HG CAFE LAWRENSON LTD

🌿Early-stageactive
SC786655 · ltd · incorporated 2023-10-20
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 Oct 2024
Net worth
£-5.6k
book net assets
Opportunity
70/100
Strong
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What this business does
Primary activity: Unlicenced restaurants and cafes
Sector: Accommodation & food service
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 (69/100)

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
1 year of iXBRL accounts extracted (no YoY comparison) + narrative notes parsed
50
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
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
4 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 £5,612

Key financials

1 year extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
£2k
Net Worth
-£6k
Current Assets
£2k
Current Liabilities

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102
Metric2024-10-31
Total assets£-5.6k
Current assets£1.6k
Cash£1.6k
Net assets£-5.6k

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
0
filings
Last 180 days
0
filings
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (4 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-07-15
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2023-10-20
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As HG CAFE LAWRENSON LTD
  3. 2023-10-20
    LAWRENSON, Arran James appointed
    director
  4. 2023-10-20
    📄
    incorporation-company
    incorporation · NEWINC

Owner dependency

95/100
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.
  • +Founder name in company name: Company name contains director surname "LAWRENSON" — strong identity link between founder and business.
  • +Young company: Only 2.5 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
Mr Arran James Lawrenson
Individual · British · DOB 02/1999 · age 27
75100%
75–100%board control75-100% shares · 75-100% voting · board control20/10/2023

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

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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.

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Company details

Statusactive
Typeltd
Incorporated2023-10-20
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC56102 — Unlicenced restaurants and cafes

Registered office

98 Annfield Road
Dundee
DD1 5JH
Scotland

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-07-31
Last made up to: 2024-10-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-11-02
Last: 2025-10-19

Officers (1 active · 0 resigned)

LAWRENSON, Arran James
director · ~27y · appointed 2023-10-20
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active

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

Recent filings (4 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-11-03
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-07-15
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-11-06
incorporation-company
incorporation · NEWINC
2023-10-20