Registered number:
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2023
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GREYFRIARS ACQUISITIONS LIMITED
COMPANY INFORMATION
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GREYFRIARS ACQUISITIONS LIMITED
CONTENTS
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GREYFRIARS ACQUISITIONS LIMITED
STRATEGIC REPORT
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2023
The Director presents the strategic report for the year ended 31 December 2023.
In 2023 the hotel traded well as spending on leisure travel remained high. The hotel benefitted from completed refurbishment of public areas and a growing number of refurbished bedrooms, through the year. As a result of robust demand, hotel trading held at a high level, versus pre-covid trading. Some impact, versus 2022, due to reduction of Ukraine refugee business, which drove 40 rooms per night for 6-months in 2022. In addition, the refurbishment works did displace some demand through the year, impacting turnover for the year. This will be gained back in subsequent years, as ADR increases are made, on the back of improved offering.
As a result of a stable trading environment, in the year to December 2023, the hotel made a Gross Profit of £5.3m (2022: £5.9m). The liquidity position of the company was £351k as at 31 December 2023 (2022: £712k). The company had a net asset position of £31.7m (2022: £31m).
December 2023 saw the completion of the hotel refurbishment. This included a full refurbishment of the hotel bedrooms and public areas. In addition, improvements to the building fabric were also included (roof repairs and M&E replacement, as required). The director views the forecast for the Cardiff market as generally positive, with regard to the future prospects of the hotel and Company.
It is the intention of the director to continue to develop the current activities of the Company and in particular continue to enhance the service and product of the hotel, to drive improved performance.
The Company’s risks can be broadly defined as commercial and financial. The principal commercial risks and uncertainties faced by the Company include general macroeconomic conditions in the UK and Globally, potential further inflationary pressure on staffing and supply chain costs, and competition from new hotels in the vicinity.
The directors have considered the impact of the financial statement of market risk, credit risk and liquidity risk. The directors believe that any adverse changes in the market to the parameters that determine the effects of these financial risks will not be expected to have a significant impact to the financial performance and the position of the Company.
The forecast hotel market performance has been analysed and accounted for in forecasting the performance of the hotel going forward.
The refurbishment of the hotel will be followed by specific capital expenditure projects. These will likely include the refurbishment/replacement of M&E equipment, guest corridor upgrades and targeted improvements to the leisure facilities.
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GREYFRIARS ACQUISITIONS LIMITED
STRATEGIC REPORT (CONTINUED)
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2023
The directors assess the performance of the Company based on the following KPI’s:
Turnover decreased slightly (3%) in the year as the market stabilised, for the reasons outlined in business review section. The City continued to secure large sporting, music and entertainment events, benefitting all hotels in the market. In addition, the hotel continued to benefit from strong levels of distribution, via the Hilton franchise. The key performance indicators of ADR £119.38 (2022: £121.83), Occupancy of 81% (2022: 76.8%) and overall revenue of £9.2m (2022 £9.5m). The hotel continued to increase its outperformance, versus the competitive set, in 2023.
The Company evaluates and monitors average room rates, revenue per room, occupancy, covers, spend per cover, margins and payroll. The directors are confident that all such indicators are adequately reflected in the analysis of turnover and operating profit.
This report was approved by the board on 12 March 2025 and signed on its behalf.
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GREYFRIARS ACQUISITIONS LIMITED
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.
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 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 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 £920,369 (2022 - profit £5,355,062).
The directors who served during the year were:
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GREYFRIARS ACQUISITIONS LIMITED
DIRECTORS' REPORT (CONTINUED)
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2023
The auditors, HaysMac LLP, will be proposed for reappointment in accordance with section 485 of the Companies Act 2006.
This report was approved by the board and signed on its behalf.
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GREYFRIARS ACQUISITIONS LIMITED
INDEPENDENT AUDITORS' REPORT TO THE MEMBERS OF GREYFRIARS ACQUISITIONS LIMITED
We have audited the financial statements of Greyfriars Acquisitions 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 Cash Flows, 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.
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GREYFRIARS ACQUISITIONS LIMITED
INDEPENDENT AUDITORS' REPORT TO THE MEMBERS OF GREYFRIARS ACQUISITIONS 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 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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GREYFRIARS ACQUISITIONS LIMITED
INDEPENDENT AUDITORS' REPORT TO THE MEMBERS OF GREYFRIARS ACQUISITIONS 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:
Explanation as to what extent the audit was considered capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud Based on our understanding of the Company and industry, we identified that the principal risks of non-compliance with laws and regulations are food safety and hygiene, licensing and and minimum wage regulations and we considered the extent to which non-compliance might have a material effect on the financial statements. We also considered those laws and regulations that have a direct impact on the preparation of the financial statements such as the Companies Act 2006 and tax regulation. We evaluated management’s incentives and opportunities for fraudulent manipulation of the financial statements (including the risk of override of controls), and determined that the principal risks were related to posting inappropriate journal entries to revenue and management bias in accounting estimates. Audit procedures performed by the engagement team included: • inspecting correspondence with regulators and tax authorities; • consideration of known or suspected instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations through discussion with management, review of board minutes, and review of the Food Standards Agency website; • evaluating management’s controls designed to prevent and detect irregularities; • identifying and testing journals, in particular journal entries posted with large values versus averages, key words, postings with high value transactions or rounded entries; and • challenging assumptions and judgements made by management in their critical accounting estimates.
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.
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GREYFRIARS ACQUISITIONS LIMITED
INDEPENDENT AUDITORS' REPORT TO THE MEMBERS OF GREYFRIARS ACQUISITIONS 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
Statutory Auditors
10 Queen Street Place
EC4R 1AG
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GREYFRIARS ACQUISITIONS LIMITED
STATEMENT OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2023
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GREYFRIARS ACQUISITIONS LIMITED
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:
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