REGISTERED NUMBER: 00425267 (England and Wales)

GROUP STRATEGIC REPORT, DIRECTORS' REPORT AND

CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2024

FOR

W.E.BLACK LIMITED

Page

Company Information

1

Group Strategic Report

2

Directors' Report

5

Report of the Independent Auditors

7

Consolidated Income Statement

11

Consolidated Other Comprehensive Income

12

Consolidated Balance Sheet

13

Company Balance Sheet

14

Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity

15

Company Statement of Changes in Equity

16

Consolidated Cash Flow Statement

17

Notes to the Consolidated Cash Flow Statement

18

Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements

19

DIRECTORS:

E J S Gadsden

J Long

S Gadsden

J Lyon

A B Stanton

SECRETARY:

J Long

REGISTERED OFFICE:

Hawridge Place

Hawridge

Chesham

Buckinghamshire

HP5 2ZD

REGISTERED NUMBER:

00425267 (England and Wales)

AUDITORS:

EV Accountants Limited

Chartered Accountants & Statutory Auditors

Unit 201, Second Floor

Metroline House

118-122 College Road

Harrow

Middlesex

HA1 1BQ

The directors present their strategic report of the company and the group for the year ended 31 December 2024.

REVIEW OF BUSINESS

Turnover for the year ended 31 December 2024, was £24,797,020 (2023 - £17,847,833) with profit after taxation of £9,205,136 (2023 - £5,695,378).

The group has continued to perform well in 2024, in what is viewed as a difficult market and the level of turnover has increased. Profitability has also increased in the present market. The group has been in profit for the last 16 years. The directors are satisfied with the performance of the group, and the directors expect to deliver a profit in the current financial year.

Financial performance

Financial performance for the year has been analysed as follows

2024

2023

Change

Change

£'000

£'000

£'000

%

Turnover

24,797

17,848

6,949

38.9

Gross profit

5,218

1,245

3,973

319.1

Profit before tax

12,229

7,849

4,380

55.8

Turnover has increased to £24.80 million from £17.85 million. During the year, 39 residential property units and 4 development projects were sold, compared to 24 residential property units and 5 development projects sold in 2023.

Gross profits have increased to £5.22 million from £1.25 million in 2023. The gross profit margin has increased to 21% (7% in 2023).

Profit before tax increased to £12.23 million from £7.85 million in 2023. The main reason for this was due to the increase in the sales.

PRINCIPAL RISKS AND UNCERTAINTIES

The management of the business and the nature of the group's strategy are subject to a number of risks.

The directors have set out below the principal risks facing the business.

The directors are of the opinion that a thorough risk management process is adopted which involves the formal review of all the risks identified below. Where possible, processes are in place to monitor and mitigate such risks.

Economic downturn

The success of the business is reliant on consumer spending and mortgage lending. An economic downturn, resulting in reduction of consumer spending power and difficulties in obtaining mortgage finance will have a direct impact on the income achieved by the group.

In response to this risk, senior management aim to keep abreast of economic conditions. Marketing and pricing strategies are modified to reflect any change in market conditions.

Financial risk management objectives and policies

The group uses various financial instruments including, cash, equity investments, joint venture arrangements, and various items, such as trade creditors and trade debtors 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 main risks arising from the group's financial instruments are market risk, cash flow and credit risk. The directors review and agree policies for managing each of these risks and they are summarised below. These policies have remained unchanged from previous periods.

Market risk

Market risk encompasses two types of risk, being fair value interest rate risk and price risk. The group's policies for managing fair value interest rate risk are considered along with those for managing cash flow interest rate risk and are set out in the subsection entitled "interest rate risk" below.

Liquidity risk

The group seeks to manage financial risk by ensuring sufficient liquidity is available to meet foreseeable needs and to invest cash assets safely and profitably.

Interest rate risk

The group finances its operations through a mixture of retained profits and standard trade finance. The group's exposure in interest rate fluctuations on its reserves is managed by the use of both fixed and floating rate facilities.

