AFRICAN LAKES COMPANY LIMITED
🌳Matureactive
SC463944 · ltd · incorporated 2013-11-18
Investment thesis
Established operating company — standard diligence applies, no dominant angle.
Why interesting: Live, filing, normal profile.
Why risky: No standout signals in either direction.
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Nov 2024
Net worth
£-552.4k
book net assets
Opportunity
79/100
Strong
What this business does
Primary activity: Activities of head offices
Sector: Professional, scientific & technical
Investor take
Pass (distressed without resilience)Distressed active trading company — structural issues outweigh the discount.
Opportunity 79/100 (strong), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (63/100, director aged 74). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).
Data confidence
Overall: high (84/100)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
75
Lenders & charges
Confirmed no charges registered
85
Directors & officers
6 officers (3 active, 6 linked, 6 with DOB)
90
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared
90
Director network
17 connected companies via shared directors
90
Filing history
50 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
79/100Strong
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional
Solid opportunity signal. Worth a dedicated memo and management meeting.
Business quality
70
Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.
Acquirability
75
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 · FRS 102Negative net assets
Liabilities exceed assets by £552,442
Net assets shrinking
Down £1,121,322 YoY
Key financials
2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accountsCash
£475k
Net Worth
-£552k
↓ 197% YoY
Current Assets
—
Current Liabilities
—
Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series
Financials
Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102| Metric | 2024-11-30 | 2023-11-30 |
|---|---|---|
| Total assets | £844.8k | £1.73M |
| Current assets | — | £639.3k |
| Cash | £474.5k | — |
| Net assets | £-552.4k | £568.9k |
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 (28 events)Click to expand
- 2025-11-24📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2024-08-30📄accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entityaccounts · AA
- 2023-08-09📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2023-04-17📄second-filing-of-confirmation-statement-with-made-up-dateconfirmation-statement · RP04CS01
- 2022-08-26📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2022-08-12📄capital-allotment-sharescapital · SH01
- 2021-07-14📄memorandum-articlesincorporation · MA
- 2021-07-14📄resolutionresolution · RESOLUTIONS
- 2021-07-14📄capital-allotment-sharescapital · SH01
- 2021-05-28📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2020-11-20📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2020-10-08📍change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-addressaddress · AD01
- 2020-08-04📄termination-director-company-with-name-termination-dateofficers · TM01
- 2020-06-30➖WATSON, Morag Marian resigneddirector
- 2020-06-18📄change-person-director-company-with-change-dateofficers · CH01
- 2019-08-30📄accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-fullaccounts · AA
- 2019-08-23📄resolutionresolution · RESOLUTIONS
- 2019-03-26➖FINLAYSON, William Alexander resigneddirector
- 2019-03-26📄termination-director-company-with-name-termination-dateofficers · TM01
- 2019-03-24📄appoint-person-director-company-with-name-dateofficers · AP01
- 2019-03-21➕BRADLEY, Pauline Anne appointeddirector
- 2017-05-25➕ELLIOT, John Christian appointeddirector
- 2017-05-25➖FERGUSSON, Anne Jarvie resigneddirector
- 2017-05-25➕FINLAYSON, William Alexander appointeddirector
- 2017-05-25➕WATSON, Morag Marian appointeddirector
- 2016-05-21➕FERGUSSON, Anne Jarvie appointeddirector
- 2013-11-18🏢Company incorporatedAs AFRICAN LAKES COMPANY LIMITED
- 2013-11-18➕ANDERSON, Robert Scott appointeddirector
Owner dependency
65/100
High — earn-out structure requiredMaterial founder dependency. Consider a 2-3 year earn-out and build in a handover plan before completion.
FACTORS
- +Founder age: Director aged approximately 74 — succession pressure is live.
Succession & seller-readiness
73/100
Strong succession signalMultiple signals suggest succession is on the horizon. Candidate for proactive outreach.
