Introduction
The financial year 2024 has been a transformative one for HSO UK, marked by significant shifts in market dynamics. Over the course of the year, the company made a number of strategic realignments to position the company for the next phase of its growth.
The software and services market in which HSO operates is experiencing a significant and rapid transformation, reflecting a fundamental change in how technology is bought and consumed. Many organisations are shifting away from large-scale investment in enterprise-wide software deployments (e.g. ERP) and instead adopting a continuous improvement and innovation model. This shift means breaking down large projects into business releases that deliver faster time-to-value and continuous business improvement, demanding more agile and responsive solutions and services.
In 2024, HSO UK's revenue decreased from £58.3 million to £52.4 million. However, the story of the year was one of two very different halves, with re-structuring and other important changes in the first half of the year paying back strongly in the second half. It should be noted that the loss also reflects a significant bad-debt write-off due to the business failure of a large customer in the distribution sector.
To adapt to the market's shift towards continuous improvement and faster time-to-value models, we restructured our cost base to reflect our changing business priorities, with more focus on higher growth technologies such as Data, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Low-Code Application Development and Cloud Infrastructure. Reflecting the success of adding these new skills and capabilities to the business, revenue from our Cloud practices (AI, Data, Cloud Infrastructure and Low-Code) doubled in 2024.
It is, however, important to note that our strong legacy in Business Applications, along with our dedication to Microsoft and overall scale as a business, will continue to give HSO a distinct competitive advantage in the changing market. Microsoft itself has recognised the same advantage in its own go-to-market model, driving consumption through AI-infused business applications and enterprise-focused AI services to quickly become the sector leader in artificial intelligence foundation models and platforms.
Industry Focus and Customer Successes
HSO continues to invest in newer, high-growth vertical markets, notably Public Sector and Professional Services, in addition to its on-going investment in our long-established markets of Manufacturing, Distribution and Retail. This has resulted in over 30 new-name customers in the year, providing immediate and long-term revenue opportunities across all Microsoft technologies.
Notable successes were achieved in Professional Services organisations, including in Legal, Architectural, and Engineering firms. These organisations are undergoing significant disruption with technological innovation and competitive pressures mandating rapid investment in technology, in particular in generative AI. As an example, HSO has been helping one of the UK’s largest Legal firms in the adoption of AI for legal process automation.
In Public Sector, the company has enjoyed notable success in Local Government and Not-for-Profit organisations, particularly with the use of AI and Low-code applications. Local Government Re-organisation (LGR) in the UK presents an exciting opportunity for HSO as it requires consolidation of multiple platforms and data sources, and the use of AI to drive efficiency, cost saving and improvement in citizen services.
The Manufacturing sector continued to perform strongly, with high-profile wins and successful project completions, including new customers in energy, engineering, life sciences and food, and an award-winning major project go-live. In the Retail sector, HSO’s success has been underpinned by its long-standing expertise in Wholesale Distribution and our growing track record in serving large-scale, international retailers.
Investment in Intellectual Property and AI Technology
In 2024, HSO UK made significant strides in strengthening its position as a leader in sector-specific solutions by investing heavily in the development of intellectual property (IP) and advanced AI technologies. These efforts focused on extending Microsoft’s capabilities to create tailored AI solutions for enterprise-scale use, including the seamless integration of AI agents within ERP systems to add efficiencies to business operations.
To drive efficiencies and transformative outcomes for our customers, our consulting teams have been trained to identify high-value AI use cases, enabling them to deliver solutions optimised for each customer’s needs. The use of generative and agentic AI solutions as implementation tools has also shortened project timelines, reduced costs, and delivered faster time-to-value for clients.
This strategic focus on embedding AI and developing IP has positioned HSO UK as a leader in using advanced technology to meet the demands of a fast-changing market. These solutions enable us to price competitively, deliver value more quickly and maintain healthy margins and EBITDA.
Under the “360” branding, HSO now has Industry-focused solutions across Data, Low Code and Business Applications for all target sectors and sub-sectors, including: Local Government (gov360), Professional Services (legal360, AEC360, service360), Retail (retail360), Wholesale and Distribution (wholesale360) and Manufacturing (mfg360).
HSO works exclusively work with Microsoft technology, so the company invests considerable time and money into HSO's future strategy and relationship with Microsoft. As Microsoft invests in market-defining technology at an ever-increasing pace, so HSO expands its product portfolio and invests relentlessly in updating skills and knowledge to continue to offer technical leadership and excellence across the whole Microsoft portfolio. The HSO business is structured around technology practices in the form of “Service Lines” which mirror the structure of Microsoft’s product engineering and go-to-market teams, and this focus ensures HSO remains the industry benchmark for technical excellence, and in turn, for value to our customers.
