Registered number:
For the Year Ended
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Benchling UK Ltd
Company Information
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Benchling UK Ltd
Contents
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Benchling UK Ltd
Group Strategic Report
For the Year Ended 31 January 2024
The directors present their strategic report and financial statements for the year ended 31 January 2024.
The directors are satisfied with the performance of the Group. The directors continue to closely monitor and
analyse market conditions. The Group has an adequate system of risk management and internal controls. The Group made a loss in the year returning a net loss after tax of £4,550,355 (2023: loss of £4,741,070). £2,712,961 of this is attributed to the accounting treatment of the amortisation of goodwill. A further £1,764,593 is attributed to the stock based compensation expense in Overwatch Research Limited. The residual loss of £72,800 is attributed to the sales performance of the Overwatch Research Limited product studies. Globally, biotech funding is down as well as the public performance of biotech companies in various stock exchanges. As the Overwatch Research Limited product studies is primarily sold to Biotech companies, the struggles in the industry overall have led to revenue headwinds in the group, which causes the group to be in an overall loss position.
Globally, biotech funding is down as well as the public performance of biotech companies in various stock exchanges. As the Overwatch Research Limited product studies is primarily sold to Biotech companies, the struggles in the industry overall have led to revenue headwinds in the group, which causes the group to be in an overall loss position.
The Overwatch Research Limited engineering team was restructured at the end of the year so that all Overwatch engineers report to Chris Armstrong, the Overwatch Research Limited founder and still an employee of Overwatch Research Limited. Previously the Overwatch team reported to various engineering and product managers in Benchling Inc. We feel that the new reporting structure will increase the efficiency of the Overwatch team to improve the existing product as well as develop enhancements to the existing product. The Overwatch Research Limited product is now fully integrated into the overall Benchling platform and has met Benchling’s standards in terms of achieving SOC 1 status. We feel fully integrating the product into the full Benchling suite should help drive sales of studies.
The directors consider profit before tax as the main measure of financial performance. There has been an increase in turnover in the year from £7,022,655 in 2023 to £7,774,900 in 2024. Overall the pre-tax profit has improved from a loss of £4,741,070 in 2023 to a loss of £4,550,355 in 2024. £2,712,961 of this is attributed to the accounting treatment of the amortisation of goodwill. A further £1,764,593 is attributed to the stock based compensation expense in Overwatch Research Limited.
This report was approved by the board on 15 April 2025 and signed on its behalf.
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Benchling UK Ltd
Directors' Report
For the Year Ended 31 January 2024
The directors present their report and the financial statements for the year ended 31 January 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 loss for the year, after taxation, amounted to £4,550,355 (2023: loss of £4,741,070).
The directors who served during the year were:
The Overwatch Research Limited engineering team was restructured at the end of the year so that all overwatch engineers report to Chris Armstrong, the Overwatch Research Limited founder and still an employee of Overwatch Research Limited. Previously the overwatch team reported to various engineering and product managers in Benchling Inc. We feel that the new reporting structure will increase the efficiency of the Overwatch team to improve the existing product as well as develop enhancements to the existing product.
The Overwatch Research Limited product is now fully integrated into the overall Benchling platform and has met Benchling’s standards in terms of achieving SOC 1 status. We feel fully integrating the product into the full Benchling suite should help drive sales of studies.
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Benchling UK Ltd
Directors' Report (continued)
For the Year Ended 31 January 2024
There have been no significant events affecting the Group since the year end.
The auditors, Sumer Auditco NI 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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Benchling UK Ltd
Independent Auditors' Report to the Members of Benchling UK Ltd
We have audited the financial statements of Benchling UK Ltd (the 'parent Company') and its subsidiaries (the 'Group') for the year ended 31 January 2024, which comprise the Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income, the Consolidated Balance Sheet, the Company Balance Sheet, 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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Benchling UK Ltd
Independent Auditors' Report to the Members of Benchling UK Ltd (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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Benchling UK Ltd
Independent Auditors' Report to the Members of Benchling UK Ltd (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 considered the opportunities and incentives that may exist within the organisation for fraud and identified the greatest potential for fraud in the following areas: timing of recognition of income and posting of unusual journals including complex transactions. We discussed these risks with client management, designed audit procedures to test the timing of revenue, tested a sample of journals to confirm they were appropriate and reviewed areas of judgment for indicators of management bias to address these risks. 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
Statutory Auditors
4th Floor Glendinning House
6 Murray Street
BT1 6DN
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Benchling UK Ltd
Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income
For the Year Ended 31 January 2024
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Benchling UK Ltd
Registered number: 13783151
Consolidated Balance Sheet
As at
The financial statements were approved and authorised for issue by the board and were signed on its behalf on 15 April 2025.
The notes on pages 14 to 27 form part of these financial statements.
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Benchling UK Ltd
Registered number: 13783151
Company Balance Sheet
As at
The financial statements were approved and authorised for issue by the board and were signed on its behalf on
The notes on pages 14 to 27 form part of these financial statements.
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