Credit Reporting Agency (Bidco) Limited - Period Ending 2025-03-31

Credit Reporting Agency (Bidco) Limited

Annual Report and Financial Statements
Year Ended 31 March 2025

Registration number: 12417398

Credit Reporting Agency (Bidco) Limited

Contents

Company Information	1
Strategic Report	2
Directors' Report	3
Statement of Directors' Responsibilities	4
Independent Auditor's Report	5 to 8
Profit and Loss Account	9
Balance Sheet	10
Statement of Changes in Equity	11
Notes to the Financial Statements	12 to 19

Credit Reporting Agency (Bidco) Limited

Company Information

Directors

C J Stamp

A N Harland

S Twyford

P Anderson-Riley

Company secretary

A N Harland

Registered office

20-21 Lemon Street
Truro
Cornwall
TR1 2LS

Auditors

PKF Francis Clark
Statutory AuditorLowin House
Tregolls Road
Truro
Cornwall
TR1 2NA

Credit Reporting Agency (Bidco) 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 a holding company.

Fair review of the business

The directors report a profit for the year of £2.963m (2024 - £4.174m).

The company does not undertake any trade with third parties, with its income stream being derived from dividends received from group undertakings. Detailed commentary with regards to the performance and position of the group is provided in the consolidated financial statements for Credit Reporting Agency (Holdco) Limited.

Principal risks and uncertainties

The company is the holding company for Credit Reporting Agency Limited, being the primary trading entity within the group. Its exposure to risk therefore is related to the trade undertaken by this company,

The board have considered the risks and uncertainties that it faces and remains confident about the future prospects of the company and its group, with strong cash flows and sufficient asset cover in place.

Approved and authorised by the Board on 10 November 2025 and signed on its behalf by:

.........................................
C J Stamp
Director

Credit Reporting Agency (Bidco) 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:

R D Catlin (ceased 2 October 2024)

C J Stamp

A N Harland - Company secretary and director

S Twyford (appointed 1 August 2024)

The following director was appointed after the year end:

P Anderson-Riley (appointed 1 June 2025)

Financial instruments

Objectives and policies

The company's principal financial instruments comprises of bank balances (including loan balances) and loans with group undertakings.

Credit Reporting Agency (Bidco) Limited regulates the cash within the group to ensure that liabilities are settled as and when they fall due, and sufficient cash is held to settle obligations as they fall due.

Price risk, credit risk, liquidity risk and cash flow risk

In respect of bank balances the liquidity risk is managed by ensuring that balances are maintained within defined limits, and that payments are made in accordance with the terms of the debt. The bank loans were repaid in the year.

The company does not have any exposure to price risk.

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 10 November 2025 and signed on its behalf by:

.........................................
C J Stamp
Director

Credit Reporting Agency (Bidco) 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.

Credit Reporting Agency (Bidco) Limited

Independent Auditor's Report to the Members of Credit Reporting Agency (Bidco) Limited

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of Credit Reporting Agency (Bidco) Limited (the 'company') for the year ended 31 March 2025, which comprise the Profit and Loss Account, Balance Sheet, Statement of Changes in Equity, 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.

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.

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.

Credit Reporting Agency (Bidco) Limited

Independent Auditor's Report to the Members of Credit Reporting Agency (Bidco) Limited

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 4, 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.

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.

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 as follows:

Credit Reporting Agency (Bidco) Limited

Independent Auditor's Report to the Members of Credit Reporting Agency (Bidco) Limited

The objectives of our audit, in respect to fraud, are: to identify and assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements due to fraud; to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence regarding the assessed risks of material misstatement due to fraud, through designing and implementing appropriate responses; and to respond appropriately to fraud or suspected fraud identified during the audit. However, the primary responsibility for the prevention and detection of fraud rests with both those charged with governance of the company and management.

We obtained an understanding of the legal and regulatory frameworks that are applicable to the Company at the planning stage of the audit. Firstly, the Company is subject to laws and regulations that directly affect the financial statements including financial reporting legislation (including related company legislation) and taxation legislation and 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 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 or the loss of the company’s licence to operate. In making this assessment we determined that the most significant elements of legislation include, employment laws and regulations, health and safety legislation FCA regulations and GDPR.