Microsoft is also HSO’s primary go-to-market partner, and every year we increase investment in our engagement with their sales teams, taking advantage of the many sales and marketing incentives offered by Microsoft to HSO as a top 1% ‘Inner Circle’ partner. We also aim to ensure our professional services team is recognised as the most highly qualified and experienced Microsoft partner, through having the most Professional Certifications and Product Designations.
Outlook
HSO UK entered 2025 with a strong order book and sales pipeline. However, as noted in the previous annual report, the management team are conscious that the time to deal closure during the first half of this year might become protracted due to the impact of tariffs and wider economic uncertainties, which could see a continuing pattern of lumpy demand. Nevertheless, investment in technology by UK organisations continues apace, and HSO continues to be highly competitive due to the depth of its Microsoft skills, the maturity of its industry practices and its reputation in the market.
Conclusion
HSO prides itself on its ability to adapt quickly and sustainably to market changes. Going into 2025, we have a more diversified and lower-risk model, capable of addressing fast-changing market demands. We are confident that the investments we made in 2024 and our continued diversification and pivot to higher growth technologies, will enable HSO to build on its strong market position and drive further growth and success into the future.
Managing risks and uncertainties related to the business is an integral part of management and control. Management and the workforce identify, discuss, and manage risks and challenges that are associated with the respective business, project, customer, or contract continuously. The management culture is very risk averse from a financial and operational point of view. Employees at all levels and roles are supported to call out and register risks as soon they identify them; managing them is our core business.
Our processes include formally reviewing internal and external risks as quickly as possible, including risks facing our customers, their businesses and/or their projects and we manage these accordingly. We have categorised risks and uncertainties in the following categories:
Strategic
The types of business solutions, applications and services needed by our customers continue to expand rapidly because of changing business environments and in turn shifting technology requirements. New and existing clients alike are investing heavily in agile cloud-based solutions resulting in a steady stream of new project services and support opportunities.
Changes to freedom of movement post Brexit restricted our ability to recruit freely from EU countries during 2023 requiring an increase in Visa sponsorship. However, to help mitigate any potential risk of being able to meet demand, the company provides an array of staff retention initiatives such as technical and soft skills training plus many staff engagement and support programs.
HSO recognises the stresses on our workforce that come with working in such a rapidly changing industry. Our employees constantly need to acquire new skills and tools to meet the fast-changing needs of customers, who themselves are working under more pressure than ever before. HSO’s internal training team supported by the HSO Academy have played a large role in ensuring HSO and our people are the most skilled in the industry and at the forefront of innovation.
HSO has always given the highest priority to employee wellbeing. The management team continues its focus on and investment in strong communication, sustainable working, learning and development, employee engagement, diversity and inclusion, community, and mental health support.
During 2024 and into the early part of 2025, HSO UK created important new positions in Financial and Contractual governance, and invested heavily in leadership talent to support the growth and diversification strategy described above, including the hiring of a new joint Managing Director and new leaders of our ERP and CRM technology practices.
Financial
HSO Enterprise Solutions continues to work to protect and improve professional services profitability, thus reducing the dependency on software license revenue and margins to deliver positive EBIT. Across our consulting engagements, we take full advantage of the offerings of the HSO Global Services team which provide packaged solutions which can be embedded into our consultancy services, for example Testing as a Service (TaaS). The continued development of templates, accelerators and HSO-developed IP also provides the dual benefit of providing more cost-effective solutions for our customers, at a higher margin.
HSO checks the financial position of potential customers before engaging and contracting. However, financial checks alone do not always tell the whole story. Reading signals such as a change of CIO, CFO or CEO sometimes indicates more than balance sheets do.
HSO continues to focus on cash flow and collections, reducing the overall exposure on receivables. Improvements include involving resources that are close to the customer (project managers, account managers) to support timely collections and building good relationships with our customers' finance departments.
The company has no loans or credit lines; therefore, a change in interest rates would have no impact.
Our services revenues are the result of projects or annual managed services contracts. Larger projects or contracts may represent up to 10% of the total service revenue; therefore, project or contract related risks need to be limited and distributed.
Our delivery approach and methodology is to organise projects into multiple Business Releases, each with its own scope, time and budget. Our project contracts or statements of work are based on phases within each Business Release, providing a clear definition of project deliverables.
Business Releases are further divided into phases including Definition, Foundation, Analysis, Design, Develop, Deliver, Deploy and Operation. Our methodology is supported by tools, systems and templates to control project risks. Optimisation of our approach and methodology is a continuous process as is investment in templates to accelerate and standardise deliverables.
On behalf of the board
The directors present their annual report and financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2024.
The results for the year are set out on page 11.
Ordinary dividends were paid amounting to £5,440,000. The directors do not recommend payment of a final dividend.
