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Registered number:
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2024
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WELCH'S GROUP HOLDINGS LIMITED
COMPANY INFORMATION
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WELCH'S GROUP HOLDINGS LIMITED
CONTENTS
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WELCH'S GROUP HOLDINGS LIMITED
GROUP STRATEGIC REPORT
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2024
The Directors present their Strategic Report incorporating the business review, which includes the principal risks and uncertainties of the business and key performance indicators.
The Directors aim to present a balanced and comprehensive review of the development and performance of the business during the year and its position at the year end. The review is consistent with the size and nature of the business and is written in the context of risks and uncertainties faced.
Group turnover in the year amounted to £16,123,325 (2023 - £15,717,999) with overall operating profit amounting to £384,176 (2023 - £1,123,388) and profit before tax amounting to £473,389 (2023 - £1,172,674). Included in the operating profit and profit before tax for the year was a gain of £Nil (2023 - £729,000) relating to the revaluation of the Group's investment properties. The Group's trading activities continue to be primarily undertaken by Welch’s Transport Limited, a subsidiary undertaking. The reduction in turnover, operating profit and profit before tax arose from a difficult year whereby volumes from most of the subsidiary undertaking's customer base showing little growth resulting in both storage, distribution and motor trade activities all recording lower profits. A restructuring of the sales and business development function mid-year, along with the deployment of additional resource did yield positive results towards the end of the year with several business wins from both new and existing customers, which will bring additional volumes during the year ending 31 December 2025. As at 31 December 2024, the subsidiary undertaking's sales pipeline is strong. During the year customers have remained extremely price sensitive but were accepting of price increases where a sound justification was put forward particularly when accompanied by improved service offerings and management information. Customer service levels, measured by objective KPI’s, remained consistently high and the Company has started to see the full benefit of the investment in the new Traffic, Dealer and Warehouse Management System implemented in the previous year. Capital expenditure on vehicles and trailers remained consistent during the year and in line with the Group's vehicle replacement policies. The refurbishment programme also continued as planned. Trailer prices fell back from the previously inflated levels and whilst truck prices did not, they have plateaued and numerous ‘cancelled orders’ at more favourable prices were in evidence. After deploying its first fully electric 19 tonne LGV in the year ended 31 December 2023, the Group deployed its first maximum weight artic during the year with a second due deployed in quarter one 2025. As part of the Group's journey to net Zero, six bay hyper chargers with 1 Mw dedicated supplies were ordered for both Bedford and Duxford depots, which will future proof both depots albeit at a seven-figure cost. Both are expected to be operational by mid-2025. This was as part of one the Department of Transports ‘Zero Emission’ projects, which means an element of grant funding was obtained. The Group's 65% owned subsidiary, JPS Installs Limited, had another difficult year and failed to contribute materially to the consolidated Group’s results. TBM Fulfilment Solution UK Ltd, the Group’s 50% owned e-commerce and fulfilment business, produced a reasonable profit during the year benefiting the Group result albeit the move to bigger premises mid-year increased the ongoing cost base and incurred several large one-off costs. It is, however, now well placed for significant growth in the coming years.
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WELCH'S GROUP HOLDINGS LIMITED
GROUP STRATEGIC REPORT (CONTINUED)
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2024
Whilst the Directors are aware that any plans for future development of the business may be subject to unforeseen events outside of their control, particularly given the new administrations both at home and in America, they view the coming year with guarded confidence.
The Group has for many years believed that outright ownership of its asset base and avoiding any form of borrowing is in its best interests and, other than the occasional modest loan for the purchase of property, intends to continue with this policy. As such the Group has little exposure to financial, credit or interest rate risk. The capping of Business Property Relief will have a significant impact on the business and will limit investment in the coming years as the business attempts to build cash given that the inheritance tax liability that the principal shareholders now face are unaffordable at a personal level. The industries that the business operates in can be dangerous, but the Group believes that its systems, processes and general culture limit these risks as far as possible. External consultants support the management team in continually promoting a proactive approach to Health and Safety in all areas of the business. The Group’s Quality and Environmental management system continue to be externally accredited to the ISO 9001 and 14001 standards. The transport depots support the voluntary Freight Operators Recognition Scheme (FORS) with the Cambridge location currently accredited to the silver standard whilst the St Ives depot is accredited to the gold standard.
