Company registration number: 12987419
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COMPANY INFORMATION
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CONTENTS
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STRATEGIC REPORT
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2023
Project Barclay Bidco Limited (the Company) is a holding company limited by shares. The main purpose of the Company is to manage its investments in the Envitia Group. A review of the business and future developments, including key performance indicators and the principal risks and uncertainties are set out below.
The Company made a loss before tax of £1,576,155 for the period ended 31 December 2023 (2022: £1,586,954) and had net liabilities of £4,337,996 (2022: £2,761,841) as at the balance sheet date.
The Company was established to facilitate the MBO transaction undertaken in December 2020 and acts as a holding company for Envitia Group Limited (formerly Envitia Group PLC). Envitia Limited and Envitia Inc, 100% subsidiaries of Envitia Group Limited were acquired by the Company as part of the MBO and are indirect holdings of the Company. The Company also provides management services to its subsidiary entities. Income from group companies from management charges totalled £170,000 (2022: £170,000). A detailed review of the business for the group can be found within the strategic report of Project Barclay Topco Limited.
The Company will continue to remain a holding Company and is expected to continue managing its investment in Envitia Group Limited.
The Company manages its exposure to what it considers to be the main financial risks as follows:
Interest rates The Company has entered into fixed rate borrowing arrangements in order to manage its interest rate risk. Investment Performance A key financial risk facing the Company is the performance of its investments. The Directors of the Company are closely involved with the day to day management of the investments and therefore able to influence the strategy and directors of the businesses in order to manage this risk. No provision was deemed to be necessary against the carrying value of the investment in Envitia Group Limited.
Section 172 of the Companies Act 2006 requires Directors to take into consideration the interests of stakeholders in their decision making.
The Directors have acted in accordance with their duties codified in law, which include their duty to act in the way in which they consider, in good faith, would be most likely to promote the success of the Company for the benefit of its members as a whole, having regard to the stakeholders and matters set out in section 172(1) of the Companies Act 2006. A full review of the Company’s stakeholder impact can be found in the strategic review of Project Barclay Topco Limited.
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STRATEGIC REPORT (CONTINUED)
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2023
This report was approved by the board and signed on its behalf.
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DIRECTORS' REPORT
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2023
The directors present their report and the financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2023.
The directors are responsible for preparing the Strategic Report, the Directors' Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and regulations.
Company law requires the directors to prepare financial statements for each financial year. Under that law the directors have elected to prepare the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice), including Financial Reporting Standard 102 ‘The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland'. Under company law the directors must not approve the financial statements unless they are satisfied that they give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the Company and of the profit or loss of the Company for that period.
In preparing these financial statements, the directors are required to:
∙select suitable accounting policies for the Company's financial statements and then apply them consistently;
∙make judgements and accounting estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
∙prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the Company will continue in business.
The directors are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that are sufficient to show and explain the Company's transactions and disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the Company and to enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the Company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
The loss for the year, after taxation, amounted to £1,576,155 (2022 - loss £1,586,954).
The directors do not recommend the payment of a dividend (2022: £Nil).
The directors who served during the year were:
The Company has chosen, in accordance with Section 414C(11) of the Companies Act 2006 (Strategic Report and Directors' Report) Regulations 2013, to set out within the Company's Strategic Report the Company's Strategic Report Information required by Schedule 7 of the Large and Medium Sized Companies and Groups (Accounts and Reports) Regulation 2008. This includes information that would have been included in the business review and details of the principal risks and uncertainties.
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DIRECTORS' REPORT (CONTINUED)
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2023
Each of the persons who are Directors at the time when this Directors' Report is approved has confirmed that:
There have been no significant events affecting the Company since the year end.
Under section 487(2) of the Companies Act 2006, Menzies LLP will be deemed to have been reappointed as auditors 28 days after these financial statements were sent to members or 28 days after the latest date prescribed for filing the accounts with the registrar, whichever is earlier.
This report was approved by the board and signed on its behalf.
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INDEPENDENT AUDITORS' REPORT TO THE MEMBERS OF PROJECT BARCLAY BIDCO LIMITED
We have audited the financial statements of Project Barclay Bidco Limited (the 'Company') for the year ended 31 December 2023, which comprise the Statement of Comprehensive Income, the Statement of Financial Position, the Statement of Changes in Equity and the related notes, including a summary of significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102 ‘The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland' (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).
We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditors' responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the Company in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the United Kingdom, including the Financial Reporting Council's Ethical Standard and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.
In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the directors' use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.
Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the Company's ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.
Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the directors with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.
The other information comprises the information included in the Annual Report other than the financial statements and our Auditors' Report thereon. The directors are responsible for the other information contained within the Annual Report. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon. Our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the course of the audit, or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether this gives rise to a material misstatement in the financial statements themselves. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.
We have nothing to report in this regard.