Based on this understanding we designed our audit procedures to identify non-compliance with such laws and regulations. Our procedures involved the following:

• Enquiries of management regarding their knowledge of any non compliance with laws and regulations that could affect the financial statements. As part of these enquiries we also discussed with management whether there have been any known instances, allegations or suspicions of fraud.

• Corroborating management representations through a review of board minutes and supporting documentation including any matters reportable under health and safety legislation for the attention of the Directors.

• Considering the filings made at Companies House, and any omissions thereon.

• Reviewing publicly available filings with the FCA including considering matters that are subject to FCA action, of which there was none identified.

• Completion of disclosure checklists to identify areas of non compliance.

We also evaluated the risk of fraud through management override including that arising from management’s incentives. The key risks we identified were with regards to the cut off of recognition of income or through management bias in selecting accounting estimates. In response to the identified risk, as part of our audit work we:

• Used data analytics to test journal entries throughout the year, for appropriateness;

• Undertook a proof in total of the revenue recognised in the financial statements to the revenue systems used by the company.

• Reviewed estimates and judgements made in the accounts for any indication of bias and challenged assumptions used by management in making the estimates.

Credit Reporting Agency (Bidco) Limited

Independent Auditor's Report to the Members of Credit Reporting Agency (Bidco) Limited

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. 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 omissions, collusion, forgery, misrepresentations, or the override of internal controls. We are also 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.

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.

......................................
Nicola Cornish BSc BFP FCA CTA (Senior Statutory Auditor)
PKF Francis Clark, Statutory Auditor

Lowin House
Tregolls Road
Truro
Cornwall
TR1 2NA

24 November 2025

Credit Reporting Agency (Bidco) Limited

Profit and Loss Account

Year Ended 31 March 2025

	Note	2025 £	2024 £
Turnover		-	-
Gross profit/(loss)		-	-
Administrative expenses		-	(8,082)
Operating loss		-	(8,082)
Income from shares in group undertakings		2,963,000	4,213,822
Interest payable and similar expenses	5	-	(44,765)
		2,963,000	4,169,057
Profit before tax		2,963,000	4,160,975
Tax on profit	6	-	13,212
Profit for the financial year		2,963,000	4,174,187

Credit Reporting Agency (Bidco) Limited

Balance Sheet

31 March 2025

	Note	2025 £	2024 £
Fixed assets
Investments	7	32,853,236	32,853,236
Current assets
Debtors	8	397,504	-
Cash at bank and in hand		91	347
		397,595	347
Creditors: Amounts falling due within one year	10	(1,288,772)	(1,141,524)
Net current liabilities		(891,177)	(1,141,177)
Net assets		31,962,059	31,712,059
Capital and reserves
Called up share capital		23,062	23,062
Share premium reserve	13	23,039,038	23,039,038
Profit and loss account	13	8,899,959	8,649,959
Shareholders' funds		31,962,059	31,712,059

Approved and authorised by the Board on 10 November 2025 and signed on its behalf by:

.........................................
C J Stamp
Director

Company Registration Number: 12417398

Credit Reporting Agency (Bidco) Limited

Statement of Changes in Equity

Year Ended 31 March 2025

	Share capital £	Share premium £	Profit and loss account £	Total £
At 1 April 2024	23,062	23,039,038	8,649,959	31,712,059
Profit for the year	-	-	2,963,000	2,963,000
Dividends	-	-	(2,713,000)	(2,713,000)
At 31 March 2025	23,062	23,039,038	8,899,959	31,962,059

	Share capital £	Share premium £	Profit and loss account £	Total £
At 1 April 2023	23,062	23,039,038	7,805,268	30,867,368
Profit for the year	-	-	4,174,187	4,174,187
Dividends	-	-	(3,329,496)	(3,329,496)
At 31 March 2024	23,062	23,039,038	8,649,959	31,712,059

Credit Reporting Agency (Bidco) Limited

Notes to the Financial Statements

Year Ended 31 March 2025

1	General information

The company is a private company limited by share capital, incorporated in England and Wales.

