BCK FOOD LTD

💤Zombieactive
SC577544 · ltd · incorporated 2017-09-29
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 Jan 2025
Net worth
£-43.7k
book net assets
Opportunity
74/100
Strong
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What this business does
Primary activity: Take-away food shops and mobile food stands
Sector: Accommodation & food service
Investor take
Pass (distressed without resilience)
Distressed active trading company — structural issues outweigh the discount.

Opportunity 74/100 (strong), bankability 80/100. High owner-dependency — earn-out structure likely required for clean transition. Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Biggest value-creation lever: Cash flow review and working-capital discipline. Cash down -49% YoY — forensic review of receivables, stock turns, and creditor days. Most likely exit: distressed disposal / insolvency (65/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

1 live charge · oldest 7.1y

45/100
under pressure

Refinance would be pressure-driven, not opportunity-driven. Expect tighter margins and covenant scrutiny.

  • · Oldest live charge is 7.1 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
  • · Distress signals active — lender appetite narrows.

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
75
Lenders & charges
1 charges (1/1 with lender, 1/1 with type)
90
Directors & officers
2 officers (1 active, 2 linked, 2 with DOB)
90
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 4 total, 4 with control declared
90
Director network
2 connected companies via shared directors
51
Filing history
34 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
65
Adequate — check latest filings for context.
Acquirability
55
Some acquirability indicators.
Risk profile
85
Few red flags.
Signal strength
100
Good data coverage for analysis.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · accounting standard not declared
Negative net assets
Liabilities exceed assets by £43,653
Cash draining
Cash down 49% YoY
Cash YoY
-49%
Year on year

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
£32k
↓ 49% YoY
Net Worth
-£44k
↓ 7.1% YoY
Current Assets
£68k
↓ 31% YoY
Current Liabilities
—
-£44k-£15k£13k£41k£70k£98kJan 2024Jan 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · accounting standard unknown
Metric2025-01-312024-01-31
Total assets£34.5k£99.8k
Current assets£67.7k£98.0k
Cash£32.4k£63.7k
Debtors£33.3k£32.3k
Net assets£-43.7k£-40.8k

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
0
filings
Last 180 days
1
filing
  • • 1 accounts
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (23 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-01-20
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-12-31
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  3. 2024-10-18
    📄
    notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
  4. 2024-10-18
    📄
    cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
  5. 2024-01-19
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  6. 2023-05-12
    ➖
    PATERSON, Allan James resigned
    director
  7. 2023-05-12
    📄
    cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
  8. 2023-05-12
    📄
    notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
  9. 2023-05-12
    📄
    termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
    officers · TM01
  10. 2023-01-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  11. 2022-01-24
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  12. 2021-09-17
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  13. 2021-09-17
    📄
    notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
  14. 2021-09-17
    📄
    cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
  15. 2021-09-17
    📄
    appoint-person-director-company-with-name-date
    officers · AP01
  16. 2021-09-01
    ➕
    PATERSON, Ian appointed
    director
  17. 2021-07-28
    📄
    gazette-filings-brought-up-to-date
    gazette · DISS40
  18. 2021-07-27
    📄
    gazette-notice-compulsory
    gazette · GAZ1
  19. 2021-07-22
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  20. 2021-07-22
    📄
    change-account-reference-date-company-previous-shortened
    accounts · AA01
  21. 2019-04-19
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: Hsbc UK Bank PLC
  22. 2017-09-29
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As BCK FOOD LTD
  23. 2017-09-29
    ➕
    PATERSON, Allan 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

45/100
Moderate signal

Some succession indicators present. Worth watching; approach if sector/strategy fits.

SIGNALS
  • primarySole active director: Only one director in control. No visible successor — buyers solve the succession problem.

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%
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr Ian Paterson
Individual · British · DOB 07/1974 · age 52
75–100%
—75-100% shares18/10/2024
3 historic (ceased) PSCs
  • Mrs Isobel Patersonceased 18/10/2024· 75-100% shares
  • Mr Ian Patersonceased 12/05/2023· 75-100% shares
  • Mr Allan James Patersonceased 01/09/2021· 75-100% shares · 75-100% voting · board control

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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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
Incorporated2017-09-29
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC56103 — Take-away food shops and mobile food stands

Registered office

1 Glenbervie Road
Aberdeen
AB11 9JD
Scotland

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-10-31
Last made up to: 2025-01-31
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2026-11-04
Last: 2025-10-21

Officers (1 active · 1 resigned)

PATERSON, Ian→
director · ~52y · appointed 2021-09-01
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
PATERSON, Allan James→
director · ~47y · appointed 2017-09-29 · resigned 2023-05-12
Resigned

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
HSBC
Hsbc UK Bank PLC
A registered charge1 property19/04/2019—
Click column headers to sort. Use filters above to narrow by status and lender.

Recent filings (34 total)

accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2026-01-20
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-10-21
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-09-29
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-12-31
notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
2024-10-18
cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
2024-10-18
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-09-30
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2024-01-19
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-10-11
cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
2023-05-12
notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC01
2023-05-12
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2023-05-12
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-01-29
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-11-02
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-01-24