The director presents the strategic report for the year ended 31 December 2024.

The company is an intermediate holding company, holding shares in its trading subsidiaries, as detailed in note 10.

The profit reported for the year, principally arises following a dividend received from a subsidiary.

At the year end, the company has net assets of £538k which the Directors believe is sufficient for a non-trading intermediate holding company.

The company is by default exposed to the risk and uncertainties associated with its trading subsidiaries.

As such, the company (and the wider group) uses various financial instruments including loans and various other items, such as debtors and creditors that arise directly from its operations. The main purpose of these financial instruments is to raise finance for the group’s operations.

The existence of these financial instruments exposes the group to a number of financial risks, which are described in more detail below. The Directors review and agree policies for managing these risks. These policies have remained unchanged from previous years.

Liquidity Risk

The company (and the wider group) seeks to manage financial risk by ensuring liquidity is available to meet foreseeable needs and to invest cash assets safely and profitably. Short-term flexibility is achieved by an invoice discounting facility.

Interest rate risk

The company (and the wider group) finances its operations through a combination of retained profits and finance leases and hire purchase contracts. The group exposure to interest rate fluctuations on its borrowings is managed by the use of both fixed and floating facilities.

Foreign currency risk

The company (and the wider group's) principal foreign currency exposures arise from trading with overseas companies. Group policy permits, but does not demand, that these exposures may be hedged in order to fix the cost in sterling.

Credit risk

The principal credit risk arises from the company's (and wider group’s) trade debtors.

All customers who wish to trade on credit terms are subject to credit verification procedures. Trade debtors are monitored on an ongoing basis and provision is made for doubtful debts where necessary.

The company reviews and monitors its performance against a number of key performance indicators both financial and non-financial. As an intermediate holding company, the principal measures include dividends received from subsidiaries, profit before tax, current assets and net assets. These are reviewed by the management team and reported to the Board on a monthly basis.

The Directors have and will continue to monitor all of the KPI’s and daily operating controls and maintain a strong focus on increasing performance in all aspects of the business.

The main KPI’s and corresponding results are as follows:

2024          2023

Dividends received from subsidiaries     £Nil          £585k

Profit/(loss) before tax                (£2k)         £583k

Net current assets              £346k          £498k

Net assets                 £538k          £540k

The company continues to receive dividends from its profitable trading subsidiaries.

The decrease in net assets is purely due to the voting of intra-group dividends of £0k (2023: £585k) up to the parent company. The Directors are satisfied that sufficient net assets have been retained in the company.

On behalf of the board

The director presents his annual report and financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2024.

The principal activity of the company continued to be that of a intermediate holding company.

The results for the year are set out on page 8.

No ordinary dividends were paid. The director does not recommend payment of a final dividend.

The director who held office during the year and up to the date of signature of the financial statements was as follows:

As an intermediate parent company, the future developments of the company are solely based on the continued success of its trading subsidiaries. The Directors continue to monitor and manage the trading subsidiaries, seeking growth through existing customers and expanding services and opportunities as they arise.

The company (and wider group) has sufficient financial resources in place to execute its strategy to develop for the future.

Sumer Auditco Limited is deemed to be reappointed under section 487(2) of the Companies Act 2006

So far as each person who was a director at the date of approving this report is aware, there is no relevant audit information of which the company’s auditor is unaware. Additionally, the directors individually have taken all the necessary steps that they ought to have taken as directors in order to make themselves aware of all relevant audit information and to establish that the company’s auditor is aware of that information.

This report has been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to companies entitled to the medium-sized companies exemption.

The director is responsible for preparing the annual report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and regulations.

Company law requires the director to prepare financial statements for each financial year. Under that law the director has 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 director must not approve the financial statements unless she is 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 director is required to:

• select suitable accounting policies 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 will continue in business.

The director is 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. She is 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 Brit European Transport (Holdings) Limited (the 'company') for the year ended 31 December 2024 which comprise the statement of comprehensive income, the balance sheet, the statement of changes in equity 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).

In our opinion the financial statements:

• give a true and fair view of the state of the company's affairs as at 31 December 2024 and of its loss for the year then ended;

• have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice; and

• have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006.

Basis for opinion

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 company in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’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.

Conclusions relating to going concern

In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the director's 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 director with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.

Other information

The other information comprises the information included in the annual report other than the financial statements and our auditor's report thereon. The director is 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.

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 director's report for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements; and

• the strategic report and the director's 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 director's report.

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Companies Act 2006 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:

• adequate accounting records have not been kept, or returns adequate for our audit have not been received from branches not visited by us; or

• the financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or

• certain disclosures of director's remuneration specified by law are not made; or

• we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit.

As explained more fully in the director's responsibilities statement, the director is responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the director determines is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error. In preparing the financial statements, the director is responsible for assessing the company's ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the director either intends to liquidate the company or to cease operations, or has no realistic alternative but to do so.