The address of its registered office is:
20-21 Lemon Street
Truro
Cornwall
TR1 2LS

These financial statements were authorised for issue by the Board on 10 November 2025.

2	Accounting policies

Summary of significant accounting policies and key accounting estimates

The principal accounting policies applied in the preparation of these financial statements are set out below. These policies have been consistently applied to all the years presented, unless otherwise stated.

Statement of compliance

These financial statements were prepared in accordance with Financial Reporting Standard 102 - The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland.

The financial statements are prepared in pounds sterling which is the functional currency of the company.

Monetary amounts in these financial statements are rounded to the nearest pound.

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with FRS102 requires the use of certain critical accounting estimates. It also requires management to exercise its judgement in the process of applying the company's accounting policies. The areas involving a higher degree of judgement or complexity, or areas where assumptions and estimates are significant to the financial statements are outlined within this note.

Basis of preparation

These financial statements have been prepared using the historical cost convention.

Credit Reporting Agency (Bidco) Limited

Notes to the Financial Statements

Year Ended 31 March 2025

Summary of disclosure exemptions

FRS102 allows a qualifying entity certain disclosure exemptions, and as such the company has taken advantage of the following disclosure exemptions:

• The exemption under FRS102 paragraph 1.12 (b) from preparing a statement of cash flows
• The exemption under FRS102 paragraph 1.12 (c) in relation to certain financial instrument disclosures

The requisite disclosures above are available from the consolidated accounts of Credit Reporting Agency (Holdco) Limited, which are publicly available from Companies House.

Going concern

At the balance sheet date the Company has net current liabilities of £891,177 (2024 - £1,141,177).

The Company meets its day to day working capital requirement through its bank facilities. The Company has the support of the wider group, and the group's forecasts and projections, taking into account reasonably possible changes in trading performance, show that the group should be able to operate within the level of its current facilities.

After making enquiries, the directors have a reasonable expectation for the foreseeable future. The Company therefore continues to adopt the going concern basis in the preparation of its financial statements.

Finance income and costs policy

Interest income is recognised in the profit and loss account using the effective interest method.

Finance costs are charged to the profit and loss account over the term of the debt using the effective interest method so that the amount charged is at a constant rate on the carrying amount. Issue costs are initially recognised as a reduction in the proceeds of the associated debt capital.

All borrowing costs are recognised in the profit and loss account in the period in which they are incurred.

Tax

Tax is recognised in profit or loss, except that a change attributable to an item of income or expense recognised as other comprehensive income is also recognised directly in other comprehensive income.

The current corporation tax charge is calculated on the basis of tax rates and laws that have been enacted or substantively enacted by the reporting date in the countries where the company operates and generates taxable income.

Investments

Investments in subsidiaries are recognised at cost less accumulated impairment.

Credit Reporting Agency (Bidco) Limited

Notes to the Financial Statements

Year Ended 31 March 2025

Financial instruments

Classification
The company holds the following financial instruments:

• Short term inter company loans
• Bank and vendor loans; and
• Cash and bank balances.

All financial instruments are classified as basic.

Recognition and measurement
The company has chosen to apply the recognition and measurement principles in FRS102.

Financial instruments are recognised when the company becomes party to the contractual provisions of the instrument and derecognised when in the case of assets, the contractual rights to cash flows from the assets expire or substantially all the risks and rewards of ownership are transferred to another party, or in the case of liabilities, when the company’s obligations are discharged, expire or are cancelled.

Except for bank loans, such instruments are initially measured at transaction price, including transaction costs, and are subsequently carried at the undiscounted amount of the cash or other consideration expected to be paid or received, after taking account of impairment adjustments. Bank loans are initially measured at transaction price, including transaction costs, and are subsequently carried at amortised cost using the effective interest method.

Critical judgements and estimation uncertainty

In applying the company’s accounting policies, the directors are required to make judgements, estimates and assumptions about the carrying amounts 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 if the revision affects only that period, or in the period of the revision and future periods if the revision affects both current and future periods.

The key areas where estimation uncertainty has been considered by management is as follows:

Carrying value of investments and impairment risk
At the balance sheet date the company has investments in subsidiary undertakings of £32,853,236.

