), bankability 70/100. High owner-dependency — earn-out structure likely required for clean transition. Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Broaden director team. Sole director creates succession risk and reduces buyer comfort. Appoint a second director or strong #2. Most likely exit: distressed disposal / insolvency (65/100).

Data confidence

Overall: medium (78/100)

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
75
Lenders & charges
Confirmed no charges registered
85
Directors & officers
1 officers (1 active, 1 linked, 1 with DOB)
90
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
7 filings
60
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
70/100Strong
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional 

Solid opportunity signal. Worth a dedicated memo and management meeting.

Business quality
60
Adequate — check latest filings for context.
Acquirability
50
Some acquirability indicators.
Risk profile
85
Few red flags.
Signal strength
90
Good data coverage for analysis.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · FRS 102
Negative net assets
Liabilities exceed assets by £15,382

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
£134
Net Worth
-£15k
Current Assets
£335
Current Liabilities
-£15k-£12k-£9k-£6k-£3k£335Sept 2024Sept 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102
Metric2025-09-302024-09-30
Total assets£-15.4k
Current assets£335
Cash£134
Debtors£201
Net assets£-15.4k

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 accounts
Last 180 days
1
filing
  • 1 accounts
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (7 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-03-24
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2025-07-24
    📄
    capital-allotment-shares
    capital · SH01
  3. 2025-07-24
    📄
    capital-allotment-shares
    capital · SH01
  4. 2025-04-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  5. 2023-09-25
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As THE INSECT CAFE LTD
  6. 2023-09-25
    MAHMOUD, Nahla appointed
    director
  7. 2023-09-25
    📄
    incorporation-company
    incorporation · NEWINC

Owner dependency

80/100
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
  • +Sole director: Only one active director — all governance concentrated on one person.
  • +Young company: Only 2.6 years old — management layer unlikely to be developed.

Succession & seller-readiness

45/100
Moderate signal

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

SIGNALS
  • primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.

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 · dominant holder ≥75%
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Nahla Mahmoud
Individual · British · DOB 05/1987 · age 39
75100%
75–100%board control75-100% shares · 75-100% voting · board control25/09/2023

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 →

Similar companies

Active · Retail · EH postcode area
CompanyEst. valueTurnoverNet worthStaffAgeOppDirector
PENTLAND KITCHENS LIMITED
SC307579 · est 2006
£710.4k
£532.8k£888.0k
200019y8363y
M&F FUNERAL SERVICES LIMITED
SC365033 · est 2009
£671.4k
£503.6k£839.3k
140016y8861y
LYON & TURNBULL LIMITED
SC191166 · est 1998
£551.7k
£413.8k£689.6k
7527y8577y
FESTIVAL FRINGE TRADING LIMITED
SC130813 · est 1991
£497.4k
£373.1k£621.8k
035y8577y
DRINX.COM LIMITED
SC203859 · est 2000
£353.7k26y8363y
GLASGOW ARCHITECTURAL SALVAGE LIMITED
SC248258 · est 2003 · no financials extracted
23y8358y
GLENTERRIN LIMITED
SC116076 · est 1989
710037y8364y
GRAHAM TISO LIMITED
SC081944 · est 1983 · no financials extracted
43y8360y
NGS TRADING COMPANY LIMITED
SC312797 · est 2006 · no financials extracted
19y8368y
PLANET FLOWERS LTD.
SC212761 · est 2000
£208.8k25y8378y
THE DORMANT DISTILLERY COMPANY LIMITED
SC172078 · est 1997
6429y8362y
THE GREAT GROG COMPANY LIMITED
SC194873 · est 1999
£501.5k27y8364y
Peers ranked by estimated value, then turnover, then opportunity score.See all →
🔒Tailored diligence questions

8 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
Incorporated2023-09-25
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC47890 — SIC 47890

Registered office

5 South Charlotte Street
Edinburgh
Uk
EH2 4AN
United Kingdom

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2027-06-30
Last made up to: 2025-09-30
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-08-07
Last: 2025-07-24

Officers (1 active · 0 resigned)

MAHMOUD, Nahla
director · ~39y · appointed 2023-09-25
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active

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

Recent filings (7 total)

accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2026-03-24
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-07-24
capital-allotment-shares
capital · SH01
2025-07-24
capital-allotment-shares
capital · SH01
2025-07-24
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-04-30
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-10-01
incorporation-company
incorporation · NEWINC
2023-09-25