for the Period Ended 31 October 2024
| Directors report | |
| Profit and loss | |
| Balance sheet | |
| Additional notes | |
| Balance sheet notes |
Directors' report period ended
The directors present their report with the financial statements of the company for the period ended 31 October 2024
Principal activities of the company
Additional information
OBJECTIVES The Trust runs centres for residential and day conferences. There are currently three centres; The Hayes in Derbyshire, High Leigh in Hertfordshire and Highgate House in Northamptonshire. Our centres have a rich Christian legacy with which many of our groups are connected. As the charity is non-denominational in outlook we aim to provide inclusive, safe, comfortable and welcoming places of conference and prayer where, in the words of one of our founders, “all Christians might meet and take counsel together about the affairs of the kingdom of God”. We put this into effect by: 1 Seeking God’s leading for the Trust in all that we do 2 Organising ourselves to meet our guests’ requirements, rather than expecting them to meet ours 3 Striving to treat our guests as we would wish to be treated 4 Valuing each member of staff, providing them with support and training as necessary, offering employment based on a mutually beneficial relationship, and recruiting in the expectation that the Trust’s Christian ethos will be honoured and promoted 5 Empowering and encouraging each member of staff to take decisions that improve or enhance each guest’s experience of our centres 6 Playing our part as an interested and concerned corporate citizen in each community where we operate. Where there is excess capacity, the Trust additionally provides hospitality and conference facilities to charities and public sector organisations that are not primarily Christian, through a wholly owned subsidiary company, First Conference Estate Ltd. All taxable profits of the subsidiary are gifted to the Trust. PERFORMANCE AND ACHIEVEMENTS We thank God for another blessed year of operation with strong demand from churches and Christian groups spending time away together in residential ministry at our centres. We achieved 119,100 visitor nights for the year (2022/23:101,500) the vast majority of which were attributable to churches and Christian groups as we continue to deliver the principal objective of the charity by being able to provide these groups with the benefit of charges at less than the commercial rate. A combination of great value, beautiful well-located venues and warm Christian service consistently leads to very high levels of guest satisfaction and repeat bookings. In February 2024 the Trust completed the acquisition of Highgate House in Northamptonshire, with the centre opening to guests in June 2024. In launching a third centre, the Trust is able to offer 30% more space for Christian groups to benefit from rates that are on average half the price of commercial venues. Following several months of operation, Highgate House is already proving to be a very popular centre with Christian groups. In October 2024 the board of trustees approved a £2m project to build a major new conference hall at High Leigh, with works commencing on site in February 2025. We thank God that this project was funded entirely through the generosity of a Christian donor. We are blessed with a committed and servant-hearted staff team, many of whom live in the local community in which each of our centres are located. During the year we celebrated our inaugural Hospitality Academy graduation at Highgate House as part of our existing Pathways programme. We also invested heavily in our learning and development environment during the year, to ensure our staff team continue to be well trained and equipped. FINANCIAL REVIEW 2023/24 Income Trading income for 2023/24 was £8.5m (2022/23: £7.8m) with an additional £1.3m restricted donation (2022/23: nil) towards the new conference hall at High Leigh. Total income this period therefore being £9.8m. Expenditure Total expenditure for 2023/24 amounted to £9.2m (2022/23: £7.5m) after renovation costs of £358k in the new Highgate House centre and £808k in property upgrades (included within repair costs shown in note 7). The Trust regularly invests significant surpluses to upgrade facilities available to guests and additionally upgraded assets by a further £883k this year (shown within note 12). Total cash reinvestment in property and assets this period therefore being £2m. Funds Movement Net expenditure for the year detailed above resulted in an overall annual loss of £679k (2022/23: surplus £235k). Reserves Policy and Financial Position As shown in the group’s balance sheet on page 14, the total funds at the end of the year amounted to £11.4m (2022/23: £10.8m) representing unrestricted funds of £10.1m (2022/23: £10.7m) and restricted funds of £1.3m (2022/23 £nil).The realisation of these funds being achievable by disposition of fixed assets held for charity use. Related Parties The Christian Conference Trust has a wholly owned subsidiary, First Conference Estate Ltd. During the year a management charge of £1.3m (2022/23 £1.2m) was made by the Trust to the subsidiary company. PLANS FOR THE FUTURE In January 2025 the board of trustees approved our 2030 strategic plan. This strategic plan is called “Investing” because we are committed to investing through two main strategic pillars; invest-to-protect and invest-to-grow. Invest-to-protect is about sustainability and excellence. It’s about maintaining our sweet spot and de-risking the organisation with a core focus on doing what we do well. Invest-to-grow pillar is about opportunity and impact, extending our reach as we take a risk-based approach to opportunities for growth. These two strategic pillars are driven by five clear strategic principles: charitable-objective fulfilling, faith-led, risk-savvy, change-ready and investment-centric. Our 2030 strategic plan includes the following areas of targeted investment; Our Christian ethos and values Our staff Our market knowledge Our organisational resilience Quality of guest experience Our centres Our environment Our governance We believe we have a particular opportunity in this next strategic cycle to develop a voice-strategy or thought leadership for the changing church. We are well positioned to develop this role from the strong position our doctrinal neutrality affords us together with the shop-window we are for the church. We are seeing unprecedented change in our target market, with essentially traditional denominations declining and newer ones growing. We want to ensure that our offering continues to be relevant and attractive to a changing market, while also cautiously exploring product and market development to satisfy the significant demand for Christian residential conferencing. We are blessed as a charity to run a financially sustainable organisation which does not require financial support for day-to-day operating costs. As we deliver against our 2030 strategy we are prayerfully building relationships with those who the Lord has blessed materially who may be able to support our vision for investment, whether organic or inorganic. As part of our 2030 strategic deliverables, work began on a new 300-seater conference hall at High Leigh in February 2025, with the new facility scheduled to open to guests in early 2026. We pray that this investment will be a great blessing to the church. In early 2025 we launched our new learning and development portal for staff training, covering a wide range of operational and management tools, from food hygiene to hospitality service excellence. We continue our journey of environmental stewardship in partnership with A Rocha UK, with a growing understanding across the Trust of our responsibilities and opportunities as a charity. We have a dedicated environmental budget to help us reduce our carbon footprint and increase biodiversity and will complete our second carbon footprint assessment in 2025. The Trustees' Report, including the Strategic Report, was approved by the Board and signed on its behalf by: Andy Lucas, Chair 10 April 2025
Directors
The directors shown below have held office during the whole of the period from
1 November 2023
to
31 October 2024
The director shown below has held office during the period of
1 November 2023
to
7 October 2024
The director shown below has held office during the period of
1 November 2023
to
30 April 2024
The director shown below has held office during the period of
1 November 2023
to
15 April 2024
The director shown below has held office during the period of
1 May 2024
to
31 October 2024
The director shown below has held office during the period of
11 April 2024
to
31 October 2024
Secretary
The above report has been prepared in accordance with the special provisions in part 15 of the Companies Act 2006
This report was approved by the board of directors on
And signed on behalf of the board by:
Name:
Status: Director
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The notes form part of these financial statements
This report was approved by the board of directors on
and signed on behalf of the board by:
Name:
Status: Director
The notes form part of these financial statements
for the Period Ended 31 October 2024
Basis of measurement and preparation
Turnover policy
Tangible fixed assets depreciation policy
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