Clarke Meats Limited

Strategic Report for the Year Ended 31 March 2025

The directors present their strategic report for the year ended 31 March 2025.

Principal activity

The principal activity of the company is that of wholesale of meat, poultry and game and a licenced cutting plant.

Fair review of the business

The company has increased turnover by 14.06% to £19,700,584 during the period under review but has experienced pressure on margins due to increasing prices from suppliers.

Despite the difficult trading environment, pre-tax profits of £899,463 were made and the business continues to maintain a healthy balance sheet with net assets totalling £8,398,583. With positive bank balances of £555,695 the company has adequate funds to meet current business needs.

The company's key financial and other performance indicators during the year were as follows:

Financial KPIs	Unit	2025	2024
Turnover	£	19,700,584	17,271,449
Pre-tax profit	£	899,463	1,011,354
Net assets	£	8,398,583	7,763,725

Clarke Meats Limited

Strategic Report for the Year Ended 31 March 2025

Principal risks and uncertainties

There are a variety of risks relating to the processing, storage and sale of raw food products but these are minimised by following robust health and safety and food hygiene policies.
The main uncertainty at the moment is supplier prices and inflation.

The company manages the following external risks:

Competitor risk
The company operates in a highly competitive market, providing a range of meat products and the directors are of the opinion that providing good quality, low cost products will maintain its advantage over its direct competitors.

Economic and political conditions
Global economic and geopolitical conditions affect our customers and suppliers and the markets they operate in. Uncertainty created by hostile political and economic conditions can undermine business confidence with the consequent impact on the volatility of meat prices and the consequent impact on consumer spending and competitors' actions represent the major external risk.

Credit risk
The company is exposed to credit risk in relation to its customers. Credit control procedures are efficient and take into account the identified risks relating to customers.

Liquidity risk
The liquidity risk is managed by maintaining a positive bank balance to ensure sufficient funds are available to meet amounts due.

The company also manages the following internal risks:

The quality of the company's products and its efficiency at meeting its customer requirements are vital to the success and reputation of the business. Failure to meet these standards could have a detrimental effect on the business. To mitigate this, the company has good quality controls systems and a dedicated workforce to maintain a high level of quality and ensure that the products are fit for purpose.

Employees
The company employs 45 people. The company's policy is to provide equal opportunities for employment. In employment related decisions the company complies with anti-discrimination requirements in the relevant jurisdictions concerning matters of race, colour, national origin, marital status, sexual orientation, religious belief, age, or physical or mental disability.

The company invests in employees' skills and capabilities to help them reach their own potential, which in turn benefits the company as well as the individual employee.

Approved and authorised by the Board on 19 August 2025 and signed on its behalf by:
 

......................................... JH Clarke Director

Clarke Meats Limited

Directors' Report for the Year Ended 31 March 2025

The directors present their report and the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2025.

Directors of the company

The directors who held office during the year were as follows:

JH Clarke

KL Clarke

Disclosure of information to the auditors

Each director has taken steps that they ought to have taken as a director in order to make themselves aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the company's auditors are aware of that information. The directors confirm that there is no relevant information that they know of and of which they know the auditors are unaware.

Approved and authorised by the Board on 19 August 2025 and signed on its behalf by:
 

......................................... JH Clarke Director

Clarke Meats Limited

Statement of Directors' Responsibilities

The directors acknowledge their responsibilities for preparing the Annual 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). 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 apply them consistently;

•	make judgements and accounting estimates that are reasonable and prudent;

•	state whether applicable United Kingdom 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.

Clarke Meats Limited

Independent Auditor's Report to the Members of Clarke Meats Limited

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of Clarke Meats Limited (the 'company') for the year ended 31 March 2025, which comprise the Profit and Loss Account, Statement of Comprehensive Income, Balance Sheet, Statement of Changes in Equity, Statement of Cash Flows, and 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 company's affairs as at 31 March 2025 and of its 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 auditor 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.

The comparative figures included in these accounts were not audited. We have, however, obtained sufficient audit evidence to be able to conclude that there are no misstatements in those figures significant enough to impact the current period figures.