Management have considered the impairment risk in respect of this investment, which relates to the interest held in the trading subsidiary Credit Reporting Agency Limited. The company has traded strongly in the year to 31 March 2025, and has done for several consecutive years. On this basis the directors do not believe that there is any evidence which would require an impairment to be recognised on this carrying value within the financial statements.

Credit Reporting Agency (Bidco) Limited

Notes to the Financial Statements

Year Ended 31 March 2025

3	Staff costs

The Directors are remunerated through another group undertaking.

The average number of persons employed by the company (including directors) during the year, analysed by category was as follows:

	2025 No.	2024 No.
Administration and support	3	3
	3	3

4	Auditor's remuneration

	2025 £	2024 £
Audit of the financial statements	-	3,040
Other fees to auditors
Taxation compliance services	-	543

5	Interest payable and similar expenses

	2025 £	2024 £
Interest on bank overdrafts and borrowings	-	44,765

Credit Reporting Agency (Bidco) Limited

Notes to the Financial Statements

Year Ended 31 March 2025

Taxation

Tax charged/(credited) in the profit and loss account

	2025 £	2024 £
Current taxation
UK corporation tax	-	(13,212)

The tax on profit before tax for the year is the same as the standard rate of corporation tax in the UK (2024 - the same as the standard rate of corporation tax in the UK) of 25% (2024 - 25%).

The differences are reconciled below:

	2025 £	2024 £
Profit before tax	2,963,000	4,160,975
Corporation tax at standard rate	740,750	1,040,244
Effect of revenues exempt from taxation	(740,750)	(1,053,456)
Total tax credit	-	(13,212)

The company has surrendered tax losses of £nil (2024 - £52,847) in the year under group relief rules.

Credit Reporting Agency (Bidco) Limited

Notes to the Financial Statements

Year Ended 31 March 2025

7	Investments

	2025 £	2024 £
Investments in subsidiaries	32,853,236	32,853,236

Details of undertakings

Details of the investments (including principal place of business of unincorporated entities) in which the company holds 20% or more of the nominal value of any class of share capital are as follows:

Undertaking	Registered office	Holding	Proportion of voting rights and shares held
			2025	2024
Subsidiary undertakings
Credit Reporting Agency Limited	20-21 Lemon Street Truro Cornwall TR1 2LS England & Wales	Ordinary	100%	100%
Checkmyfile Limited	20-21 Lemon Street Truro Cornwall TR1 2LS England & Wales	Ordinary	100%	100%

Subsidiary undertakings

Credit Reporting Agency Limited

The principal activity of Credit Reporting Agency Limited is that of credit report analysis and financial intermediation.

Checkmyfile Limited

The principal activity of Checkmyfile Limited is that of a dormant company.

Debtors

	Note	2025 £	2024 £
Amounts owed by group undertakings		397,504	-
		397,504	-

Credit Reporting Agency (Bidco) Limited

Notes to the Financial Statements

Year Ended 31 March 2025

9	Cash and cash equivalents

	2025 £	2024 £
Cash at bank	91	347

Creditors

	2025 £	2024 £
Due within one year
Trade creditors	-	35
Amounts due to group undertakings	1,288,772	1,135,489
Accruals	-	6,000
	1,288,772	1,141,524

11	Share capital

Allotted, called up and fully paid shares

	2025		2024
	No.	£	No.	£
Ordinary shares of £0.10 each	230,622	23,062	230,622	23,062

Dividends

During the year dividends of £2,713,000 (2024 - £3,329,496) were paid to the shareholders.

Reserves

Share capital

This reserve records the nominal value of shares issued

Share premium

This reserve records the amount above nominal value received for shares, less transaction costs

Profit and loss

This reserve records the cumulative profits and losses made by the company

Credit Reporting Agency (Bidco) Limited

Notes to the Financial Statements

Year Ended 31 March 2025

14	Relationship between entity and parents

The parent of the smallest group in which these financial statements are consolidated is Credit Reporting Agency (Holdco) Limited, incorporated in England & Wales.

The address of Credit Reporting Agency (Holdco) Limited is:
20-21 Lemon Street
Truro
Cornwall
TR1 2LS