Creditor payment policy

The terms of sales collections and supplier payments reflect local commercial practice. The group has policies to ensure that suppliers are paid on time. In particular, the group seeks:

- To set terms of payment with suppliers when agreeing the terms of the transaction,

- To ensure that suppliers are made aware of the agreed terms of payment,

- To abide by the terms of payment.

SECTION 172(1) STATEMENT

The directors must act in the way they consider, in good faith, would most likely to promote the success of the group for the benefit of its members as a whole, and in doing so have regard to:

- long term consequences of any decisions

- the interest of the group's employees

- the need to foster the group's business relationships with suppliers, customers and others

- the impact of the group's operations on the community and the environment

- the desirability of the group maintaining a reputation for high standards of business conduct, and the need to act fairly as between members of the group.

KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

The directors have monitored the progress of the overall group strategy by reference to certain financial and non-financial key performance indicators. The indicators are listed below in the order of their importance.

2024

2022

Method of calculation

Net profit margin before tax (%)

49.3

44.0

Ratio of profit on ordinary activities before tax to total sales expressed as a percentage

Gross profit margin (%)

21.0

7.0

Ratio of gross profit to group sales expressed as a percentage

Turnover (£million)

25

18

Turnover achieved in the year

Growth / (Decline) in turnover (%)

39

(36)

Year-on-year turnover growth expressed as a percentage

Number of residential units sold

39

24

Number of private units with legal completion in the year

The directors continuously review all performance indicators, to ensure the most relevant key performance indicators are being monitored and focused upon.

Future developments for the business and outlook

The directors will continue to seek profitable business opportunities. At the start of 2024, the housing market had slowed as a result of the economic conditions and the fluctuations in interest rates which created uncertainties and market volatility. A stable market is the most important factor for the property section and the group and the company. These factors combined with the continuing political situation created an unpredictable property market which has affected the group's and company's performance from 2024 to 2025.

At the start of 2025, sales have been stable, but market uncertainty may affect the performance for the full year.

The directors expect the residential property market in 2025 to be challenging. However, the directors believe the group is well placed with its sites in good locations to deliver another profitable year. With cash reserves W.E.Black Limited is ready to secure development opportunities as they arise.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD:

E J S Gadsden - Director

12 October 2025

The directors present their report with the financial statements of the company and the group for the year ended 31 December 2024.

DIVIDENDS

During the year dividends of £1,891,260 (2023 - £8,553,899) were paid. The directors recommend that no final dividend be paid.

The total distribution of dividends for the year ended 31 December 2024 was £1,891,260 (2023 - £8,553,899).

DIRECTORS

The directors shown below have held office during the whole of the period from 1 January 2024 to the date of this report.

E J S Gadsden

J Long

S Gadsden

J Lyon

Other changes in directors holding office are as follows:

A B Stanton was appointed as a director after 31 December 2024 but prior to the date of this report.

DONATIONS AND EXPENDITURE

During the year the group made charitable donations of £25,978 (2023 - £22,934).

STATEMENT OF DIRECTORS' RESPONSIBILITIES

The directors are responsible for preparing the Group Strategic Report, the Directors' Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and regulations.

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), including Financial Reporting Standard 102 'The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland'. 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 the group and of the profit or loss of the group 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 accounting standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements;

-	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 and the group's transactions and disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the company and the group 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 the group and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

STATEMENT AS TO DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION TO AUDITORS

So far as the directors are aware, there is no relevant audit information (as defined by Section 418 of the Companies Act 2006) of which the group's auditors are unaware, and each director has taken all the steps that he or she ought to have taken as a director in order to make himself or herself aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the group's auditors are aware of that information.

AUDITORS

The auditors, EV Accountants Limited, will be proposed for re-appointment at the forthcoming Annual General Meeting.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD:

E J S Gadsden - Director

12 October 2025

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of W.E.Black Limited (the 'parent company') and its subsidiaries (the 'group') for the year ended 31 December 2024 which comprise the Consolidated Income Statement, Consolidated Other Comprehensive Income, Consolidated Balance Sheet, Company Balance Sheet, Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity, Company Statement of Changes in Equity, Consolidated Cash Flow Statement and Notes to the Consolidated Cash Flow Statement, Notes to the Financial Statements, 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).