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 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 identified areas of laws and regulations that could reasonably be expected to have a material effect on the financial statements from our general commercial and sector experience, and through discussions with the directors (as required by auditing standards) and discussed with the directors the policies and procedures regarding compliance with laws and regulations. We communicated identified laws and regulations throughout our team and remained alert to any indications of non-compliance throughout the audit. The potential effect of these laws and regulations on the financial statements varies considerably.

Firstly, the company is subject to laws and regulations that directly affect the financial statements including financial reporting legislation and taxation legislation. We assessed the extent of compliance with these laws and regulations as part of our procedures on the related financial statement items.

Secondly, the company is subject to many other laws and regulations where the consequences of non-compliance could have a material effect on amounts or disclosures in the financial statements, for instance through the imposition of fines or litigation. We identified the following areas as those most likely to have such an effect: laws related to employment, health & safety and data protection.

Auditing standards limit the required audit procedures to identify non-compliance with these laws and regulations to enquiry of the directors and inspection of regulatory and legal correspondence, if any. Through these procedures we did not become aware of any actual or suspected non-compliance.

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.

We design procedures in line with our responsibilities, outlined below to detect material misstatement due to fraud:

• Matters are discussed amongst the audit engagement team regarding how and where fraud might occur in the financial statements and any potential indicators of fraud

• Identifying and assessing the design and effectiveness of controls that management have in place to prevent and detect fraud

• Detecting and responding to the risks of fraud following discussions with management and enquiring as to whether management have knowledge of any actual, suspected or alleged fraud;

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.

These financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the provisions relating to medium-sized companies.

Brit European Transport (Holdings) Limited is a private company limited by shares incorporated in England and Wales. The registered office is Vita Nova Centre, Sanderson Way, Middlewich, Cheshire, CW10 0GU.

These financial statements have been prepared in accordance with FRS 102 “The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland” (“FRS 102”) and the requirements of the Companies Act 2006.

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 £.

The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention. The principal accounting policies adopted are set out below.

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 11 ‘Basic Financial Instruments’ and Section 12 ‘Other Financial Instrument Issues’ – Carrying amounts, interest income/expense and net gains/losses for each category of financial instrument; basis of determining fair values; details of collateral, loan defaults or breaches, details of hedges, hedging fair value changes recognised in profit or loss and in other comprehensive income;

• Section 33 ‘Related Party Disclosures’ – Compensation for key management personnel.

The company has taken advantage of the exemption under section 400 of the Companies Act 2006 not to prepare consolidated accounts. The financial statements present information about the company as an individual entity and not about its group.

Brit European Transport (Holdings) Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of NS Cheshire (Holdings) Limited and the results of Brit European Transport (Holdings) Limited are included in the consolidated financial statements of NS Cheshire (Holdings) Limited. These consolidated financial statements are available on request from the company's registered office: Vita Nova Centre, Sanderson Way, Middlewich, Cheshire, CW10 0GU.

Atruet the time of approving the financial statements, the director has a reasonable expectation that the company has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. Thus the director continues to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing the financial statements.

Interests in subsidiaries are initially measured at cost and subsequently measured at cost less any accumulated impairment losses. The investments are assessed for impairment at each reporting date and any impairment losses or reversals of impairment losses are recognised immediately in profit or loss.

A subsidiary is an entity controlled by the company. Control is the power to govern the financial and operating policies of the entity so as to obtain benefits from its activities.

Cash and cash equivalents are basic financial assets and include cash in hand, deposits held at call with banks, other short-term liquid investments with original maturities of three months or less, and bank overdrafts. Bank overdrafts are shown within borrowings in current liabilities.

The company has elected to apply the provisions of Section 11 ‘Basic Financial Instruments’ and Section 12 ‘Other Financial Instruments Issues’ of FRS 102 to all of its financial instruments.

Financial instruments are recognised in the company's balance sheet when the company becomes party to the contractual provisions of the instrument.

Financial assets and liabilities are offset, with the net amounts presented in the financial statements, when there is a legally enforceable right to set off the recognised amounts and there is an intention to settle on a net basis or to realise the asset and settle the liability simultaneously.

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 using the effective interest method unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the transaction is measured at the present value of the future receipts discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial assets classified as receivable within one year are not amortised.

Other financial assets, including investments in equity instruments which are not subsidiaries, associates or joint ventures, are initially measured at fair value, which is normally the transaction price. Such assets are subsequently carried at fair value and the changes in fair value are recognised in profit or loss, except that investments in equity instruments that are not publicly traded and whose fair values cannot be measured reliably are measured at cost less impairment.

Financial assets, other than those held at fair value through profit and loss, are assessed for indicators of impairment at each reporting end date.