The Directors consider that the key financial performance indicators are those that communicate the financial performance and strength of the Group as a whole, these being turnover, operating profit, cash balances and return on capital employed.
The Directors consider the main other key performance indicators are the delivery performance, compliance, utilisation and productivity of its transport operations, which are monitored daily, and a range of criteria on the motor trade side of the business, which are regularly reviewed by our franchise partners.
This report was approved by the Board of Directors and signed on its behalf.
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WELCH'S GROUP HOLDINGS LIMITED
DIRECTORS' REPORT
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2024
The Directors present their report and the financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2024.
The principal activity of the Company was that of an investment holding company.
The profit for the year, after taxation and minority interests, amounted to £341,295 (2023 - £841,863).
An interim dividend of £6,000 (2023 - £6,000) was paid in the year on the Ordinary B shares. The Directors do not recommend the payment of a final dividend (2023 - £Nil)
The Directors who served during the year and to the date of this report, except as stated otherwise, were:
The Group maintains insurance, as permitted by Section 233 of the Companies Act 2006, for its Directors against liabilities incurred in relation to the companies within the Group.
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 judgements and accounting estimates that are reasonable and prudent; and
∙prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the Company and the Group will continue in business.
The Directors are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that are sufficient to show and explain the Group's and 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.
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WELCH'S GROUP HOLDINGS LIMITED
DIRECTORS' REPORT (CONTINUED)
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2024
The Directors intend to continue to grow all areas of the business in the foreseeable future.
The Group has exposures to two main areas of risk - liquidity risk and credit risk. To a lesser extent the Group is exposed to interest rate risk. The most significant financial risks to which the Group is exposed are described below:
Liquidity risk The Group seeks to manage financial risk by ensuring sufficient liquidity is available to meet foreseeable needs. The Group expects to meet its financial obligations through its operating cash flows. In the event that its operating cash flows are insufficient to cover all of the Group's financial obligations, short term flexibility could be obtained from third parties. Credit risk The Group’s principal financial assets are cash and trade debtors, with the main credit risk arising from its trade debtors. The Group manages credit risk by conducting thorough credit assessments for new customers, setting appropriate credit limits, and continuously monitoring creditworthiness. Credit limits are reviewed on a regular basis in conjunction with debt aging and collection history. Interest rate risk The Group is not exposed to significant interest rate fluctuations as it has no third party borrowings.
There have been no significant events affecting the Group since the year end requiring disclosure.
Under Section 487(2) of the Companies Act 2006, Peters Elworthy & Moore will be deemed to have been reappointed as auditor 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 of Directors and signed on its behalf.
