CAFE AHOY (ABERDEEN) LIMITED

💤Zombieactive
SC619461 · ltd · incorporated 2019-01-28
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 Sept 2025
Net worth
£98.5k
book net assets
Opportunity
71/100
Strong
🔔
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What this business does
Primary activity: Unlicenced restaurants and cafes
Sector: Accommodation & food service
Investor take
Pursue
Strong opportunity: asset-holding vehicle with strong profile and bankable structure.

Opportunity 71/100 (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: share sale to pe / searcher (58/100).

Data confidence

Overall: high (81/100)

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
1 officers (1 active, 1 linked, 1 with DOB)
90
Ownership & PSC
2 active PSC(s) of 3 total, 3 with control declared
90
Director network
6 connected companies via shared directors
63
Filing history
22 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
71/100Strong
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional 

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

Business quality
65
Adequate — check latest filings for context.
Acquirability
50
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)
Positive net assets
Net assets £98,464
Net assets shrinking
Down £18,067 YoY

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
Net Worth
£98k
↓ 16% YoY
Current Assets
£163k
~ YoY
Current Liabilities
£0£33k£66k£98k£131k£164kSept 2024Sept 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 105 (micro)
Metric2025-09-302024-09-30
Total assets£98.5k£116.5k
Current assets£163.1k£164.1k
Net assets£98.5k£116.5k

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
2
filings
  • 1 accounts
  • 1 confirmation-statement
Last 180 days
2
filings
  • 1 accounts
  • 1 confirmation-statement
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (17 events)Click to expand
  1. 2026-02-02
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  2. 2025-02-04
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  3. 2023-12-13
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  4. 2022-11-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  5. 2022-05-10
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  6. 2022-05-10
    📄
    change-person-director-company-with-change-date
    officers · CH01
  7. 2022-05-10
    📍
    change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
    address · AD01
  8. 2022-01-28
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  9. 2021-03-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  10. 2020-01-17
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  11. 2019-12-17
    📄
    notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC02
  12. 2019-12-17
    📄
    cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
  13. 2019-08-14
    📄
    change-account-reference-date-company-current-shortened
    accounts · AA01
  14. 2019-04-09
    📄
    notification-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC02
  15. 2019-01-28
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As CAFE AHOY (ABERDEEN) LIMITED
  16. 2019-01-28
    MCAULEY, Martin appointed
    director
  17. 2019-01-28
    📄
    incorporation-company
    incorporation · NEWINC

Owner dependency

80/100
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
  • +Sole director: Only one active director — all governance concentrated on one person.
  • +No director turnover: Company is 7 years old with no director changes — suggests a very tight-knit founder team never broadened.

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.)

Group structure

Watermelon Group Ltd is the ultimate parent — holding 75%+ shares. This company sits inside their group.

🏛️
Watermelon Group Ltd
Corporate parent · holds 75-100% shares
ultimate parent
CAFE AHOY (ABERDEEN) LIMITED
This company · SC619461

Parent relationships inferred from Persons with Significant Control filings. Full subsidiary tree requires reverse-lookup (coming).

Shareholders & ownership

2 active beneficial owners · dominant holder ≥75%
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Watermelon Group Ltd
Corporate entity
75100%
75–100%75-100% shares · 75-100% voting16/12/2019
Mr Martin Mcauley
Individual · British · DOB 03/1987 · age 39
sig. influencesignificant influence28/01/2019
1 historic (ceased) PSC
  • Mcauley (Aberdeen) Ltdceased 16/12/2019· 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
Incorporated2019-01-28
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC56102 — Unlicenced restaurants and cafes

Registered office

Victoria House
13 Victoria Street
Aberdeen
AB10 1XB
Scotland

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2027-06-30
Last made up to: 2025-09-30
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-02-10
Last: 2026-01-27

Officers (1 active · 0 resigned)

MCAULEY, Martin
director · ~39y · appointed 2019-01-28
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active

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

Recent filings (22 total)

accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2026-02-02
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-01-30
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2025-02-04
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-01-27
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-01-29
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-12-13
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-01-31
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-11-29
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2022-05-10
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2022-05-10
change-registered-office-address-company-with-date-old-address-new-address
address · AD01
2022-05-10
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-01-28
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-01-28
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-03-30
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-02-01