CAIRNLEITH FARMS LIMITED

🌳Matureactive
SC243473 · ltd · incorporated 2003-02-05
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 Mar 2025
Net worth
£904.5k
book net assets
Opportunity
80/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 01410
Sector: Agriculture, forestry & fishing
ALSO REGISTERED FOR
  • 01500SIC 01500
Investor take
Pursue
Asset-holding vehicle with a 65-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 80/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 65). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

Data confidence

Overall: medium (76/100)

Adequate coverage. AI outputs are reliable for the sections scored high; verify the rest in diligence.

Company profile
address, 2 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
4 officers (3 active, 4 linked, 2 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
61 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
80/100Exceptional
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
90
Good data coverage for analysis.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · accounting standard not declared
Positive net assets
Net assets £904,461

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
—
Net Worth
£904k
↑ 7.4% YoY
Current Assets
£146k
↑ 92% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
£0£181k£362k£543k£724k£904kMar 2024Mar 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2025-03-312024-03-31
Total assets£906.0k£844.4k
Current assets£146.0k£76.2k
Net assets£904.5k£842.1k

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
3
filings
  • • 2 officers
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
Last 180 days
4
filings
  • • 2 officers
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
  • • 1 accounts
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (21 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-03-23
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  2. 2026-03-23
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  3. 2025-12-19
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  4. 2024-12-16
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  5. 2023-12-21
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  6. 2023-06-22
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  7. 2023-06-22
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  8. 2023-03-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  9. 2023-02-14
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  10. 2022-03-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  11. 2021-03-11
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  12. 2019-12-20
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  13. 2018-12-24
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  14. 2017-12-22
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  15. 2016-12-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  16. 2003-02-05
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As CAIRNLEITH FARMS LIMITED
  17. 2003-02-05
    ➕
    LINDSAY, James David appointed
    secretary
  18. 2003-02-05
    ➕
    LINDSAY, James David appointed
    director
  19. 2003-02-05
    ➕
    LINDSAY, William Tait appointed
    director
  20. 2003-02-05
    ➕
    OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED appointed
    corporate-nominee-secretary
  21. 2003-02-05
    ➖
    OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED resigned
    corporate-nominee-secretary

Owner dependency

91/100
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
  • +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.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 65 — succession pressure is live.
  • +Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

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 65. 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

2 active beneficial owners
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
James David Lindsay
Individual · British · DOB 04/1967 · age 59
25–50%
25–50%25-50% shares · 25-50% voting06/04/2016
William Tait Lindsay
Individual · British · DOB 01/1961 · age 65
25–50%
25–50%25-50% shares · 25-50% voting06/04/2016

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
Incorporated2003-02-05
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC01410 — SIC 01410

Registered office

Cairnleith
Kirriemuir
Angus
DD8 5ND
Scotland

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-12-31
Last made up to: 2025-03-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-02-19
Last: 2026-02-05

Officers (3 active · 1 resigned)

LINDSAY, James David→
secretary · appointed 2003-02-05
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
LINDSAY, James David→
director · ~59y · appointed 2003-02-05
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
LINDSAY, William Tait→
director · ~65y · appointed 2003-02-05
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED→
corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 2003-02-05 · resigned 2003-02-05
Resigned

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

Recent filings (61 total)

confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-03-23
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2026-03-23
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2026-03-23
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-12-19
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-02-19
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-12-16
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-03-05
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-12-21
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2023-06-22
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2023-06-22
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-06-22
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-03-30
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2023-02-14
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-03-28
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-02-17