Financial assets are impaired where there is objective evidence that, as a result of one or more events that occurred after the initial recognition of the financial asset, the estimated future cash flows have been affected. If an asset is impaired, the impairment loss is the difference between the carrying amount and the present value of the estimated cash flows discounted at the asset’s original effective interest rate. The impairment loss is recognised in profit or loss.

If there is a decrease in the impairment loss arising from an event occurring after the impairment was recognised, the impairment is reversed. The reversal is such that the current carrying amount does not exceed what the carrying amount would have been, had the impairment not previously been recognised. The impairment reversal is recognised in profit or loss.

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 and preference shares that are classified as debt, 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.

Debt instruments are subsequently carried at amortised cost, using the effective interest rate method.

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 using the effective interest method.

Derivatives, including interest rate swaps and forward foreign exchange contracts, are not basic financial instruments. Derivatives are initially recognised at fair value on the date a derivative contract is entered into and are subsequently re-measured at their fair value. Changes in the fair value of derivatives are recognised in profit or loss in finance costs or finance income as appropriate, unless hedge accounting is applied and the hedge is a cash flow hedge.

Debt instruments that do not meet the conditions in FRS 102 paragraph 11.9 are subsequently measured at fair value through profit or loss. Debt instruments may be designated as being measured at fair value through profit or loss to eliminate or reduce an accounting mismatch or if the instruments are measured and their performance evaluated on a fair value basis in accordance with a documented risk management or investment strategy.

Financial liabilities are derecognised when the company’s contractual obligations expire or are discharged or cancelled.

Equity instruments issued by the company are recorded at the proceeds received, net of transaction costs. Dividends payable on equity instruments are recognised as liabilities once they are no longer at the discretion of the company.

Changes in the fair value of derivatives that are designated and qualify as fair value hedges are recognised in profit or loss immediately, together with any changes in the fair value of the hedged asset or liability that are attributable to the hedged risk.

The tax expense represents the sum of the tax currently payable and deferred tax.

The tax currently payable is based on taxable profit for the year. Taxable profit differs from net profit as reported in the profit and loss account because it excludes items of income or expense that are taxable or deductible in other years and it further excludes items that are never taxable or deductible. The company’s liability for current tax is calculated using tax rates that have been enacted or substantively enacted by the reporting end date.

Deferred tax liabilities are generally recognised for all timing differences and deferred tax assets are recognised to the extent that it is probable that they will be recovered against the reversal of deferred tax liabilities or other future taxable profits. Such assets and liabilities are not recognised if the timing difference arises from goodwill or from the initial recognition of other assets and liabilities in a transaction that affects neither the tax profit nor the accounting profit.

The carrying amount of deferred tax assets is reviewed at each reporting end date and reduced to the extent that it is no longer probable that sufficient taxable profits will be available to allow all or part of the asset to be recovered. Deferred tax is calculated at the tax rates that are expected to apply in the period when the liability is settled or the asset is realised. Deferred tax is charged or credited in the profit and loss account, except when it relates to items charged or credited directly to equity, in which case the deferred tax is also dealt with in equity. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are offset when the company has a legally enforceable right to offset current tax assets and liabilities and the deferred tax assets and liabilities relate to taxes levied by the same tax authority.

In the application of the company’s accounting policies, the director is 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.

Management consider that there are no key judgements in the application of accounting policies or key sources of uncertainty.

The average monthly number of persons (including directors) employed by the company during the year was:

The actual 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:

Details of the company's subsidiaries at 31 December 2024 are as follows:

The bank loan is secured by legal charges over the company's assets and an unlimited cross guarantee provided by certain subsidiary companies.

The bank loan is secured by legal charges over the company's assets and an unlimited cross guarantee provided by certain subsidiary companies.

Ordinary A shares of £1 each have full rights to votes, dividends and distribution arising on the winding up of the company. Ordinary B shares of £1 each only carry rights to dividends. All shares are non-redeemable.

The company has entered into an unlimited cross guarantee covering the borrowings of certain fellow group companies in favour of HSBC Bank PLC. At the balance sheet date the potential added liability for the company under these cross guarantees is £72,645 (2023: £449,574).

The company has taken advantage of the exemption provided in Financial Reporting Standard 102 Section 33 from disclosing related party transactions with group companies.

The ultimate parent company is NS Cheshire Holdings Limited, a company registered in England and Wales.

Brit European Transport (Holdings) Limited is consolidated into the NS Cheshire Holdings Limited group's financial statements. Copies of these consolidated accounts can be obtained from the group's registered office upon request, Vita Nova Centre, Sanderson Way, Middlewich, Cheshire, CW10 0GU

The ultimate controlling party was deemed to be G D Lackey by virtue of his majority shareholding in NS Cheshire (Holdings) Limited.