In our opinion the financial statements:

-	give a true and fair view of the state of the group's and of the parent company affairs as at 31 December 2024 and of the group's profit 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 Auditors' 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 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 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 and 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.

Other information

The directors are responsible for the other information. The other information comprises the information in the Group Strategic Report and the Directors' Report, but does not include the financial statements and our Report of the Auditors thereon.

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.

In connection with our audit of the financial statements, 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 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 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.

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

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.

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

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

-	the parent company financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or

-	certain disclosures of directors' remuneration specified by law are not made; or

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

Responsibilities of directors

As explained more fully in the Statement of Directors' Responsibilities set out on page five, the directors are 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 directors determine 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 directors are responsible for assessing the group's and the parent 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 directors either intend to liquidate the group or the parent company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

Auditors' responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

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 a Report of the Auditors 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:

-

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 and the parent company through discussions with directors and other management, and from our commercial knowledge and experience of the industry in which the group and the parent company operates;

-

we focused on specific laws and regulations which we considered may have a direct material effect on the financial statements or the operations of the group and the parent company, including the Companies Act 2006, taxation legislation and data protection, anti-bribery, employment, environmental and health and safety legislation;

-

we assessed the extent of compliance with the laws and regulations identified above through making enquiries of management and inspecting legal correspondence; and

-

identified 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 and the parent company'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;

-

considering the internal controls in place to mitigate risks of fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations; and

-

understanding the design of the group and the parent company's remuneration policies.

To address the risk of fraud through management bias and override of controls, we:

-

performed analytical procedures to identify any unusual or unexpected relationships;

-

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

-

reviewing correspondence with HMRC, relevant regulators and the group and the parent company's advisors.

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 Report of the Auditors.

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 a Report of the Auditors 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.

Binoy Mistry BA FCA (Senior Statutory Auditor)

for and on behalf of EV Accountants Limited

Chartered Accountants & Statutory Auditors

Unit 201, Second Floor

Metroline House

118-122 College Road

Harrow

Middlesex

HA1 1BQ

12 October 2025

REVENUE

3

24,797,020

17,847,833

Cost of sales

19,579,365

16,603,017

GROSS PROFIT

5,217,655

1,244,816

Administrative expenses

3,993,270

6,284,495

1,224,385

(5,039,679

)

Other operating income

7,374,023

6,480,003

OPERATING PROFIT

5

8,598,408

1,440,324

Interest receivable and similar income

3,744,369

6,424,979

12,342,777

7,865,303

Interest payable and similar expenses

6

114,101

16,215

PROFIT BEFORE TAXATION

12,228,676

7,849,088

Tax on profit

7

3,023,540

2,153,710

PROFIT FOR THE FINANCIAL YEAR

9,205,136

5,695,378

Profit attributable to:

Owners of the parent

9,205,136

5,695,378

PROFIT FOR THE YEAR

9,205,136

5,695,378

OTHER COMPREHENSIVE INCOME

-

-

TOTAL COMPREHENSIVE INCOME FOR THE YEAR

9,205,136

Prior year adjustment

(1,911,842

)

TOTAL COMPREHENSIVE INCOME SINCE LAST ANNUAL REPORT

3,783,536

Total comprehensive income attributable to:

Owners of the parent

9,205,136

3,783,536

FIXED ASSETS

Intangible assets

11

1,110,359

1,327,673

Property, plant and equipment

12

487,712

517,110

Investments

13

3,864,578

3,864,578

Investment property

14

31,982,264

18,490,000

37,444,913

24,199,361

CURRENT ASSETS

Inventories

15

117,447,683

123,471,617

Debtors

16

147,179,964

132,437,828

Cash at bank and in hand

31,847,689

38,573,767

296,475,336

294,483,212

CREDITORS

Amounts falling due within one year

17

49,132,486

41,230,933

NET CURRENT ASSETS

247,342,850

253,252,279

TOTAL ASSETS LESS CURRENT LIABILITIES

284,787,763

277,451,640

PROVISIONS FOR LIABILITIES

18

89,798

67,551

NET ASSETS

284,697,965

277,384,089

CAPITAL AND RESERVES

Called up share capital

19

27,018

27,018

Capital redemption reserve

20

182

182

Retained earnings

20

284,670,765

277,356,889

SHAREHOLDERS' FUNDS

284,697,965

277,384,089

The financial statements were approved by the Board of Directors and authorised for issue on 12 October 2025 and were signed on its behalf by:

