Registered number: SC765748
DIRECTORS' REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2024
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BALNIEL HOLDINGS LIMITED
COMPANY INFORMATION
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BALNIEL HOLDINGS LIMITED
CONTENTS
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BALNIEL HOLDINGS LIMITED
GROUP STRATEGIC REPORT
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2024
ESP Group specialises in delivering high-quality contact centre services, including end-to-end customer experience management, travel token retailing, delay repay and compensation claim processing, as well as the development and support of smartcard and mobile app-based systems. More broadly, our services encompass CRM development and maintenance, database management, hosting solutions, web portals, payment processing, smartcard personalisation, and fulfilment services.
Over the past year, the Group has demonstrated strong performance, driven by our commitment to operational excellence and strategic market expansion. By focusing on innovation, exemplary customer satisfaction, and reliability, we have successfully broadened our reach while maintaining the high service standards that define our brand.
Our emphasis on efficiency and financial synergy has further strengthened our position, enabling us to navigate industry challenges effectively. The directors remain dedicated to identifying and capitalising on new opportunities while staying true to the principles that drive our success.
The Group has identified several key risks and challenges that may impact future performance:
1. Rising labour costs due to wage increases and regulatory changes 2. Rapid advancements in technology and evolving industry standards 3. Currency fluctuations affecting financial stability 4. Adapting to shifting market trends and customer expectations 5. Growing competition from new market entrants 6. The increasing role of AI and automation in service delivery 7. Rising customer demand for seamless omnichannel support 8. Strengthening data security and regulatory compliance requirements 9. Challenges in workforce recruitment and retention Among these, rising labour costs remain the most pressing concern, as increasing wages and regulatory demands continue to drive up operating expenses. To mitigate these risks, the Group is focusing on strategic workforce planning, investment in automation, and operational efficiency improvements. In an industry that evolves rapidly, our proactive approach to research and development, strategic currency risk management, and employee-first culture play a vital role in minimising risks and sustaining growth.
The Group monitors its performance using the following key indicators:
• Turnover – Overall revenue generation • Gross Profit Margin – Profitability after direct costs • Net Profit Margin – Bottom-line financial performance • Staff Turnover – Employee retention and workforce stability
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BALNIEL HOLDINGS LIMITED
GROUP STRATEGIC REPORT (CONTINUED)
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2024
The Group’s ongoing diversification efforts have proven successful, allowing us to expand our service offerings and strengthen our market position. By leveraging our expertise in contact centre operations and integrating advanced technologies, we continue to attract new clients and explore emerging opportunities.
Looking ahead, the board remains optimistic that our investments in innovation and industry partnerships will drive sustainable growth and long-term resilience.
This report was approved by the board on 20 February 2025 and signed on its behalf.
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BALNIEL HOLDINGS LIMITED
DIRECTORS' REPORT
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2024
The directors present their report and the financial statements for the year ended 31 July 2024.
The directors are responsible for preparing the Group strategic report, the Directors' report and the consolidated financial statements in accordance with applicable law and regulations.
In preparing these financial statements, the directors are required to:
∙select suitable accounting policies for the Group's financial statements and then apply them consistently;
∙make judgments 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 Group 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 the Group 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 the Group and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
The profit for the year, after taxation, amounted to £885,682 (2023 - £1,660,285).
Dividends of £263,552 (2023 - £26,228) were paid during the period.
The directors who served during the year were:
Details of future developments can be found within the Strategic Report and form part of this report by the directors.
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BALNIEL HOLDINGS LIMITED
DIRECTORS' REPORT (CONTINUED)
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2024
ESP Group pride ourselves in our approach to employee engagement and governance. Our policies are embedded in our culture, accessible at all times and audited annually, to ensure they still meet the needs of our business. ESP Group are proud of our internal promotion culture, which has been in place for 20+ years, ensuring we create progression pathways through training, development and promotion, to our existing team, at every opportunity.
