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Registered number:
For the year ended
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F.M. BIRCH LIMITED
Company Information
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F.M. BIRCH LIMITED
Contents
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F.M. BIRCH LIMITED
Strategic report
For the year ended 31 January 2025
The directors present their strategic report for the year ended 31 January 2025.
F M Birch Limited specialises in the wholesale distribution of floorcoverings, such as carpets, carpet tiles, matting, decorative vinyls, safety flooring, laminates, underlays and associated accessories, to trade customers.
Our principal customer base is in Yorkshire and the bordering counties and is serviced from our three trade counter locations in Sheffield (HQ), Hull & Leeds. We supply to several national projects and framework agreements through a well-established logistics network. During the year the company delivered a reasonable financial performance despite overall results being below target in several key areas. Despite the market conditions the underlaying financial position of the business remains very strong both in terms of liquidity and asset base. Recession in late 2023 gave way to a modest economic recovery but consumer confidence remained very low against a backdrop of a continuing cost of living crisis, high inflation and relatively high interest rates. The Construction sector also remained sluggish and a hoped for increase in housebuilding did not materialise to any great extent. The change of government in July, resulted in stalled public spending in advance of the elections and for some months afterwards in some key areas of infrastructure investment which, in turn, impacted our sector. Tax changes announced in the new government’s Autumn statement, as well as repeated announcements suggesting that economic conditions were going to get worse before they got better had a negative impact on both consumer and business confidence adversely impacting both spending and investment. The company recruited to several roles, which are expected to strengthen the management team, going forward, and enhance company performance in several key areas. We continue the development of own brand and exclusive product lines, as a way of insulating us against margin pressure on generic product lines.
A volatile global geo-political situation, and a change of government in the USA where the threatened and realised imposition of trade tariffs has fractured long standing trade relationships, as well as unresolved conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East suggest that ongoing uncertainty could affect oil prices, financial markets and shipping costs.
Competitive activity within our marketplace remains intense with aggressive pricing being the keystone strategy of those of our competitors with national coverage, to an extent where there seems to be an increasing desperation to their behaviour. Selling into goods retail for consumption by households had been where margins were healthiest but continuing pressure on household budgets has depressed demand which means that margins in that area have come under pressure too as oversupply continues to be an issue.
Reduced demand and oversupply in the marketplace, coupled with aggressive pricing from competitors led to a 3.4% fall in turnover, a 5.1% fall in gross profit and gross profit margin reducing by 0.4%, year on year.
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F.M. BIRCH LIMITED
Strategic report (continued)
For the year ended 31 January 2025
A continued focus on the ESG and CSR profile of the business, has been instrumental in some positive outcomes in securing or maintaining key supply contracts.
All our gas and electricity requirements now come from renewable resources, and we have continued our investment in Electric Vehicles and chargers, as well as closely monitoring of other fuel consumption and route planning across our Euro 6 compliant HGV fleet. We have recently renewed both our ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 14001:2015 accreditations and have appointed a project team to improve on current performance on resource consumption and environmental best practice. As part of our commitment to our staff welfare programme we have become an accredited Living Wage employer as defined by the Living Wage Foundation, and considering ways to further enhance employee benefits.
This report was approved by the board on 16 September 2025 and signed on its behalf.
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F.M. BIRCH LIMITED
Directors' report
For the year ended 31 January 2025
The directors present their report and the financial statements for the year ended 31 January 2025.
The directors are responsible for preparing the Strategic report, the Directors' report and the 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 Company'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 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 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 hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
The profit for the year, after taxation, amounted to £216,387 (2024 -£640,680).
No final dividend is proposed.
The directors who served during the year were:
Certain matters required by regulation to be dealt with in the annual report have been dealt with in the strategic report rather than the Directors' report, these matters include future developments.
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F.M. BIRCH LIMITED
Directors' report (continued)
For the year ended 31 January 2025
The auditors, J S Bethell & Co, 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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F.M. BIRCH LIMITED
Independent auditors' report to the members of F.M. Birch Limited
We have audited the financial statements of F.M. Birch Limited (the 'Company') for the year ended 31 January 2025, which comprise the Profit and loss account, the Statement of comprehensive income, the Analysis of net debt, the Balance sheet, the Statement of cash flows, the 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 Company 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 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.
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.
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F.M. BIRCH LIMITED
Independent auditors' report to the members of F.M. Birch Limited (continued)
In our opinion, based on the work undertaken in the course of the 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.
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 Directors' report.
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F.M. BIRCH LIMITED
Independent auditors' report to the members of F.M. Birch 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 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 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 gained an understanding of the legal and regulatory framework applicable to the company and the industry in which it operates, and considered the risk of such regulations, including fraud. We focused on laws and regulations which could give rise to a material misstatement in the financial statements, including but not limited to, the Companies Act 2006 and UK tax legislation and we considered the extent to which non-compliance might have a material effect on the financial statements. We evaluated whether there was evidence of management override of internal controls and bias by the directors in determining accounting estimates that represented a risk of material misstatement due to fraud. Audit procedures performed by the engagement team included, discussions with management including consideration of known or suspected instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations, challenging assumptions and judgments made by management in their significant accounting estimates, identifying and testing journal entries and review of the nominal ledger and reviewing the financial statement disclosures and agreeing to underlying supporting documentation. We have considered the risk of fraud in revenue and have carried out audit procedures to ensure that revenue is being recognised in accordance with appropriate accounting standards and therefore not materially misstated.
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.
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F.M. BIRCH LIMITED
Independent auditors' report to the members of F.M. Birch Limited (continued)
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
Chartered Accountants
Registered Auditor
70 Clarkehouse Road
S10 2LJ
Date:
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F.M. BIRCH LIMITED
Profit and loss account
For the year ended 31 January 2025
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F.M. BIRCH LIMITED
Statement of comprehensive income
For the year ended 31 January 2025
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F.M. BIRCH LIMITED
Registered number: 00196854
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 15 to 28 form part of these financial statements.
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