THE TEA LOVERS' COMPANY LIMITED

💤Zombieactive
SC429388 · ltd · incorporated 2012-07-31
Investment thesis
Zombie company — trading but stalled; unlikely mover.
Why interesting: Quiet, steady; could be a succession or carve-out candidate with the right conversation.
Why risky: No growth signal; thin margin for error on price.
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Dec 2024
Net worth
£-89.4k
book net assets
Opportunity
74/100
Strong
🔔
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What this business does
Primary activity: Other food services
Sector: Accommodation & food service
Investor take
Pass (distressed without resilience)
Distressed active trading company — structural issues outweigh the discount.

Opportunity 74/100 (strong), bankability 75/100. High owner-dependency — earn-out structure likely required for clean transition. Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Broaden director team. Sole director creates succession risk and reduces buyer comfort. Appoint a second director or strong #2. Most likely exit: distressed disposal / insolvency (65/100).

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, 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
6 officers (1 active, 6 linked, 4 with DOB)
83
Ownership & PSC
2 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared
90
Director network
3 connected companies via shared directors
54
Filing history
56 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
74/100Strong
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional 

Solid opportunity signal. Worth a dedicated memo and management meeting.

Business quality
70
Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.
Acquirability
55
Some acquirability indicators.
Risk profile
85
Few red flags.
Signal strength
90
Good data coverage for analysis.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · FRS 105 (micro)
Negative net assets
Liabilities exceed assets by £89,382

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
—
Net Worth
-£89k
~ YoY
Current Assets
—
Current Liabilities
—
-£89k-£89k-£89k-£89k-£89k-£89kDec 2023Dec 2024

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 105 (micro)
Metric2024-12-312023-12-31
Total assets£-82.0k£-81.5k
Net assets£-89.4k£-89.4k

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 confirmation-statement
Last 180 days
1
filing
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (29 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-09-24
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-09-25
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  3. 2023-09-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  4. 2023-03-18
    ➖
    LONGHURST, John Anthony resigned
    director
  5. 2023-03-18
    📄
    termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM01
  6. 2022-09-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  7. 2022-06-16
    ➖
    THORNTONS LAW LLP resigned
    corporate-secretary
  8. 2022-06-16
    📄
    termination-secretary-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM02
  9. 2021-12-01
    📄
    gazette-filings-brought-up-to-date
    gazette · DISS40
  10. 2021-11-30
    📄
    gazette-notice-compulsory
    gazette · GAZ1
  11. 2021-11-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  12. 2021-02-03
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  13. 2020-10-15
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  14. 2020-10-15
    📄
    change-account-reference-date-company-previous-shortened
    accounts · AA01
  15. 2020-08-11
    📄
    change-account-reference-date-company-current-shortened
    accounts · AA01
  16. 2020-04-23
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-unaudited-abridged
    accounts · AA
  17. 2019-03-20
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  18. 2019-02-20
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  19. 2019-02-20
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  20. 2019-01-13
    ➕
    LONGHURST, John Anthony appointed
    director
  21. 2014-12-01
    ➕
    THORNTONS LAW LLP appointed
    corporate-secretary
  22. 2014-11-01
    ➖
    MURRAY DONALD LLP resigned
    corporate-secretary
  23. 2012-10-18
    ➕
    DAVIS, Luke Thomas appointed
    director
  24. 2012-10-18
    ➕
    ALPAY, Defne appointed
    director
  25. 2012-10-18
    ➖
    ALPAY, Defne resigned
    director
  26. 2012-10-18
    ➖
    LANG, Alistair James resigned
    director
  27. 2012-07-31
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As THE TEA LOVERS' COMPANY LIMITED
  28. 2012-07-31
    ➕
    MURRAY DONALD LLP appointed
    corporate-secretary
  29. 2012-07-31
    ➕
    LANG, Alistair James appointed
    director

Owner dependency

75/100
High — earn-out structure required

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

FACTORS
  • +Sole director: Only one active director — all governance concentrated on one person.

Succession & seller-readiness

58/100
Strong succession signal

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

SIGNALS
  • primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.
  • secondary12+ year tenure: Director in role 14 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

2 active beneficial owners
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr Luke Thomas Davis
Individual · British · DOB 10/1988 · age 38
50–75%
50–75%50-75% shares · 50-75% voting06/04/2016
John Longhurst
Individual · British · DOB 01/1967 · age 59
25–50%
—25-50% shares06/04/2016

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 →

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————41y8371y
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———170029y8362y
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———120021y8358y
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———230016y8259y
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————27y8277y
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——£308.8k—30y8260y
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——£2.10M—15y8262y
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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
Incorporated2012-07-31
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC56290 — Other food services

Registered office

Kinburn Castle
Double Dykes Road
St Andrews
Fife
KY16 9DR

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-09-30
Last made up to: 2024-12-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-03-06
Last: 2026-02-20

Officers (1 active · 5 resigned)

DAVIS, Luke Thomas→
director · ~38y · appointed 2012-10-18
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
MURRAY DONALD LLP→
corporate-secretary · appointed 2012-07-31 · resigned 2014-11-01
Resigned
THORNTONS LAW LLP→
corporate-secretary · appointed 2014-12-01 · resigned 2022-06-16
Resigned
ALPAY, Defne→
director · ~52y · appointed 2012-10-18 · resigned 2012-10-18
Resigned
LANG, Alistair James→
director · ~53y · appointed 2012-07-31 · resigned 2012-10-18
Resigned
LONGHURST, John Anthony→
director · ~59y · appointed 2019-01-13 · resigned 2023-03-18
Resigned

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

Recent filings (56 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-02-27
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-09-24
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-02-24
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-09-25
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-02-29
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-09-29
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2023-03-18
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-02-25
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-09-28
termination-secretary-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM02
2022-06-16
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-03-08
gazette-filings-brought-up-to-date
gazette · DISS40
2021-12-01
gazette-notice-compulsory
gazette · GAZ1
2021-11-30
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-11-29
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-05-21