THE MILL CAFE LTD
🌿Early-stageactive
SC801495 · ltd · incorporated 2024-03-04
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 Mar 2025
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
71/100
Strong
What this business does
Primary activity: Unlicenced restaurants and cafes
Sector: Accommodation & food service
Investor take
PursueStrong opportunity: active trading company with strong profile and acceptable with review structure.
Opportunity 71/100 (strong), bankability 70/100. High owner-dependency — earn-out structure likely required for clean transition. Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (58/100).
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
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
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
6 filings
60
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
71/100Strong
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional
Solid opportunity signal. Worth a dedicated memo and management meeting.
Business quality
60
Adequate — check latest filings for context.
Acquirability
55
Some acquirability indicators.
Risk profile
85
Few red flags.
Signal strength
90
Good data coverage for analysis.
Key financials
1 year extracted from filed iXBRL accountsCash
—
Net Worth
—
Current Assets
—
Current Liabilities
—
Financials
Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown| Metric | 2025-03-31 |
|---|
Amounts extracted automatically from iXBRL. Fields left blank were not reported or not mapped. Values in GBP unless stated.
Recent activity
Last 30 days
0
filings
Last 90 days
2
filings
- • 1 persons-with-significant-control
- • 1 confirmation-statement
Last 180 days
3
filings
- • 1 persons-with-significant-control
- • 1 confirmation-statement
- • 1 accounts
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (7 events)Click to expand
- 2026-04-01📄notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control-statementpersons-with-significant-control · PSC08
- 2025-11-21📄accounts-with-accounts-type-dormantaccounts · AA
- 2025-03-11📍change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-addressaddress · AD01
- 2024-03-04🏢Company incorporatedAs THE MILL CAFE LTD
- 2024-03-04➕KELLY, Ainsley appointeddirector
- 2024-03-04➕KELLY, Laura appointeddirector
- 2024-03-04📄incorporation-companyincorporation · NEWINC
Owner dependency
71/100
High — earn-out structure requiredMaterial 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.
- +Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.
- +Young company: Only 2.2 years old — management layer unlikely to be developed.
Succession & seller-readiness
36/100
Weak signalLimited succession signal. Not a near-term off-market candidate.
SIGNALS
- secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
Red flags
cleanNo 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Miss Laura Kelly Individual · Scottish · DOB 12/1981 · age 45 | 25–50% | 25–50% | board control25-50% shares · 25-50% voting · board control | 04/03/2024 |
Miss Ainsley Kelly Individual · Scottish · DOB 01/1983 · age 43 | 25–50% | 25–50% | board control25-50% shares · 25-50% voting · board control | 04/03/2024 |
From Companies House Persons with Significant Control filings. Share ranges are banded per the public PSC regime.
Similar companies
Active · Hospitality · KA postcode area| Company | Est. value | Turnover | Net worth | Staff | Age | Opp | Director |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| THE WEE LOOKOUT LTD→ SC861865 · est 2025 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| THE WEE TRAIN LTD→ SC444506 · est 2013 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 13y | — | — |
| THEWEEHOOSE LTD→ SC745595 · est 2022 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 3y | — | — |
| THOMSON'S ONLINE LIMITED→ SC430306 · est 2012 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 13y | — | — |
| TIMBER VALLEY PODS LTD→ SC701870 · est 2021 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 4y | — | — |
| TOE BEANZ LTD→ SC833633 · est 2025 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 1y | — | — |
| TOP ONE TROON LIMITED→ SC883829 · est 2026 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| TR GROUP (SCOT) LTD→ SC631165 · est 2019 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 6y | — | — |
| TROON FOODS LTD→ SC813296 · est 2024 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 1y | — | — |
| TWFS CATERING LTD→ SC722144 · est 2022 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 4y | — | — |
| ULTIMATE LEISURE (SCOTLAND) LIMITED→ SC053456 · est 1973 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 52y | — | — |
| UMR SHAWARMA LTD→ SC854084 · est 2025 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Peers ranked by estimated value, then turnover, then opportunity score.See all →
🔒Tailored diligence questions
7 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
Incorporated2024-03-04
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC56102 — Unlicenced restaurants and cafes
Registered office
24 Craufurd Drive
Drongan
Ayr
KA6 7BH
Scotland
Filing status
Accounts
Next due: 2026-12-31
Last made up to: 2025-03-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-03-17
Last: 2026-03-03
Officers (2 active · 0 resigned)
KELLY, Ainsley→
Activedirector · ~43y · appointed 2024-03-04
View their other companies + combined net worth →
KELLY, Laura→
Activedirector · ~45y · appointed 2024-03-04
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Click a director name to see their full track record across all companies.
Recent filings (6 total)
notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control-statement
persons-with-significant-control · PSC08
2026-04-01
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-03-17
accounts-with-accounts-type-dormant
accounts · AA
2025-11-21
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-03-11
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2025-03-11
incorporation-company
incorporation · NEWINC
2024-03-04