CRAB APPLE FILMS LIMITED

🌳Matureactive

SC242643 · ltd · incorporated 2003-01-21

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 15.2y old — refinance window within 12 months

🔒Estimated value

—

Upgrade to see

Turnover

—

year to Jan 2025

Net worth

—

book net assets

Opportunity

83/100

Exceptional

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What this business does

Primary activity: Motion picture production activities

Sector: Information & communication

Investor take

Pursue

Active trading company with a 64-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 83/100 (exceptional), bankability 85/100. Strong seller-intent signal (70/100, director aged 64). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: strategic trade sale (73/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

1 live charge · oldest 15.2y

85/100

ready

Refinance conversation should be productive — structure clean and timing right.

· Oldest live charge is 15.2 years old — likely at or near maturity.
· Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
· Legal-friction score 15/100 — clean.

Data confidence

Overall: high (80/100)

Strong data coverage across all sections. AI outputs should be trusted with minimal caveats.

Company profile

address, 1 SIC codes, incorporation date

100

Financials

2 years of iXBRL accounts extracted (YoY deltas available) + narrative notes parsed

Lenders & charges

1 charges (1/1 with lender, 1/1 with type)

Directors & officers

4 officers (3 active, 4 linked, 2 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

1 active PSC(s) of 1 total, 1 with control declared

Director network

5 connected companies via shared directors

Filing history

55 filings on record

Gazette notices

No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)

Opportunity Score

83/100Exceptional

PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional

Strong composite across quality, acquirability, and risk. High-priority target — progress to serious diligence.

Business quality

Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.

Acquirability

Strong succession / seller-readiness signals.

Risk profile

Few red flags.

Signal strength

100

Good data coverage for analysis.

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts

Cash

—

Net Worth

—

Current Assets

—

Current Liabilities

—

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown

Metric	2025-01-31	2024-01-31
Average employees	200	200

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

filings

Last 90 days

filings

Last 180 days

filing

• 1 confirmation-statement

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (23 events)Click to expand

2025-07-15
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-06-06
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accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-10-27
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accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-09-20
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accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-06-13
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2020-05-13
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2019-10-30
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2018-10-31
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2017-10-23
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2016-10-03
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2016-01-26
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2015-09-07
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2015-03-05
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2014-07-30
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
accounts · AA
2014-02-18
📄
annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
annual-return · AR01
2013-01-11
🔓
Charge satisfied #1
2011-03-30
🔒
Charge registered #1
Lender: Northern Ireland Screen Commission
2003-01-21
🏢
Company incorporated
As CRAB APPLE FILMS LIMITED
2003-01-21
➕
LAMONT, Angus Macdonald appointed
secretary
2003-01-21
➕
HAINING, Carol appointed
director
2003-01-21
➕
LAMONT, Angus Macdonald appointed
director
2003-01-21
➕
OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED appointed
corporate-nominee-secretary
2003-01-21
➖
OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED resigned
corporate-nominee-secretary

Owner dependency

76/100

High — earn-out structure required

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

FACTORS

+Two-director setup: Only two active directors — typical of owner-managed SMEs but limits succession.
+Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 23 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
+Senior director age: Director aged approximately 64 — approaching natural succession window.

Succession & seller-readiness

86/100

Likely off-market candidate

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

SIGNALS

primaryFounder aged 63+: Senior director is approximately 64. Approaching typical UK retirement age — succession thinking likely.
secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 23 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 23 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

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%

Name	Shares	Voting rights	Nature of control	Notified
Mr Angus Macdonald Lamont Individual · Scottish · DOB 02/1962 · age 64	75–100%	—	75-100% shares	06/04/2016

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 · Technology · G postcode area

Company	Est. value	Turnover	Net worth	Staff	Age	Opp	Director
BIP SOLUTIONS LIMITED→ SC086146 · est 1984	£10.24M £7.31M–£13.17M	—	—	137	42y	83	79y
BLACKBAUD EUROPE LTD.→ SC212593 · est 2000	£3.33M £2.38M–£4.28M	£23.77M	—	12000	25y	84	64y
ALTIA SOLUTIONS LIMITED→ SC228451 · est 2002	£409.8k £292.7k–£526.9k	£6.88M	—	0	24y	83	60y
ANGEL EYE MEDIA LIMITED→ SC268652 · est 2004	—	—	—	500	21y	83	61y
APERTA LIMITED→ SC136758 · est 1992	—	—	£13.46M	—	34y	83	75y
CALEDONIA TV PRODUCTIONS LTD.→ SC141667 · est 1992	—	—	£451.3k	—	33y	83	77y
CUE AND REVIEW RECORDING SERVICE LIMITED→ SC129748 · est 1991 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	35y	83	78y
E-MAX SYSTEMS LIMITED→ SC189614 · est 1998	—	—	£290.8k	—	27y	83	76y
ELASTIC CREATIVE LTD.→ SC203930 · est 2000	—	—	£20.1k	—	26y	83	58y
EURITEC LIMITED→ SC132746 · est 1991	—	—	£2.4k	—	34y	83	77y
EURO SYSTEMS (SCOTLAND) LIMITED→ SC360587 · est 2009 · no financials extracted	—	—	—	—	16y	83	67y
GENIUS SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS LIMITED→ SC361801 · est 2009	—	—	—	34	16y	83	60y

Peers ranked by estimated value, then turnover, then opportunity score.See all →

🔒Tailored diligence questions

6 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

Incorporated2003-01-21

Jurisdictionscotland

Primary SIC59111 — Motion picture production activities

Registered office

43 Moray Place

Strathbungo

Glasgow

G41 2DF

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2026-10-31

Last made up to: 2025-01-31

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2027-02-04

Last: 2026-01-21

Officers (3 active · 1 resigned)

LAMONT, Angus Macdonald→

secretary · appointed 2003-01-21

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

HAINING, Carol→

director · ~63y · appointed 2003-01-21

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

LAMONT, Angus Macdonald→

director · ~64y · appointed 2003-01-21

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED→

corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 2003-01-21 · resigned 2003-01-21

Resigned

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

Mortgages & charges

Total charges

Outstanding

Active lenders

Status:Lender:1 of 1 shown

			Type	Properties
	satisfied	Northern Ireland Screen Commission	Deed of charge	1 property	30/03/2011	11/01/2013