The directors who held office during the year and up to the date of signature of the financial statements were as follows:
The auditor, PM+M Solutions for Business LLP, is deemed to be reappointed under section 487(2) of the Companies Act 2006.
During the year, the company consumed 2.2 kWh (2023 - 1.9m kWh) of energy.
There were no direct emissions of CO2.
The volume of CO2 equivalent produced through indirect emissions by the purchase of electricity was 17 tonnes (2023 - 11 tonnes) and fuel consumed for transport not owned by the group was 791 tonnes (2023 - 769 tonnes).
The chosen intensity measurement ratio is total gross emissions in metric tonnes CO2e per employee. This was 3.41 metric tonnes CO2e per employee in 2024 (2023: 2.33).
Company law requires the directors to prepare financial statements for each financial year. Under that law the directors have elected to prepare the financial statements in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice (United Kingdom Accounting Standards and applicable law). Under company law, the directors must not approve the financial statements unless they are satisfied that they give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the company and of the profit or loss of the company for that period.
In preparing these financial statements, the directors are required to:
select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;
make judgements and accounting estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
state whether applicable UK Accounting Standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements; and
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 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.
We have audited the financial statements of HSO Enterprise Solutions Limited (the 'company') for the year ended 31 December 2024 which comprise the statement of income and retained earnings, the balance sheet and notes to the financial statements, including 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).
Basis for opinion
Conclusions relating to going concern
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.
Other information
Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006
In our opinion, based on the work undertaken in the course of our 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.
Extent to which the audit was considered capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud
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 identify and assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to fraud or error, and then design and perform audit procedures responsive to those risks, including obtaining audit evidence that is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.
Identifying and assessing potential risks related to irregularities
In identifying and assessing risks of material misstatement in respect of irregularities, including fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations, we have considered the following:
the nature of the industry and sector, control environment and business performance including the design of the Company's remuneration policies, key drivers for directors’ remuneration, bonus levels and performance targets;
results of our enquiries of management about their own identification and assessment of the risks of irregularities;
the matters discussed among the audit engagement team and relevant specialists regarding how and where fraud might occur in the financial statements and any potential indicators of fraud;
any matters we identified having obtained and reviewed the Company's documentation of their policies and procedures relating to:
identifying, evaluating and complying with laws and regulations and whether they were aware of any instances of non-compliance;
detecting and responding to the risks of fraud and whether they have knowledge of any actual, suspected or alleged fraud;
the internal controls established to mitigate risks of fraud or non-compliance with laws and regulations.
As a result of these procedures, 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 commercial income, posting of unusual journals and complex transactions; and manipulating the Company's performance profit measures and other key performance indicators to meet remuneration targets and externally communicated targets. In common with all audits under ISAs (UK), we are also required to perform specific procedures to respond to the risk of management override.
We also obtained an understanding of the legal and regulatory frameworks that the Company operates in, focusing on provisions of those laws and regulations that had a direct effect on the determination of material amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. The key laws and regulations we considered in this context included UK Companies Act, employment law, health and safety regulations, pensions legislation and tax legislation.
Audit response to risks identified
Our procedures to respond to risks identified included the following:
reviewing the financial statement disclosures and testing to supporting documentation to assess compliance with provisions of relevant laws and regulations described as having a direct effect on the financial statements;
enquiring of management concerning actual and potential litigation and claims;
performing analytical procedures to identify any unusual or unexpected relationships that may indicate risks of material misstatement due to fraud;
reading minutes of meetings of those charged with governance and reviewing correspondence with HMRC; and
in addressing the identified risks of fraud through management override of controls, testing the appropriateness of journal entries and other adjustments; assessing whether the judgements made in making accounting estimates are indicative of a potential bias; and evaluating the business rationale of any significant transactions that are unusual or outside the normal course of business.
Owing to the inherent limitations of an audit, there is an unavoidable risk that we may not have detected some material misstatements in the financial statements, even though we have properly planned and performed our audit in accordance with auditing standards. For example, the further removed non-compliance with laws and regulations (irregularities) is from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, the less likely the inherently limited procedures required by auditing standards would identify it. In addition, as with any audit, there remained a higher risk of non-detection of irregularities, as these may involve collusion, forgery, intentional omissions, misrepresentations, or the override of internal controls. We are not responsible for preventing non-compliance and cannot be expected to detect non-compliance with all laws and regulations.
A further description of our responsibilities is available on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at: https://www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor's report.
Use of our 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.
The profit and loss account has been prepared on the basis that all operations are continuing operations.
HSO Enterprise Solutions Limited is a private company limited by shares incorporated in England and Wales. The registered office is 3rd Floor, Jackson House, Sibson Road, Sale M33 7RR.
