REGISTERED NUMBER: 11605920 (England and Wales)

GROUP STRATEGIC REPORT,

REPORT OF THE DIRECTORS AND

AUDITED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025

FOR

BARKER ASSOCIATES (ESSEX) LIMITED

Page

Company Information

1

Group Strategic Report

2

Report of the Directors

4

Report of the Independent Auditors

6

Consolidated Income Statement

9

Consolidated Other Comprehensive Income

10

Consolidated Balance Sheet

11

Company Balance Sheet

12

Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity

13

Company Statement of Changes in Equity

14

Consolidated Cash Flow Statement

15

Notes to the Consolidated Cash Flow Statement

16

Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements

18

DIRECTORS:

S E White

M S Merrill

W B Bidewell

R S Paynter

R D Gould

REGISTERED OFFICE:

Majesty House

Avenue West

Skyline 120

Braintree

Essex

CM77 7AA

REGISTERED NUMBER:

11605920 (England and Wales)

AUDITORS:

TC Group

1 Rushmills

Bedford Road

Northampton

Northamptonshire

NN4 7YB

The directors present their strategic report of the company and the group for the year ended 31 March 2025.

REVIEW OF BUSINESS

On 1st April 2023 Barker Associates (Essex) Ltd transitioned to an Employee-Owned Business (EOB more commonly known as an EOT). The company continues to adapt through the EOB transition, continuing to:

-

Increase employee engagement and productivity, maintaining and improving our client service.

-

Retain and attract new talent to maintain and grow the business.

-

Succession planning, protecting the company's culture, values and legacy.

-

Allowing employees to benefit in the future success and growth of the business.

With Government Policy and Taxation changes announced in the second half of the financial year, the company had to adapt to the short to medium term financial and business outlook. The company made strategic changes to the business to overcome the financial burden of the Government changes and the general effects on the construction industry. By the end of the financial year, efficiencies made, meant that our overheads were more clearly aligned to future prospects, ensuring the future profitability of the company.

We ended the year with an exceptionally strong team and future work stream. This means we can move into FY25/26 positively, meeting our objections to be a sustainable business, steadily growing in the sectors that we have worked in for years (i.e. education) and new sectors that we have more recently strengthened our position in (i.e. commercial / housing).

We continue to wish to be seen as a business that innovates, is committed to excellence, takes pride and builds strong employee and client relationships.

PRINCIPAL RISKS AND UNCERTAINTIES

The Directors have always taken a proactive approach to minimising risk in the practice's undertakings. This approach works symbiotically with our core values to provide a high quality, reliable service, the practice has been built on this reputation and pedigree.

We are committed to continual improvement which plays an important role in managing risk. During our transition to an EOB we have built a company structure that creates clear lines of responsibility for staff management and monitoring. This ensures that governance cascades throughout the business to reach all levels.

We invest responsibly to manage risk, ensuring we have resources, systems and process in place to mitigate, including:

-

In view of the current economic environment the risk of bad debt and liquidity receives strong focus. Reported and reviewed weekly at finance team level and then at board level twice a month. As our work in the more volatile (higher risk of administration) commercial sector grows we ensure controls are in place to minimise risk, staying close to our clients to identify at an early stage, any warning signs.

-

Through backing of the statutory Directors, we have pre-approved finance in place to assist should cashflow become an issue. The company continues to have sufficient reserves for its day-to-day business needs as well as continuing with its long-term business strategy and investments.

-

We continually review work forecast and resource needs to ensure we have adequate staff available. Through an inhouse recruitment and HR team we can react quickly to any changing needs in recruitment.

-

We have systems and processes in place to ensure that we minimise operational risk, reviewing opportunities prior to being commissioned to ensure that we have the correct competence, resource levels and finances to complete any works that are instructed.

-

Through partnership with specialist IT providers, we ensure our IT systems are secure, protecting against cyber security.

FINANCIAL KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

We use a range of key performance indicators (HPIs) to report, review and assess the strength of the business to ensure it delivers against its objectives. The main KPI's include:

-

Liquidity ratio, both current, short term and medium term taking in to account average debtor days and creditor payments due.

-

Forecast fee, both secured and 'risked' speculative fees

-

Gross and net profitability.

-

Client experience.

-

Employee experience and culture.

-

Employee retention and development.

FUTURE PLANS

The reporting year saw a modest growth in trading income. The business has aligned its overheads and financial objectives to reflect this modest growth, giving us confidence going into the next financial year, having a sustainable and profitable business that prides itself on being able to deliver excellence to our clients.

We are thankful for the support that employees, suppliers and clients have given to Barker, giving us confidence in continuing to maintain our vision and culture, whilst developing and improving our business in future years.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD:

M S Merrill - Director

22 December 2025

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

PRINCIPAL ACTIVITY

The principal activity of the group in the year under review was that of providing multi-disciplinary professional construction services to our clients

DIVIDENDS

No dividends will be distributed for the year ended 31 March 2025.