E J S Gadsden - Director

FIXED ASSETS

Intangible assets

11

-

-

Property, plant and equipment

12

19,881

45,981

Investments

13

8,753,330

8,753,330

Investment property

14

-

-

8,773,211

8,799,311

CURRENT ASSETS

Inventories

15

101,598,958

106,162,202

Debtors

16

119,275,761

97,581,421

Cash at bank

31,277,098

38,315,840

252,151,817

242,059,463

CREDITORS

Amounts falling due within one year

17

8,579,869

8,189,238

NET CURRENT ASSETS

243,571,948

233,870,225

TOTAL ASSETS LESS CURRENT LIABILITIES

252,345,159

242,669,536

CAPITAL AND RESERVES

Called up share capital

19

27,018

27,018

Capital redemption reserve

20

182

182

Retained earnings

20

252,317,959

242,642,336

SHAREHOLDERS' FUNDS

252,345,159

242,669,536

Company's profit for the financial year

11,566,883

7,698,270

The financial statements were approved by the Board of Directors and authorised for issue on 12 October 2025 and were signed on its behalf by:

E J S Gadsden - Director

Called up

Capital

share

Retained

redemption

Total

capital

earnings

reserve

equity

£

£

£

£

Balance at 1 January 2023

27,018

282,127,252

182

282,154,452

Prior year adjustment

-

(1,911,842

)

-

(1,911,842

)

As restated

27,018

280,215,410

182

280,242,610

Changes in equity

Dividends

-

(8,553,899

)

-

(8,553,899

)

Total comprehensive income

-

5,695,378

-

5,695,378

Balance at 31 December 2023

27,018

277,356,889

182

277,384,089

Changes in equity

Dividends

-

(1,891,260

)

-

(1,891,260

)

Total comprehensive income

-

9,205,136

-

9,205,136

Balance at 31 December 2024

27,018

284,670,765

182

284,697,965

Called up

Capital

share

Retained

redemption

Total

capital

earnings

reserve

equity

£

£

£

£

Balance at 1 January 2023

27,018

245,409,807

182

245,437,007

Prior year adjustment

-

(1,911,842

)

-

(1,911,842

)

As restated

27,018

243,497,965

182

243,525,165

Changes in equity

Dividends

-

(8,553,899

)

-

(8,553,899

)

Total comprehensive income

-

7,698,270

-

7,698,270

Balance at 31 December 2023

27,018

242,642,336

182

242,669,536

Changes in equity

Dividends

-

(1,891,260

)

-

(1,891,260

)

Total comprehensive income

-

11,566,883

-

11,566,883

Balance at 31 December 2024

27,018

252,317,959

182

252,345,159

Cash flows from operating activities

Cash generated from operations

1

5,283,758

(61,456,039

)

Interest paid

(114,101

)

(16,215

)

Tax paid

(1,197,039

)

(1,201,592

)

Net cash from operating activities

3,972,618

(62,673,846

)

Cash flows from investing activities

Purchase of tangible fixed assets

(1,888

)

(481,679

)

Purchase of fixed asset investments

(33

)

-

Purchase of investment property

(13,492,264

)

-

Sale of tangible fixed assets

16,417

19,300

Sale of fixed asset investments

5,033

-

Interest received

3,744,369

6,424,979

Net cash from investing activities

(9,728,366

)

5,962,600

Cash flows from financing activities

Amount introduced by directors

920,930

2,210

Equity dividends paid

(1,891,260

)

(8,553,899

)

Net cash from financing activities

(970,330

)

(8,551,689

)

Decrease in cash and cash equivalents

(6,726,078

)

(65,262,935

)

Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of year

2

38,573,767

103,836,702

Cash and cash equivalents at end of year

2

31,847,689

38,573,767