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 original financial statements were 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.

Clarke Meats Limited

Independent Auditor's Report to the Members of Clarke Meats Limited

Other information

The directors are responsible for the other information. The other information comprises the information included in the annual report, other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report 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 there is a material misstatement in the financial statements or a material misstatement of the other information. 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.

Opinion on other matter 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 Strategic Report and Directors' Report for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements; and

•	the Strategic Report and 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 our 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 and 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, 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 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 5], 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 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 directors are 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 directors either intend to liquidate the company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

Clarke Meats Limited

Independent Auditor's Report to the Members of Clarke Meats Limited

Auditor 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 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.

The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud is detailed below:

We considered the extent to which non-compliance might have a material effect on the financial statements. We also considered those laws and regulations that have a direct impact on the financial statements such as UK tax legislation and the Companies Act 2006. We evaluated management's incentives and opportunities for fraudulent manipulation of the financial statements (including the risk of override of controls), and determined that the principal risks were related to posting inappropriate journal entries and the risk of management bias in accounting estimates.

There are inherent limitations in the audit procedures undertaken. We are less likely to become aware of instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations that are not closely related to events and transactions reflected in the financial statements. Also, the risk of not detecting a material misstatement due to fraud is higher than the risk of not detecting one resulting from error, as fraud may involve deliberate concealment by, for example, forgery or intentional misrepresentations, or through collusion.

A further description of our responsibilities is available on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at: 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.

......................................
Mr R A Barrowclough (Senior Statutory Auditor)
For and on behalf of Balance Accountants, Statutory Auditor
 Victoria Court
91 Huddersfield Road
Holmfirth
West Yorkshire
HD9 3JA

29 August 2025

Clarke Meats Limited

Profit and Loss Account for the Year Ended 31 March 2025

	Note	2025 £	2024 £
Turnover	3	19,700,584	17,271,449
Cost of sales		(16,424,672)	(13,985,084)
Gross profit		3,275,912	3,286,365
Administrative expenses		(2,393,519)	(2,272,610)
Operating profit	5	882,393	1,013,755
Other interest receivable and similar income	6	17,565	-
Interest payable and similar expenses	7	(495)	(2,401)
		17,070	(2,401)
Profit before tax		899,463	1,011,354
Tax on profit	11	(264,605)	(286,067)
Profit for the financial year		634,858	725,287

The above results were derived from continuing operations.

The company has no recognised gains or losses for the year other than the results above.

Clarke Meats Limited

Statement of Comprehensive Income for the Year Ended 31 March 2025

	2025 £	2024 £
Profit for the year	634,858	725,287
Total comprehensive income for the year	634,858	725,287

Clarke Meats Limited

(Registration number: 03838735)
Balance Sheet as at 31 March 2025

	Note	2025 £	2024 £
Fixed assets
Tangible assets	13	1,110,912	1,287,448
Current assets
Stocks	14	258,273	173,544
Debtors	15	8,226,278	7,361,486
Cash at bank and in hand		555,695	279,192
		9,040,246	7,814,222
Creditors: Amounts falling due within one year	17	(1,672,760)	(1,215,381)
Net current assets		7,367,486	6,598,841
Total assets less current liabilities		8,478,398	7,886,289
Creditors: Amounts falling due after more than one year	17	(1,314)	(3,282)
Provisions for liabilities	18	(78,501)	(119,282)
Net assets		8,398,583	7,763,725
Capital and reserves
Called up share capital		3,100	3,100
Capital redemption reserve		1	1
Retained earnings		8,395,482	7,760,624
Shareholders' funds		8,398,583	7,763,725

Approved and authorised by the Board on 19 August 2025 and signed on its behalf by:
 

......................................... JH Clarke Director

Clarke Meats Limited

Statement of Changes in Equity for the Year Ended 31 March 2025

	Share capital £	Capital redemption reserve £	Retained earnings £	Total £
At 1 April 2024	3,100	1	7,760,624	7,763,725
Profit for the year	-	-	634,858	634,858
At 31 March 2025	3,100	1	8,395,482	8,398,583