DIRECTORS

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

S E White

M S Merrill

W B Bidewell

R S Paynter

R D Gould

FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS & RISK MANAGEMENT

The company mainly utilises cash reserves such as trade debtors and creditors to manage business finances. The company also utilises credit for business operation products (i.e. software) and has a pre-approved overdraft in place to assist in cashflow management, however this rarely used.

The Directors continually monitor business risks, including financial. Working heavily in the public sector the Directors continually monitor Government policy assessing how this may change work revenue adapting as necessary to target funding that is being made available for our clients.

DONATIONS

During the period, the company paid donations of £8,500 (2024: £21,426).

STATEMENT OF DIRECTORS' RESPONSIBILITIES

The directors are responsible for preparing the Group Strategic Report, the Report of the Directors 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 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;

-	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 ought to have taken as a director in order to make himself aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the group's auditors are aware of that information.

AUDITORS

The auditors, TC Group, will be proposed for re-appointment at the forthcoming Annual General Meeting.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD:

M S Merrill - Director

22 December 2025

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of Barker Associates (Essex) Limited (the 'parent company') and its subsidiaries (the 'group') for the year ended 31 March 2025 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 March 2025 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 Report of the Directors, 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 Report of the Directors for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements; and

-	the Group Strategic Report and the Report of the Directors 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 Report of the Directors.

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 four, 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:

We obtained an understanding of the legal and regulatory frameworks that are applicable to the group and determined that the most significant frameworks which are directly relevant so specific assertions in the financial statements are those that relate to the reporting framework (UK GAAP and the Companies Act 2006) and the relevant tax compliance regulations in the UK.

We understood how the group is complying with those frameworks by making enquiries of management and those responsible for legal and compliance procedures. We corroborated our enquiries through review of board minutes and discussions with those charged with governance.

We assess the susceptibility of the group's financial statements to material misstatement, including how fraud might occur, by discussion with management from various parts of the business to understand where they considered there was a susceptibility to fraud. We considered the procedures and controls that the group has established to prevent and detect fraud, and how these are monitored by management, and also any enhanced risk factors such as performance targets.

Based on our understanding, we designed our audit procedures to identify any non-compliance with laws and regulations identified in the paragraphs above.

We also performed audit work over the risk of management override of controls, including testing of journal entries and other adjustments for appropriateness, evaluating the business rationale of significant transactions outside the normal course of business and reviewing accounting estimates for bias.

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 group'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.

Dilun Mistry FCA (Senior Statutory Auditor)

for and on behalf of TC Group

1 Rushmills

Bedford Road

Northampton

Northamptonshire

NN4 7YB

23 December 2025

TURNOVER

3

14,469,812

13,155,633

Cost of sales

8,751,019

7,913,696

GROSS PROFIT

5,718,793

5,241,937

Administrative expenses

4,811,512

4,539,139

907,281

702,798

Other operating income

1,110

1,650

OPERATING PROFIT

5

908,391

704,448

Interest receivable and similar income

-

990

908,391

705,438

Interest payable and similar expenses

6

18,000

9,482

PROFIT BEFORE TAXATION

890,391

695,956

Tax on profit

7

239,990

151,027

PROFIT FOR THE FINANCIAL YEAR

650,401

544,929

Profit attributable to:

Owners of the parent

650,401

544,929

PROFIT FOR THE YEAR

650,401

544,929

OTHER COMPREHENSIVE INCOME

-

-

TOTAL COMPREHENSIVE INCOME FOR THE YEAR

650,401

544,929

Total comprehensive income attributable to:

Owners of the parent

650,401

544,929

FIXED ASSETS

Intangible assets

9

284,664

299,664

Tangible assets

10

538,240

591,743

Investments

11

-

-

822,904

891,407

CURRENT ASSETS

Debtors

12

3,564,117

4,009,721

Cash at bank

38,690

193,416

3,602,807

4,203,137

CREDITORS

Amounts falling due within one year

13

2,470,570

2,421,371

NET CURRENT ASSETS

1,132,237

1,781,766

TOTAL ASSETS LESS CURRENT LIABILITIES

1,955,141

2,673,173

CREDITORS

Amounts falling due after more than one year

14

(6,927

)

(17,033

)

PROVISIONS FOR LIABILITIES

18

(129,689

)

(141,879

)

NET ASSETS

1,818,525

2,514,261

CAPITAL AND RESERVES

Called up share capital

19

101,900

101,900

Share premium

20

521,424

521,424

Retained earnings

20

1,195,201

1,890,937

SHAREHOLDERS' FUNDS

1,818,525

2,514,261

The financial statements were approved by the Board of Directors and authorised for issue on 22 December 2025 and were signed on its behalf by:

