HOW FARMS LIMITED

🌳Matureactive
SC408740 · ltd · incorporated 2011-10-05
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
approaching window · 12-months
Approaching a transaction window — refinance or sale event plausible in the next 12 months.
  • · Oldest live charge 8.4y old — refinance window within 12 months
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Mar 2025
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
80/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: SIC 01420
Sector: Agriculture, forestry & fishing
ALSO REGISTERED FOR
  • 49410Freight transport by road
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 67-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 80/100 (exceptional), bankability 80/100. Strong seller-intent signal (63/100, director aged 67). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

1 live charge · oldest 8.4y

85/100
ready

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

  • · Oldest live charge is 8.4 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
  • · Legal-friction score 15/100 — clean.

Data confidence

Overall: medium (79/100)

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
1 charges (1/1 with lender, 1/1 with type)
90
Directors & officers
5 officers (5 active, 5 linked, 4 with DOB)
86
Ownership & PSC
3 active PSC(s) of 3 total, 3 with control declared
90
Director network
1 connected companies via shared directors
48
Filing history
44 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
75
Strong succession / seller-readiness signals.
Risk profile
85
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
—
£0£0£0£0£0£0Mar 2024Mar 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102
Metric2025-03-312024-03-31
Average employees4400

Amounts extracted automatically from iXBRL. Fields left blank were not reported or not mapped. Values in GBP unless stated.

🔒Filing-note intelligence

2 signals 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
2
filings
  • • 1 accounts
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (22 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-12-10
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2025-03-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  3. 2024-03-26
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  4. 2023-01-04
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  5. 2021-12-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  6. 2021-03-08
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  7. 2020-10-14
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  8. 2019-12-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  9. 2019-10-14
    📄
    appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
    officers · AP01
  10. 2018-12-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  11. 2018-12-20
    ➕
    SINCLAIR, Fraser appointed
    director
  12. 2017-12-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  13. 2017-11-30
    📄
    mortgage-create-with-deed-with-charge-number-charge-creation-date
    mortgage · MR01
  14. 2017-11-24
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
  15. 2017-01-20
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  16. 2016-10-11
    📍
    change-sail-address-company-with-old-address-new-address
    address · AD02
  17. 2016-10-11
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  18. 2012-10-16
    ➕
    SINCLAIR, Gregor Douglas appointed
    director
  19. 2011-10-05
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As HOW FARMS LIMITED
  20. 2011-10-05
    ➕
    SINCLAIR, Jacqueline Yvonne appointed
    secretary
  21. 2011-10-05
    ➕
    SINCLAIR, Jacqueline Yvonne appointed
    director
  22. 2011-10-05
    ➕
    SINCLAIR, Malcolm David Alexander appointed
    director

Owner dependency

63/100
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.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 67 — succession pressure is live.
  • +Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

Succession & seller-readiness

63/100
Strong succession signal

Multiple signals suggest succession is on the horizon. Candidate for proactive outreach.

SIGNALS
  • primaryFounder aged 63+: Senior director is approximately 67. Approaching typical UK retirement age — succession thinking likely.
  • secondary12+ year tenure: Director in role 15 years.
  • 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

3 active beneficial owners · dominant holder ≥75%
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr Malcolm David Alexander Sinclair
Individual · British · DOB 09/1959 · age 67
75–100%
75–100%board control75-100% shares · 75-100% voting · board control05/10/2016
Mr Gregor Douglas Sinclair
Individual · British · DOB 11/1994 · age 32
——sig. influencesignificant influence05/10/2016
Mrs Jacqueline Yvonne Sinclair
Individual · British · DOB 08/1964 · age 62
——sig. influencesignificant influence05/10/2016

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 →

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———————
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————8y——
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
Incorporated2011-10-05
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC01420 — SIC 01420

Registered office

Bea Ness
Sanday
Orkney
KW17 2BJ
United Kingdom

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-12-31
Last made up to: 2025-03-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-10-19
Last: 2025-10-05

Officers (5 active · 0 resigned)

SINCLAIR, Jacqueline Yvonne→
secretary · appointed 2011-10-05
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
SINCLAIR, Fraser→
director · ~24y · appointed 2018-12-20
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
SINCLAIR, Gregor Douglas→
director · ~32y · appointed 2012-10-16
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
SINCLAIR, Jacqueline Yvonne→
director · ~62y · appointed 2011-10-05
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
SINCLAIR, Malcolm David Alexander→
director · ~67y · appointed 2011-10-05
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active

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

Mortgages & charges

1
Total charges
1
Outstanding
1
Active lenders
Status:Lender:1 of 1 shown
TypeProperties
outstanding
Lloyds Banking Group
The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC
A registered charge—24/11/2017—
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (44 total)

accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-12-10
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-10-27
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-03-31
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-10-15
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-03-26
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-10-13
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-01-04
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-10-28
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-12-30
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-10-12
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-03-08
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2020-10-15
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2020-10-14
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2019-12-30
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2019-10-18