DEVON ALES LIMITED

🌳Matureactive
SC162887 · ltd · incorporated 1996-01-25
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 Apr 2025
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
81/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: Manufacture of beer
Sector: Manufacturing
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 80-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 81/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (63/100, director aged 80). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

Data confidence

Overall: medium (77/100)

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
Confirmed no charges registered
85
Directors & officers
8 officers (5 active, 8 linked, 6 with DOB)
85
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
82 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
81/100Exceptional
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
85
Strong succession / seller-readiness signals.
Risk profile
85
Few red flags.
Signal strength
90
Good data coverage for analysis.

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
—
Net Worth
—
Current Assets
—
Current Liabilities
—
£0£0£0£0£0£0Apr 2024Apr 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2025-04-302024-04-30
Average employees00

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 accounts
Last 180 days
2
filings
  • • 1 accounts
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (27 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-01-22
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  2. 2025-05-22
    📄
    notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
  3. 2025-05-22
    📄
    appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
    officers · AP01
  4. 2025-05-22
    📄
    cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
  5. 2025-05-07
    ➕
    GRAHAM, Oliver John appointed
    director
  6. 2024-12-18
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  7. 2023-08-11
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  8. 2022-10-20
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  9. 2022-02-17
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  10. 2021-03-22
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  11. 2020-04-08
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  12. 2019-01-21
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  13. 2017-11-16
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  14. 2016-12-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  15. 2016-03-16
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  16. 2016-01-24
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  17. 2003-11-01
    ➕
    GRAHAM, Derrick John appointed
    director
  18. 2003-11-01
    ➖
    GIBSON, Martin resigned
    director
  19. 1996-01-25
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As DEVON ALES LIMITED
  20. 1996-01-25
    ➕
    GRAHAM, Lorna appointed
    secretary
  21. 1996-01-25
    ➕
    GIBSON, Catherine appointed
    director
  22. 1996-01-25
    ➕
    GIBSON, John appointed
    director
  23. 1996-01-25
    ➕
    REID, Brian appointed
    nominee-secretary
  24. 1996-01-25
    ➖
    REID, Brian resigned
    nominee-secretary
  25. 1996-01-25
    ➕
    GIBSON, Martin appointed
    director
  26. 1996-01-25
    ➕
    MABBOTT, Stephen appointed
    nominee-director
  27. 1996-01-25
    ➖
    MABBOTT, Stephen resigned
    nominee-director

Owner dependency

73/100
High — earn-out structure required

Material founder dependency. Consider a 2-3 year earn-out and build in a handover plan before completion.

FACTORS
  • -4 active directors: Broader management team in place — suggests transferable governance.
  • +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 30 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 80 — succession pressure is live.
  • +Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

Succession & seller-readiness

80/100
Likely off-market candidate

Strong acquirability signals converging. Worth approaching directly — this is how off-market deals start.

SIGNALS
  • primaryFounder aged 70+: Senior director is approximately 80 years old. Natural succession window is now.
  • primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 30 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
  • 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

1 active beneficial owner
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mrs Lorna Graham
Individual · British · DOB 10/1972 · age 54
——sig. influencesignificant influence · firm interest19/05/2025
1 historic (ceased) PSC
  • Mr John Gibsonceased 31/10/2024· significant influence

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

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
Incorporated1996-01-25
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC11050 — Manufacture of beer

Registered office

Mansfield Arms Main Street
Sauchie
Alloa
Clackmannanshire
FK10 3JR

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2027-01-31
Last made up to: 2025-04-30
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-10-30
Last: 2025-10-16

Officers (5 active · 3 resigned)

GRAHAM, Lorna→
secretary · appointed 1996-01-25
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
GIBSON, Catherine→
director · ~78y · appointed 1996-01-25
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
GIBSON, John→
director · ~80y · appointed 1996-01-25
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
GRAHAM, Derrick John→
director · ~56y · appointed 2003-11-01
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
GRAHAM, Oliver John→
director · ~30y · appointed 2025-05-07
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
REID, Brian→
nominee-secretary · appointed 1996-01-25 · resigned 1996-01-25
Resigned
GIBSON, Martin→
director · ~60y · appointed 1996-01-25 · resigned 2003-11-01
Resigned
MABBOTT, Stephen→
nominee-director · ~76y · appointed 1996-01-25 · resigned 1996-01-25
Resigned

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

Recent filings (82 total)

accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2026-01-22
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-11-04
notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
2025-05-22
appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
officers · AP01
2025-05-22
cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
2025-05-22
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-12-18
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-10-16
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-10-17
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-08-11
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-10-20
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-10-17
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-02-17
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-10-18
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-03-22
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-10-28