Diversity and inclusion are at the heart of our recruitment strategy. We foster an inclusive workplace by delivering ongoing Diversity & Inclusion training, ensuring that all employees feel valued, respected, and empowered in their roles. Our Equality & Diversity Policy, alongside our Bullying & Harassment Policy, ensures a zero-tolerance approach to workplace discrimination, creating a safe and welcoming environment for all. As a responsible employer, we uphold ethical trading principles. Our Ethical Trading & Social Accountability Policy ensures that all employees receive fair pay, safe working conditions, and equal opportunities for career progression. We do not use inappropriate zero-hour contracts and provide clear, stable employment terms. Additionally, our Whistleblowing Policy guarantees a confidential and structured process for reporting workplace concerns. We provide clear channels for employee voice through the Employee Engagement Association, ensuring that team members have a say in workplace decisions. Monthly Employee Engagement meetings allow representatives from all departments to meet with Directors to discuss issues, suggest improvements, understand business performance and influence business changes. This two-way communication strengthens workforce morale, engagement, and retention. To maintain a highly skilled and motivated workforce, we invest in workforce development through our Strategic Labour Needs & Training Plan. This plan includes: • Apprenticeship placements, supporting both new entrants and career progression for existing employees • Graduate placements and work experience programmes, providing young people and career changers with industry exposure • Ongoing professional development and training, ensuring employees remain skilled and engaged in their roles • Maintaining established partnerships with local employability networks to ensure that we provide opportunities for long-term unemployed and NEET candidates We monitor employee engagement and wellbeing through performance reviews, surveys and structured reporting mechanisms, and take a 'you said, we did' approach to implementing lasting change, ensuring that feedback is continuously integrated into our policies and practices so that our teams remain engaged, supported and motivated.
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BALNIEL HOLDINGS LIMITED
DIRECTORS' REPORT (CONTINUED)
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2024
There have been no significant events affecting the Group since the year end.
The auditors, Sumer Auditco Limited, will be proposed for reappointment in accordance with section 485 of the Companies Act 2006.
This report was approved by the board on
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BALNIEL HOLDINGS LIMITED
INDEPENDENT AUDITORS' REPORT TO THE MEMBERS OF BALNIEL HOLDINGS LIMITED
We have audited the financial statements of Balniel Holdings Limited (the 'parent Company') and its subsidiaries (the 'Group') for the year ended 31 July 2024, which comprise the Consolidated statement of comprehensive income, the Consolidated statement of financial position, the Company statement of financial position, the Consolidated statement of cash flows, the Consolidated statement of changes in equity, the Company 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 Group 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 Group's or the parent 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.
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BALNIEL HOLDINGS LIMITED
INDEPENDENT AUDITORS' REPORT TO THE MEMBERS OF BALNIEL HOLDINGS LIMITED (CONTINUED)
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.
In our opinion, based on the work undertaken in the course of the audit:
∙the information given in the Group 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 Group 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 Group and the parent Company and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the Group strategic report or the Directors' report.
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BALNIEL HOLDINGS LIMITED
INDEPENDENT AUDITORS' REPORT TO THE MEMBERS OF BALNIEL HOLDINGS 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 Group 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:
We gained an understanding of the legal and regulatory framework applicable to the company and the industry in which it operates, and considered the risk of acts by the company that were contrary to applicable laws and regulations, including fraud. We designed audit procedures to respond to the risk, recognising that the risk of not detecting a material misstatement due to fraud is higher than the risk of not detecting one resulting from error, as fraud may involve deliberate concealment by, for example, forgery or intentional misrepresentations, or through collusion. We focused on laws and regulations which could give rise to a material misstatement in the financial statements, including, but not limited to, the Companies Act 2006 and UK tax legislation. Our tests included agreeing the financial statement disclosures to underlying supporting documentation, enquiries with management and enquiries of legal counsel. There are inherent limitations in the audit procedures described above and, the further removed non-compliance with laws and regulations is from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, the less likely we would become aware of it. As in all our audits, we also addressed the risk of management override of internal controls, including testing journals and evaluating whether there was evidence of bias by the directors that represented a risk of material misstatement due to fraud.
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.
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BALNIEL HOLDINGS LIMITED
INDEPENDENT AUDITORS' REPORT TO THE MEMBERS OF BALNIEL HOLDINGS LIMITED (CONTINUED)
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 Auditors
14 City Quay
DD1 3JA
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BALNIEL HOLDINGS LIMITED
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2024
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BALNIEL HOLDINGS LIMITED
REGISTERED NUMBER: SC765748
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION
AS AT 31 JULY 2024
The financial statements were approved and authorised for issue by the board and were signed on its behalf on 20 February 2025.
The notes on pages 17 to 32 form part of these financial statements.
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BALNIEL HOLDINGS LIMITED
REGISTERED NUMBER: SC765748
COMPANY STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION
AS AT 31 JULY 2024
The financial statements were approved and authorised for issue by the board and were signed on its behalf on
The notes on pages 17 to 32 form part of these financial statements.
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