M S Merrill - Director

FIXED ASSETS

Intangible assets

9

40,000

50,000

Tangible assets

10

537,962

590,942

Investments

11

230,500

230,500

808,462

871,442

CURRENT ASSETS

Debtors

12

3,552,202

3,995,529

Cash at bank

-

138,448

3,552,202

4,133,977

CREDITORS

Amounts falling due within one year

13

2,609,200

2,558,671

NET CURRENT ASSETS

943,002

1,575,306

TOTAL ASSETS LESS CURRENT LIABILITIES

1,751,464

2,446,748

CREDITORS

Amounts falling due after more than one year

14

(6,927

)

(17,033

)

PROVISIONS FOR LIABILITIES

18

(129,689

)

(141,879

)

NET ASSETS

1,614,848

2,287,836

CAPITAL AND RESERVES

Called up share capital

19

101,900

101,900

Share premium

20

521,424

521,424

Retained earnings

20

991,524

1,664,512

SHAREHOLDERS' FUNDS

1,614,848

2,287,836

Company's profit for the financial year

673,149

518,628

The financial statements were approved by the Board of Directors and authorised for issue on 23 December 2025 and were signed on its behalf by:

S E White - Director

M S Merrill - Director

Called up

share

Retained

Share

Total

capital

earnings

premium

equity

£

£

£

£

Balance at 1 April 2023

101,903

2,751,759

521,424

3,375,086

Changes in equity

Issue of share capital

(3

)

-

-

(3

)

Total comprehensive income

-

544,929

-

544,929

Capital distribution EOT

-

(1,405,751

)

-

(1,405,751

)

Balance at 31 March 2024

101,900

1,890,937

521,424

2,514,261

Changes in equity

Total comprehensive income

-

650,401

-

650,401

Capital distribution EOT

-

(1,346,137

)

-

(1,346,137

)

Balance at 31 March 2025

101,900

1,195,201

521,424

1,818,525

Called up

share

Retained

Share

Total

capital

earnings

premium

equity

£

£

£

£

Balance at 1 April 2023

101,900

2,551,635

521,424

3,174,959

Changes in equity

Total comprehensive income

-

518,628

-

518,628

Capital distribution EOT

-

(1,405,751

)

-

(1,405,751

)

Balance at 31 March 2024

101,900

1,664,512

521,424

2,287,836

Changes in equity

Total comprehensive income

-

673,149

-

673,149

Capital distribution EOT

-

(1,346,137

)

-

(1,346,137

)

Balance at 31 March 2025

101,900

991,524

521,424

1,614,848

Cash flows from operating activities

Cash generated from operations

1

1,460,026

1,414,270

Interest paid

(18,000

)

(9,482

)

Tax paid

(200,975

)

(101,798

)

Net cash from operating activities

1,241,051

1,302,990

Cash flows from investing activities

Purchase of tangible fixed assets

(40,598

)

(71,698

)

Sale of tangible fixed assets

583

-

Interest received

-

990

Net cash from investing activities

(40,015

)

(70,708

)

Cash flows from financing activities

Loan repayments in year

(10,106

)

(9,852

)

Amount introduced by directors

-

24,240

Share issue

-

(3

)

Capital distribution

(1,346,137

)

(1,405,751

)

Net cash from financing activities

(1,356,243

)

(1,391,366

)

Decrease in cash and cash equivalents

(155,207

)

(159,084

)

Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of year

2

193,416

352,500

Cash and cash equivalents at end of year

2

38,209

193,416

1.	RECONCILIATION OF PROFIT BEFORE TAXATION TO CASH GENERATED FROM OPERATIONS

2025

2024

£

£

Profit before taxation

890,391

695,956

Depreciation charges

109,101

117,883

(Profit)/loss on disposal of fixed assets

(583

)

400

Finance costs

18,000

9,482

Finance income

-

(990

)

1,016,909

822,731

Decrease in trade and other debtors

445,604

83,536

(Decrease)/increase in trade and other creditors

(2,487

)

508,003

Cash generated from operations

1,460,026

1,414,270

2.	CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS

The amounts disclosed on the Cash Flow Statement in respect of cash and cash equivalents are in respect of these Balance Sheet amounts:

Year ended 31 March 2025

31.3.25

1.4.24

£

£

Cash and cash equivalents

38,690

193,416

Bank overdrafts

(481

)

-

38,209

193,416

Year ended 31 March 2024

31.3.24

1.4.23

£

£

Cash and cash equivalents

193,416

352,500

3.	ANALYSIS OF CHANGES IN NET FUNDS

At 1.4.24

Cash flow

At 31.3.25

£

£

£

Net cash

Cash at bank

193,416

(154,726

)

38,690

Bank overdrafts

-

(481

)

(481

)

193,416

(155,207

)

38,209

Debt

Debts falling due within 1 year

(9,596

)

-

(9,596

)

Debts falling due after 1 year

(17,033

)

10,106

(6,927

)

(26,629

)

10,106

(16,523

)

Total

166,787

(145,101

)

21,686