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WELCH'S GROUP HOLDINGS LIMITED
INDEPENDENT AUDITOR'S REPORT TO THE MEMBERS OF WELCH'S GROUP HOLDINGS LIMITED
We have audited the financial statements of Welch's Group Holdings Limited (the 'Parent Company') and its subsidiaries (the 'Group') for the year ended 31 December 2024, which comprise of the Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income, the Consolidated Balance Sheet, the Company Balance Sheet, the Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity, the Company Statement of Changes in Equity, the Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows, 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 Auditor's 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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WELCH'S GROUP HOLDINGS LIMITED
INDEPENDENT AUDITOR'S REPORT TO THE MEMBERS OF WELCH'S GROUP HOLDINGS LIMITED (CONTINUED)
The other information comprises the information included in the Annual Report other than the financial statements and our Auditor's 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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WELCH'S GROUP HOLDINGS LIMITED
INDEPENDENT AUDITOR'S REPORT TO THE MEMBERS OF WELCH'S GROUP 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 Auditor's 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 Consolidated 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:
Our approach to identifying and assessing the risks of material misstatement in respect of irregularities, including fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations, was as follows:
∙the engagement partner ensured that the engagement team collectively had the appropriate competence, capabilities and skills to identify or recognise non-compliance with applicable laws and regulations;
∙we identified the laws and regulations applicable to the Group through discussions with the Directors and other management, and from our knowledge and experience of the haulage and transport sector;
∙we obtained an understanding of the legal and regulatory framework applicable to the Group and how the Group is complying with that framework;
∙we obtained an understanding of the Group’s policies and procedures on compliance with laws and regulations, including documentation of any instances of non-compliance;
∙we identified which laws and regulations were significant in the context of the Group. The laws and regulations we considered in this context were Companies Act 2006 and taxation legislation. We assessed the required compliance with these laws and regulations as part of our audit procedures on the related financial statement items;
∙in addition, we considered provisions of other laws and regulations which do not have a direct effect on the financial statements but compliance with which might be fundamental to the Group's ability to operate or to avoid material penalties; and
∙ensured laws and regulations were communicated within the audit team regularly and the team remained alert to instances of non-compliance throughout the audit.
We assessed the susceptibility of the Group’s financial statements to material misstatement, including obtaining an understanding of how fraud might occur, by:
∙making enquiries of management as to where they considered there was susceptibility to fraud, their knowledge of actual, suspected and alleged fraud; and
∙considering the internal controls in place to mitigate risks of fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations.
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WELCH'S GROUP HOLDINGS LIMITED
INDEPENDENT AUDITOR'S REPORT TO THE MEMBERS OF WELCH'S GROUP HOLDINGS LIMITED (CONTINUED)
To address the risk of fraud through management bias and override of controls, we;
∙tested journal entries to identify unusual transactions;
∙assessed whether judgements and assumptions made in determining the accounting estimates were indicative of potential bias; and
∙investigated the rationale behind significant or unusual transactions.
In response to the risk of irregularities and non-compliance with laws and regulations, we designed procedures which included, but were not limited to:
∙agreeing financial statement disclosures to underlying supporting documentation;
∙enquiring of management as to actual and potential litigation and claims; and
∙we reviewed minutes of meetings of those charged with governance
There are inherent limitations in our audit procedures described above. The more removed that laws and regulations are from financial transactions, the less likely it is that we would become aware of non-compliance. Auditing standards also limit the audit procedures required to identify non-compliance with laws and regulations to enquiry of the Directors and other management and the inspection of regulatory and legal correspondence, if any.
Material misstatements that arise due to fraud can be harder to detect than those that arise from error as they may involve deliberate concealment or collusion
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 Auditor's 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 Auditor's 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
Salisbury House
Station Road
CB1 2LA
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WELCH'S GROUP HOLDINGS LIMITED
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2024
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WELCH'S GROUP HOLDINGS LIMITED
REGISTERED NUMBER: 01554970
CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEET
AS AT 31 DECEMBER 2024
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WELCH'S GROUP HOLDINGS LIMITED
REGISTERED NUMBER: 01554970
CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEET (CONTINUED)
AS AT 31 DECEMBER 2024
The financial statements were approved and authorised for issue by the Board of Directors and were signed on its behalf by:
The notes on pages 18 to 37 form part of these financial statements.
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WELCH'S GROUP HOLDINGS LIMITED
REGISTERED NUMBER: 01554970
COMPANY BALANCE SHEET
AS AT 31 DECEMBER 2024
The profit after tax of the Parent Company for the year was £224,670 (2023 - £839,928).
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WELCH'S GROUP HOLDINGS LIMITED
REGISTERED NUMBER: 01554970
COMPANY BALANCE SHEET (CONTINUED)
AS AT 31 DECEMBER 2024
The financial statements were approved and authorised for issue by the Board of Directors and were signed on its behalf by:
The notes on pages 18 to 37 form part of these financial statements.
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