C J MIDDLETON LIMITED
🌳Matureactive
SC212646 · ltd · incorporated 2000-11-08
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
approaching window · 12-months
Approaching a transaction window — refinance or sale event plausible in the next 12 months.
- · Oldest live charge 14.9y old — refinance window within 12 months
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Oct 2024
Net worth
£558.0k
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
What this business does
Primary activity: Manufacture of beer
Sector: Manufacturing
Investor take
PursueAsset-holding vehicle with a 66-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.
Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 85/100. Strong seller-intent signal (63/100, director aged 66). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).
🏦
Refinance opportunity
1 live charge · oldest 14.9y
85/100
ready
Refinance conversation should be productive — structure clean and timing right.
- · Oldest live charge is 14.9 years old — likely at or near maturity.
- · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
- · Legal-friction score 15/100 — clean.
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
1 charges (1/1 with lender, 1/1 with type)
90
Directors & officers
6 officers (4 active, 6 linked, 3 with DOB)
80
Ownership & PSC
2 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared
90
Director network
Network not yet resolved
30
Filing history
74 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
82/100Exceptional
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
80
Strong succession / seller-readiness signals.
Risk profile
85
Few red flags.
Signal strength
100
Good data coverage for analysis.
Signals from accounts
Derived from iXBRL accounts · accounting standard not declaredPositive net assets
Net assets £557,995
Cash YoY
-4%
Year on year
Key financials
2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accountsCash
£463k
↓ 4.3% YoY
Net Worth
£558k
~ YoY
Current Assets
£683k
↓ 3.5% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series
Financials
Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown| Metric | 2024-10-31 | 2023-10-31 |
|---|---|---|
| Total assets | £747.7k | £762.3k |
| Current assets | £682.9k | £707.3k |
| Cash | £463.0k | £483.7k |
| Debtors | £90.1k | £84.5k |
| Net assets | £558.0k | £556.3k |
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
1
filing
- • 1 confirmation-statement
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (27 events)Click to expand
- 2025-06-24📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2025-05-08📄change-person-director-company-with-change-dateofficers · CH01
- 2024-06-18📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2023-11-14📄change-to-a-person-with-significant-controlpersons-with-significant-control · PSC04
- 2023-06-15📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2022-11-29📍change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-addressaddress · AD01
- 2022-07-22📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2021-07-22📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2021-05-26📄mortgage-satisfy-charge-fullmortgage · MR04
- 2021-05-26🔓Charge satisfied #1
- 2020-07-16📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2019-07-29📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2019-04-16📄change-to-a-person-with-significant-controlpersons-with-significant-control · PSC04
- 2019-04-16📄notification-of-a-person-with-significant-controlpersons-with-significant-control · PSC01
- 2019-04-16📄appoint-person-director-company-with-name-dateofficers · AP01
- 2019-04-16📄appoint-person-director-company-with-name-dateofficers · AP01
- 2019-04-03➕MIDDLETON, Craig appointeddirector
- 2019-04-03➕MIDDLETON, Jennifer Cranston appointeddirector
- 2018-07-04📄accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridgedaccounts · AA
- 2011-06-03🔒Charge registered #1Lender: Clydesdale Bank PLC
- 2000-11-10➕MIDDLETON, Jennifer Cranston appointedsecretary
- 2000-11-10➕MIDDLETON, Jonathan Maclaren appointeddirector
- 2000-11-10➖PF & S (SECRETARIES) LIMITED resignedcorporate-nominee-secretary
- 2000-11-10➖PF & S (DIRECTORS) LIMITED resignedcorporate-nominee-director
- 2000-11-08🏢Company incorporatedAs C J MIDDLETON LIMITED
- 2000-11-08➕PF & S (SECRETARIES) LIMITED appointedcorporate-nominee-secretary
- 2000-11-08➕PF & S (DIRECTORS) LIMITED appointedcorporate-nominee-director
Owner dependency
98/100
Critical — business is the founderThe business appears inseparable from the founder. Acquisition without a serious earn-out or meaningful transition period would likely destroy value.