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INDEPENDENT AUDITORS' REPORT TO THE MEMBERS OF PROJECT BARCLAY BIDCO LIMITED (CONTINUED)
In our opinion, based on the work undertaken in the course of the audit:
∙the information given in the Strategic Report and the Directors' Report for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements; and
∙the Strategic Report and the Directors' Report have been prepared in accordance with applicable legal requirements.
In the light of the knowledge and understanding of the Company and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the Strategic Report or the Directors' Report.
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INDEPENDENT AUDITORS' REPORT TO THE MEMBERS OF PROJECT BARCLAY BIDCO LIMITED (CONTINUED)
Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an Auditors' Report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.
Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We design procedures in line with our responsibilities, outlined above, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud. The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud is detailed below:
∙The Company is subject to laws and regulations that directly affect the financial statements including financial reporting
legislation. We determined that the following laws and regulations were most significant including: - The Companies Act 2006; - Financial Reporting Standard 102; - UK employment legislation; - General Data Protection Regulations; and - UK tax legislation.
∙We assessed the extent of compliance with these laws and regulations as part of our procedures on the related
financial statement items.
∙We understood how the Company is complying with those legal and regulatory frameworks by, making inquiries to
management, those responsible for legal and compliance procedures. We corroborated our inquiries through our review of board minutes.
∙The engagement partner assessed whether the engagement team collectively had the appropriate competence and
capabilities to identify or recognise non-compliance with laws and regulations. The assessment did not identify any issues in this area.
∙We assessed the susceptibility of the company’s financial statements to material misstatement, including how fraud
might occur. Audit procedures performed by the engagement team included: - Identifying and assessing the design effectiveness of controls management has in place to prevent and detect fraud; - Understanding how those charged with governance considered and addressed the potential for override of controls or other inappropriate influence over the financial reporting process; - Challenging assumptions and judgements made by management in its significant accounting estimates; and - Identifying and testing journal entries, in particular any journal entries posted with unusual account combinations.
∙As a result of the above procedures, we considered the opportunities and incentives that may exist within the
organisation for fraud and identified the greatest potential for fraud in the following areas:
−Posting of unusual journals and complex transactions;
−Timing of revenue recognition; and;
−The use of management override of controls to manipulate results, or to cause the Company to enter into transactions not in its best interest.
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INDEPENDENT AUDITORS' REPORT TO THE MEMBERS OF PROJECT BARCLAY BIDCO LIMITED (CONTINUED)
Because of the inherent limitations of an audit, there is a risk that we will not detect all irregularities, including those leading to a material misstatement in the financial statements or non-compliance with regulation. This risk increases the more that compliance with a law or regulation is removed from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, as we will be less likely to become aware of instances of non-compliance. The risk is also greater regarding irregularities occurring due to fraud rather than error, as fraud involves intentional concealment, forgery, collusion, omission or misrepresentation.
A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located on the Financial Reporting Council's website at: www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our Auditors' Report.
This report is made solely to the Company's members, as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the Company's members those matters we are required to state to them in an Auditors' Report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the Company and the Company's members, as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.
for and on behalf of
Chartered Accountants
Statutory Auditor
Ashcombe House
5 The Crescent
Surrey
KT22 8DY
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STATEMENT OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2023
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STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION
AS AT 31 DECEMBER 2023
The financial statements were approved and authorised for issue by the board and were signed on its behalf by:
The notes on pages 12 to 19 form part of these financial statements.
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STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN EQUITY
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2023
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NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2023
Project Barclay Bidco Limited is a private company limited by shares incorporated in England. The principal place of business is North Heath Lane, Horsham, West Sussex, RH12 5UX.
The presentational currency used in this set of financial statements was GBP, rounded to the nearest £1.
2.Accounting policies
The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention unless otherwise specified within these accounting policies and in accordance with Section 1A of Financial Reporting Standard 102, the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and the Republic of Ireland and the Companies Act 2006.
The preparation of financial statements in compliance with FRS 102 requires the use of certain critical accounting estimates. It also requires management to exercise judgement in applying the Company's accounting policies (see note 3).
The following principal accounting policies have been applied:
The Company has taken advantage of the following disclosure exemptions in preparing these financial statements, as permitted by the FRS 102 "The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland".
∙the requirements of Section 7 Statement of Cash Flows;
∙the requirements of Section 3 Financial Statement Presentation paragraph 3.17(d).
∙the requirements of Section 11 Financial Instruments paragraphs 11.41(b), 11.41(c), 11.41(e), 11.41(f),11.42, 11.44 to 11.45, 11.47, 11.48(a)(iii), 11.48(a)(iv), 11.48(b) and 11.48(c);
∙the requirements of Section 12 Other Financial Instruments paragraphs 12.26 to 12.27, 12.29(a), 12.29(b) and 12.29A;
∙ the requirements of Section 33 Related Party Disclosures paragraph 33.7.
This information is included in the consolidated financial statements of Project Barclay Topco Limited as at 31 December 2023 and these financial statements may be obtained from Companies House.
