Albus Partners LLP is a limited liability partnership incorporated in England and Wales. The registered office is 3 St. James's Square, London, SW1Y 4JU.
The limited liability partnership's principal activities are disclosed in the Members' Report.
These financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the Statement of Recommended Practice "Accounting by Limited Liability Partnerships" issued in December 2021, together 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 as applicable to companies subject to the small companies regime. The disclosure requirements of section 1A of FRS 102 have been applied other than where additional disclosure is required to show a true and fair view.
The financial statements are prepared in sterling, which is the functional currency of the limited liability partnership. Monetary amounts in these financial statements are rounded to the nearest £.
The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention, with the exception of investments which are held at fair value. The principal accounting policies adopted are set out below.
At the time of approving the financial statements, the members have a reasonable expectation that the limited liability partnership has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. Thus the members continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing the financial statements.
Members' participation rights are the rights of a member against the LLP that arise under the members' agreement (for example, in respect of amounts subscribed or otherwise contributed remuneration and profits).
Members' participation rights in the earnings or assets of the LLP are analysed between those that are, from the LLP's perspective, either a financial liability or equity, in accordance with section 22 of FRS 102. A member's participation rights including amounts subscribed or otherwise contributed by members, for example members' capital, are classed as liabilities unless the LLP has an unconditional right to refuse payment to members, in which case they are classified as equity.
All amounts due to members that are classified as liabilities are presented within 'Loans and other debts due to members' and, where such an amount relates to current year profits, they are recognised within ‘Members' remuneration charged as an expense’ in arriving at the relevant year’s result. Undivided amounts that are classified as equity are shown within ‘Members' other interests’. Amounts recoverable from members are presented as debtors and shown as amounts due from members within members’ interests.
Where there exists an asset and liability component in respect of an individual member’s participation rights, they are presented on a gross basis unless the LLP has both a legally enforceable right to set off the recognised amounts, and it intends either to settle on a net basis or to settle and realise these amounts simultaneously, in which case they are presented net.
Once an unavoidable obligation has been created in favour of members through allocation of profits or other means, any undrawn profits remaining at the reporting date are shown as ‘Loans and other debts due to members’ to the extent they exceed debts due from a specific member.
A members' non-discretionary profit allocation is accounted for as remuneration charged as an expense in the statement of comprehensive income after arriving at "profit for the year before members' remuneration and profit shares".
A members' discretionary share in the profit or loss for the period is accounted for as an allocation of profits.
Investments held as fixed assets are in relation to investments in the Vespa Capital funds, which are held at market value.
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 LLP does not trade in financial instruments and all such instruments arise directly from operations. All trade and other debtors are initially recognised at transaction value, as none contain in substance a financing transaction. Thereafter trade and other debtors are reviewed for impairment where there is objective evidence based on observable data that the balance may be impaired. The LLP does not hold collateral against its trade and other receivables so its exposure to credit risk is the net balance of trade and other debtors after allowance for impairment. The LLP's cash holdings comprise on demand balances. All cash is held with banks with strong external credit ratings. Trade and other creditors and accruals are initially recognised at transaction value as none represent a financing transaction. They are only derecognised when they are extinguished. As the LLP only has short term receivables and payables, its net current asset position is a reasonable measure of its liquidity at any given time.
In the application of the limited liability partnership’s accounting policies, the members are 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.
The estimates and assumptions which have a significant risk of causing a material adjustment to the carrying amount of assets and liabilities are as follows.
Fixed asset investments are included in the balance sheet at fair value. The fair values are calculated using the audited net asset values of the Vespa Capital funds and applying a waterfall to arrive at the LLP's expected share.
The Vespa Capital funds themselves are audited and their fixed asset investments are included in the fund balance sheets at a value determined in accordance with International Private Equity and Venture Capital Valuations Guidelines as endorsed by the BVCA.
The average number of persons (excluding members) employed by the partnership during the year was: nil (2024: nil).
In the event of a winding up the amounts included in "Loans and other debts due to members" will rank equally with unsecured creditors.