FACTORS
- +Founder name in company name: Company name contains director surname "MIDDLETON" — strong identity link between founder and business.
- +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 25 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
- +Founder age: Director aged approximately 66 — 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 candidateStrong acquirability signals converging. Worth approaching directly — this is how off-market deals start.
SIGNALS
- primaryFounder aged 63+: Senior director is approximately 66. Approaching typical UK retirement age — succession thinking likely.
- primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 25 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
- secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 25 years old and no new directors in the last 3 years — succession not yet being planned internally.
- supportingClean filings + long tenure: Disciplined long-tenure operator — classic lifestyle-business pattern that often sells quietly.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Mrs Jennifer Cranston Middleton Individual · British · DOB 12/1962 · age 64 | 25–50% | 25–50% | 25-50% shares · 25-50% voting | 29/03/2019 |
Mr Jonathan Maclaren Middleton Individual · British · DOB 04/1960 · age 66 | 25–50% | 25–50% | 25-50% shares · 25-50% voting | 08/11/2016 |
From Companies House Persons with Significant Control filings. Share ranges are banded per the public PSC regime.
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BOCSA WATER SKYE LTD→ SC799958 · est 2024 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 2y | — | — |
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| CLOOTIENESS LTD→ SC808454 · est 2024 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 1y | — | — |
| DOG FALLS BREWING CO. LTD→ SC599919 · est 2018 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 7y | — | — |
| HIGHLAND CHARCUTERIE AND SMOKE HOUSE LTD.→ SC467441 · est 2014 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 12y | — | — |
| HIGHLAND CIDER LIMITED→ SC486663 · est 2014 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 11y | — | — |
| HIGHLAND PATISSIER LTD→ SC764814 · est 2023 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 3y | — | — |
| HIGHLANDER ROASTERY LTD→ SC663005 · est 2020 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 5y | — | — |
| ISLE OF LEWIS DISTILLERY LTD→ SC763086 · est 2023 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 3y | — | — |
| ISLE OF SKYE COFFEE ROASTERS LTD→ SC615321 · est 2018 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 7y | — | — |
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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
Incorporated2000-11-08
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC11050 — Manufacture of beer
Registered office
Cromarty Brewing Co Canon Street
Davidston
Cromarty
IV11 8XD
Scotland
Filing status
Accounts
Next due: 2026-07-31
Last made up to: 2024-10-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-11-27
Last: 2025-11-13
Officers (4 active · 2 resigned)
MIDDLETON, Jennifer Cranston→
Activesecretary · appointed 2000-11-10
View their other companies + combined net worth →
MIDDLETON, Craig→
Activedirector · ~39y · appointed 2019-04-03
View their other companies + combined net worth →
MIDDLETON, Jennifer Cranston→
Activedirector · ~64y · appointed 2019-04-03
View their other companies + combined net worth →
MIDDLETON, Jonathan Maclaren→
Activedirector · ~66y · appointed 2000-11-10
View their other companies + combined net worth →
PF & S (SECRETARIES) LIMITED→
Resignedcorporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 2000-11-08 · resigned 2000-11-10
PF & S (DIRECTORS) LIMITED→
Resignedcorporate-nominee-director · appointed 2000-11-08 · resigned 2000-11-10
Click a director name to see their full track record across all companies.
Mortgages & charges
1
Total charges
0
Outstanding
0
Active lenders
Status:Lender:1 of 1 shown
| Type | Properties | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| satisfied | Virgin Money Clydesdale Bank PLC | Floating charge | 1 property | 03/06/2011 | 26/05/2021 |
Recent filings (74 total)
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-11-13
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2025-06-24
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2025-05-08
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-11-20
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2024-06-18
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-11-29
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2023-11-14
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2023-06-15
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2022-11-29
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-11-23
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2022-07-22
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-11-26
accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
accounts · AA
2021-07-22
mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
mortgage · MR04
2021-05-26
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-11-19