SIGNALS
- primaryFounder aged 70+: Senior director is approximately 74 years old. Natural succession window is now.
- secondary12+ year tenure: Director in role 12 years.
- 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.)
Group structure
Highland And Universal Investments Limited holds 25-50% — a significant corporate investor but not a controlling parent.
🏛️significant stake
Highland And Universal Investments Limited
Corporate parent · holds 25-50% shares
⬇
AFRICAN LAKES COMPANY LIMITED
This company · SC463944
Parent relationships inferred from Persons with Significant Control filings. Full subsidiary tree requires reverse-lookup (coming).
Shareholders & ownership
1 active beneficial owner| Name | Shares | Voting rights | Nature of control | Notified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Highland And Universal Investments Limited Corporate entity | 25–50% | 25–50% | 25-50% shares · 25-50% voting | 02/10/2017 |
1 historic (ceased) PSC
- Mr Robert Scott Andersonceased 02/10/2017· 75-100% shares
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
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A.S ASSOCIATES (SCOT) LTD→ SC732056 · est 2022 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 3y | — | — |
| AKKOUNTED LIMITED→ SC622331 · est 2019 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 7y | — | — |
| AL & ROO EVENTS LTD→ SC834234 · est 2025 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 1y | — | — |
| ALLAN SINCLAIR LIMITED→ SC419412 · est 2012 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 14y | — | — |
| ALMONDVALE ACCOUNTANCY LTD→ SC343655 · est 2008 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 17y | — | — |
| AMC RENEWABLES LTD→ SC822251 · est 2024 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 1y | — | — |
| ANCHOR CONSULTANTS LIMITED→ SC328202 · est 2007 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 18y | — | — |
| ANDOR WILLS AND ESTATES LTD→ SC812999 · est 2024 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 1y | — | — |
| ARDFAB LTD→ SC874854 · est 2026 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| ASPIRE EVENT HIRE LIMITED→ SC838300 · est 2025 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 1y | — | — |
| ASR CONTRACTORS LIMITED→ SC715889 · est 2021 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 4y | — | — |
| ASSESS MARKETING LTD→ SC834846 · est 2025 · no financials extracted | — | — | — | — | 1y | — | — |
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
Incorporated2013-11-18
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC70100 — Activities of head offices
Registered office
4 Hope Street
St. Andrews
KY16 9HJ
Scotland
Filing status
Accounts
Next due: 2026-08-31
Last made up to: 2024-11-30
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-11-25
Last: 2025-11-11
Officers (3 active · 3 resigned)
ANDERSON, Robert Scott→
Activedirector · ~69y · appointed 2013-11-18
View their other companies + combined net worth →
BRADLEY, Pauline Anne→
Activedirector · ~65y · appointed 2019-03-21
View their other companies + combined net worth →
ELLIOT, John Christian→
Activedirector · ~74y · appointed 2017-05-25
View their other companies + combined net worth →
FERGUSSON, Anne Jarvie→
Resigneddirector · ~73y · appointed 2016-05-21 · resigned 2017-05-25
FINLAYSON, William Alexander→
Resigneddirector · ~75y · appointed 2017-05-25 · resigned 2019-03-26
WATSON, Morag Marian→
Resigneddirector · ~55y · appointed 2017-05-25 · resigned 2020-06-30
Click a director name to see their full track record across all companies.
Recent filings (50 total)
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-11-24
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-11-24
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-11-22
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-08-30
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-11-13
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-08-09
second-filing-of-confirmation-statement-with-made-up-date
confirmation-statement · RP04CS01
2023-04-17
confirmation-statement
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-01-09
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-08-26
capital-allotment-shares
capital · SH01
2022-08-12
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-11-23
memorandum-articles
incorporation · MA
2021-07-14
resolution
resolution · RESOLUTIONS
2021-07-14
capital-allotment-shares
capital · SH01
2021-07-14
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2021-05-28