The financial statements are prepared in sterling, which is the functional currency of the company. Monetary amounts in these financial statements are rounded to the nearest £.
This company is a qualifying entity for the purposes of FRS 102, being a member of a group where the parent of that group prepares publicly available consolidated financial statements, including this company, which are intended to give a true and fair view of the assets, liabilities, financial position and profit or loss of the group. The company has therefore taken advantage of exemptions from the following disclosure requirements:
Section 7 ‘Statement of Cash Flows’: Presentation of a statement of cash flow and related notes and disclosures;
Section 33 ‘Related Party Disclosures’: Compensation for key management personnel.
The financial statements of the company are consolidated in the financial statements of HSO UK Holding Limited. These consolidated financial statements are available from its registered office, 3rd Floor Jackson House, Sibson Road, Sale, England, M33 7RR.
The company has adequate financial resources along with a diverse spread of customers. There is no over reliance on any single customer. The directors have prepared forecasts for this business, considering the change in trading position since the year end. Consequently, they believe that the company is well placed to manage its business risks successfully despite the current uncertain economic environment. Thus, they continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing these financial statements.
Basic financial assets, which include debtors and cash and bank balances, are initially measured at transaction price including transaction costs and are subsequently carried at amortised cost. Financial assets classified as receivable within one year are not amortised.
Financial assets are derecognised only when the contractual rights to the cash flows from the asset expire or are settled, or when the company transfers the financial asset and substantially all the risks and rewards of ownership to another entity, or if some significant risks and rewards of ownership are retained but control of the asset has transferred to another party that is able to sell the asset in its entirety to an unrelated third party.
Financial liabilities and equity instruments are classified according to the substance of the contractual arrangements entered into. An equity instrument is any contract that evidences a residual interest in the assets of the company after deducting all of its liabilities.
Basic financial liabilities, including creditors, bank loans, loans from fellow group companies, are initially recognised at transaction price unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the debt instrument is measured at the present value of the future payments discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial liabilities classified as payable within one year are not amortised.
Trade creditors are obligations to pay for goods or services that have been acquired in the ordinary course of business from suppliers. Amounts payable are classified as current liabilities if payment is due within one year or less. If not, they are presented as non-current liabilities. Trade creditors are recognised initially at transaction price and subsequently measured at amortised cost.
Financial liabilities are derecognised when the company’s contractual obligations expire or are discharged or cancelled.
In the application of the company’s accounting policies, the directors are required to make judgements, estimates and assumptions about the carrying amount of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. The estimates and associated assumptions are based on historical experience and other factors that are considered to be relevant. Actual results may differ from these estimates.
The estimates and underlying assumptions are reviewed on an ongoing basis. Revisions to accounting estimates are recognised in the period in which the estimate is revised where the revision affects only that period, or in the period of the revision and future periods where the revision affects both current and future periods.
The main areas of judgement that have a risk of causing material adjustment to the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities within the next financial year, are in relation to trade debtor provisions, see note 10 for carrying amount. All estimates and assumptions surrounding the impairment of trade debtor balances are based on past knowledge and current commercial awareness.
After the year end amounts totalling £842,281 were received in relation to incentives revenue which has not been recognised within these financial statements. This revenue related to 2024 but did not meet the reliable estimate criteria for recognising revenue within the FRS102 reporting standard at the year end. Therefore, the revenue will be recognised in the 2025 financial statements.
The average monthly number of persons (including directors) employed by the company during the year was:
Their aggregate remuneration comprised:
The number of directors for whom retirement benefits are accruing under defined contribution schemes amounted to 2 (2023 - 2).
During the year, the company made a payment for loss of office amounting to £23,643 to a director. This payment is included in the total directors' remuneration for the year.
The actual (credit)/charge for the year can be reconciled to the expected (credit)/charge for the year based on the profit or loss and the standard rate of tax as follows:
After the year end amounts totalling £842,281 were received in relation to incentives revenue which has not been recognised within these financial statements. This revenue related to 2024 but did not meet the reliable estimate criteria for recognising revenue within the FRS102 reporting standard at the year end. Therefore, the revenue will be recognised in the 2025 financial statements.
The amounts owed to group undertakings have no fixed repayment terms and are interest free.
The following are the major deferred tax liabilities and assets recognised by the company and movements thereon:
The company operates a defined contribution pension scheme for all qualifying employees. The assets of the scheme are held separately from those of the company in an independently administered fund.
At the balance sheet date, the total outstanding pension contributions were £24,202 (2023: 246,001).
On 11 October 2019, a fixed and floating charge over all assets of the company was created by Wilmington Trust (London) Limited.
At the reporting end date the company had outstanding commitments for future minimum lease payments under non-cancellable operating leases, which fall due as follows: