The directors present the strategic report for the year ended 31 March 2025.
The principal activity of the company is to be that of a head office.
Showcase is an award-winning independent furniture dealer, providing consultancy, procurement & installation services to all market sectors and businesses of various shapes and sizes.
We collaborate with architects, designers and corporate clients to deliver design led and inspiring workspaces that transform the way businesses work, providing the best possible solutions for our clients – it’s at the heart of what we do.
Our highly experienced team are committed to providing a bespoke service, focusing on innovation, integrity & exceptional customer service.
In October 2024, four long standing members of the senior leadership team completed the successful management buyout of the parent company Showcase Interiors Limited marking a significant milestone in the company’s journey. It’s very much business as usual for our core activities, however there have been some changes to the structure of the group and financing arrangements. This change in Ownership means that Showcase Group Holdings Limited has now become the ultimate group parent company and the entity for which group consolidated accounts are prepared.
Cybersecurity and Data Protection
The risk of cyberattacks and data breaches is a constant and growing risk. To mitigate this we have embarked on the process of gaining ISO27001 accreditation to ensure our information security management is robust while also increasing our cyber insurance levels.
Principal risks and uncertainties
A large element of the business model is based on existing government and public sector contracts and framework agreements. This gives us access to many opportunities, but it doesn’t guarantee appointment to every project on the contract, these will sometimes need to be quoted and/or tendered for which carries some risk.
Demand for public sector and office furniture is closely linked to overall economic activity, investment, and employment trends. Economic downturns, reduced office occupancy, or shifts toward remote working could negatively affect sales volumes. However general occupancy levels appear to be continually increasing towards pre-Covid levels and while trading conditions have been tough across the industry over the last year due to economic downturn, we have seen an increase in activity in the last few months.
People attraction, development and retention
The ability to attract and retain skilled employees is critical to the company’s success. We continue to focus heavily on training and skills development throughout the teams. We have also introduced new incentives and employee engagement initiatives.
Financial management and control
Failure to maintain adequate financial and management processes and controls could lead to poor quality management decisions, resulting in the Company not achieving its financial targets, or errors in the Company’s financial reporting.
The Company has adopted the following risk management policies that seek to mitigate its exposure to financial risk:
Financial assets and liabilities that expose the Company to financial risk consists principally of trade debtor and creditors. All debtors and creditors are regularly credit checked and monitored for changes in their status, this in turn affects our treatment of their debt or indeed the companies that the Company purchases from.
The company places its cash in creditworthy institutions. The profile of trade debtors is such that the concentration of credit risk is not considered a concern. The Directors are of a view that the Company is not exposed to any significant risks.
Looking Forward
There are no planned changes to the principal activities of the group and we continue with ‘business as usual’ following the MBO. The board is looking at various strategies to increase market share as we continue to try and grow the business while maintaining our high ESG standards.
We believe that ‘sustainability’ encapsulates not only the circularity and long-term health of our environment, but also the continued thriving of our communities and the people within them. We partner with a number of charities and not-for-profit organisations to maximise the positive impact that we have on the communities that we work in.
We will continue to diversify our social impact to align with, and contribute to, as many of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as possible.
On behalf of the board
The directors present their annual report and financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2025.
The directors who held office during the year and up to the date of signature of the financial statements were as follows:
The auditor, Affinia (Chelmsford), is deemed to be reappointed under section 487(2) of the Companies Act 2006.
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 then apply them consistently;
make judgements and accounting estimates that are reasonable and prudent; 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.
We have audited the financial statements of Portsdown Group Ltd (the 'company') for the year ended 31 March 2025 which comprise the profit and loss account, the balance sheet, the statement of changes in equity and notes to the financial statements, including 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).
Basis for 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 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
Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006
In our opinion, based on the work undertaken in the course of our 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.
Our approach to identifying and assessing the risks of material misstatement in respect of irregularities, including fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations, incorporated the following:
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 company through discussions with directors and other management, and from our commercial knowledge and experience of holding companies;
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 company, including the Companies Act 2006, taxation legislation, and employment.
We assessed the extent of compliance with the laws and regulations identified above through making enquiries of management and inspecting legal correspondence;
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 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; and
Considering the internal controls in place to mitigate risks of fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations.
To address the risk of fraud through management bias and override of controls, our work included:
Performance of analytical procedures to identify any unusual or unexpected relationships;
Testing journal entries to identify unusual transactions. Investigated the rationale behind significant or unusual transactions; and
Observation and identification of internal controls in place, specifically around bank 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 evidence;
Enquiring of management as to actual and potential litigation and claims; and
Reviewing correspondence with HMRC and reviewing for evidence of correspondence with legal 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 is available on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at: https://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.
The notes on pages 12 to 15 form part of these financial statements.
The notes on pages 12 to 15 form part of these financial statements.
The notes on pages 12 to 15 form part of these financial statements.
Portsdown Group Ltd is a private company limited by shares incorporated in England and Wales. The registered office is Paslow Hall Farm Estate, King Street, High Ongar, Essex, CM5 9QZ.
The financial statements are prepared in sterling, which is the functional currency of the company. Monetary amounts in these financial statements are rounded to the nearest £.
This company is a qualifying entity for the purposes of FRS 102, being a member of a group where the parent
of that group prepares publicly available consolidated financial statements, including this company, which are
intended to give a true and fair view of the assets, liabilities, financial position and profit or loss of the group.
The company has therefore taken advantage of exemptions from the following disclosure requirements:
Section 7 ‘Statement of Cash Flows’: Presentation of a statement of cash flow and related notes and disclosures;
Section 11 ‘Basic Financial Instruments’ and Section 12 ‘Other Financial Instrument Issues: Interest income/expense and net gains/losses for financial instruments not measured at fair value; basis of determining fair values; details of collateral, loan defaults or breaches, details of hedges, hedging fair value changes recognised in profit or loss and in other comprehensive income;
Section 33 ‘Related Party Disclosures’: Compensation for key management personnel.
Portsdown Group Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of Showcase Interiors Ltd and the results of Portsdown Group Limited are included in the consolidated financial statements of Showcase Group Holdings Limited which are available from its registered office Paslow Hall Farm Estate King Street, High Ongar, Essex, England, CM5 9QZ.
Basic financial assets, which include debtors and cash and bank balances, are initially measured at transaction price including transaction costs and are subsequently carried at amortised cost using the effective interest method unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the transaction is measured at the present value of the future receipts discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial assets classified as receivable within one year are not amortised.
Other financial assets, including investments in equity instruments which are not subsidiaries, associates or joint ventures, are initially measured at fair value, which is normally the transaction price. Such assets are subsequently carried at fair value and the changes in fair value are recognised in profit or loss, except that investments in equity instruments that are not publicly traded and whose fair values cannot be measured reliably are measured at cost less impairment.
Financial assets are derecognised only when the contractual rights to the cash flows from the asset expire or are settled, or when the company transfers the financial asset and substantially all the risks and rewards of ownership to another entity, or if some significant risks and rewards of ownership are retained but control of the asset has transferred to another party that is able to sell the asset in its entirety to an unrelated third party.
Financial liabilities and equity instruments are classified according to the substance of the contractual arrangements entered into. An equity instrument is any contract that evidences a residual interest in the assets of the company after deducting all of its liabilities.
Basic financial liabilities, including creditors, bank loans, loans from fellow group companies and preference shares that are classified as debt, are initially recognised at transaction price unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the debt instrument is measured at the present value of the future payments discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial liabilities classified as payable within one year are not amortised.
Debt instruments are subsequently carried at amortised cost, using the effective interest rate method.
Trade creditors are obligations to pay for goods or services that have been acquired in the ordinary course of business from suppliers. Amounts payable are classified as current liabilities if payment is due within one year or less. If not, they are presented as non-current liabilities. Trade creditors are recognised initially at transaction price and subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method.
Derivatives, including interest rate swaps and forward foreign exchange contracts, are not basic financial instruments. Derivatives are initially recognised at fair value on the date a derivative contract is entered into and are subsequently re-measured at their fair value. Changes in the fair value of derivatives are recognised in profit or loss in finance costs or finance income as appropriate, unless hedge accounting is applied and the hedge is a cash flow hedge.
Debt instruments that do not meet the conditions in FRS 102 paragraph 11.9 are subsequently measured at fair value through profit or loss. Debt instruments may be designated as being measured at fair value through profit or loss to eliminate or reduce an accounting mismatch or if the instruments are measured and their performance evaluated on a fair value basis in accordance with a documented risk management or investment strategy.
Financial liabilities are derecognised when the company’s contractual obligations expire or are discharged or cancelled.
Equity instruments issued by the company are recorded at the proceeds received, net of transaction costs. Dividends payable on equity instruments are recognised as liabilities once they are no longer at the discretion of the company.
The average monthly number of persons (including directors) employed by the company during the year was:
The company has taken advantage of the disclosure exemptions available in FRS 102 section 33 in relation to balances and transactions between wholly owned members.