The Company is a parent company that is also a subsidiary included in the consolidated financial statements of a larger group by a parent undertaking established under the law of any part of the United Kingdom and is therefore exempt from the requirement to prepare consolidated financial statements under section 400 of the Companies Act 2006.
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NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2023
2.Accounting policies (continued)
The Company made a loss before tax of £1,576,155 for the period ended 31 December 2023 (2022: £1,586,954) and had net liabilities of £4,337,996 (2022: £2,761,841) as at the balance sheet date.
In addition to the above, the Company has given a composite guarantee and debenture in favour of Maven Capital Partners UK LLP for debt funding within the Envitia Group of Companies. The total liability of the Group to Maven Capital Partners UK LLP as at 31 December 2023 was £19,640,835 (2022: £18,138,235). As at 31 December 2023, these loan notes and any accrued interest have not been redeemed and they are repayable by 5 December 2025. The Directors have, for the group of which the Company is a parent and a subsidiary, considered the following matters in determining the appropriateness of the going concern basis of preparation in the financial statements:
∙A forecast for the next 12 months, taking account of reasonable changes in trading performance indicates that the Group will have sufficient cash assets to be able to meet its debts as and when they fall due;
∙Consideration to the loan notes and action taken by the holders of the loan notes to waive covenants during the financial year.
∙In addition, it has been confirmed by the loan note holders that, with regard to the loan notes which are repayable in December 2025, that they would seek to amend the term of the loan notes with a minimum extension of one year, if the Company was not in a position to redeem them at the maturity date.
Though the Company has net current liabilities of £22,638,978 (2022 - £21,037,909), this is in relation to the amounts due to Group Companies and the directors have sought comfort that the Company will not be expected to make the payment to the detriment of its other creditors.
Though the trading performance of the Group was not ultimately in line with the original business plan for the period ended 31 December 2023, the Directors are confident that given the actions taken during the year and since the year end, that the Company will have adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future.
Accordingly, the financial statements continue to adopt the going concern basis.
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NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2023
2.Accounting policies (continued)
A review for indicators of impairment is carried out at each reporting date, with the recoverable amount being estimated where such indicators exist. Where the carrying value exceeds the recoverable amount, the asset is impaired accordingly. Prior impairments are also reviewed for possible reversal at each reporting date.
The Company only enters into basic financial instrument transactions that result in the recognition of financial
assets and liabilities like trade and other debtors and creditors, loans from banks and other third parties, loans to related parties and investments in ordinary shares.
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NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2023
Impairment of investments involves judgement and is also a key estimation area. Management exercise judgement in calculating the maintainable EBITDA, earnings multiples and surplus cash in determining the value of the company. The recoverable amount of the business is deemed to be the fair value of the business less costs to sell and is determined by using an equity value model based on a multiple of EBITDA plus surplus cash. The calculations take into consideration available market data including private company price indices. This is used as the basis for assessing if an impairment is required. Management carry out impairment reviews on a timely basis and ensure that the accounting policy adopted reflects and true and fair view of the assets as detailed in 2.7 above. The key assumptions in the fair value calculation are the maintainable EBITDA, surplus cash and the multiple applied to the maintainable EBITDA. If these assumptions fall short of expectation, an impairment of the company’s £18.3m investment may result. The assumption for maintainable EBITDA of £1.925m used in the fair value calculation for the year ended 31 December 2023 is based upon management’s knowledge and calculations, taking into account all relevant information available at the time of the valuation. If maintainable EBITDA used was £1.651m, based on the average EBITDA achieved for the 4 years ended 31 December 2023, this would result in an impairment of £1.75m. The assumption for the multiple applied to the EBITDA is 8.9x in the fair valuation calculation for the year ended 31 December 2023. If this multiple were to drop by 10% to 8x, this would result in an impairment of £1.04m. The calculation of surplus cash is based on the cash accrued since the acquisition of the Envitia group, which amounts to £1.86m. If none of this cash was considered excess cash, then no impairment would still result.
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NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2023
There were no factors that may affect future tax charges.
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NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2023
8.Taxation (continued)
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NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2023
Profit and loss account
A charge exists in favour of Maven Capital Partners UK LLP (as security trustee) (registered no. OC339387) whose registered office is at Fifth Floor, 1-2 Royal Exchange Buildings, London, EC3V 3LF, as a composite guarantee and debenture dated 5 December 2020 between the Company and Maven creating fixed and floating charges over all the Company’s assets, property, undertaking and revenue and provides security for debt funding within the Envitia Group of companies.The total liability of the Group to Maven Capital Partners UK LLP as at 31 December 2023 was £19,640,835 (2022: £18,138,235).
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NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2023
The Company's parent company is Project Barclay Midco Limited. The ultimate parent company is Project Barclay Topco Limited. Project Barclay Topco Limited prepares consolidated accounts which are available from Companies House, Crown Way, Cardiff, CF14 3UZ.
The Directors consider the ultimate controlling party to be Maven Capital Partners UK LLP.
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