Somerset County Cars 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 25

Somerset County Cars Limited

Company Information

Directors

Mr N D Burke Mr J M Lafferty Mr P A Thomas Ms D A Jenkins Mr J L Harris

Registered office

Francis Clark LLP Centenary House Peninsula Park, Rydon Lane Exeter EX2 7XE

Auditors

PKF Francis Clark Statutory AuditorCentenary House Peninsula Park Rydon Lane Exeter EX2 7XE

Somerset County Cars Limited

Strategic Report for the Year Ended 31 December 2025

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

Principal activity

The principal activity of the company is the sale, servicing and repair of vehicles and the sale of spares and accessories.

Fair review of the business

The directors are pleased to report that, despite a reduction in turnover from £44.0m to £40.3m, the Company delivered a significantly improved financial performance. Profit before tax moved from a loss of £528k in 2024 to a profit of £71k in 2025, reflecting the effectiveness of cost‑saving initiatives implemented during the year. The cash position has increased from £0.7m to £0.83m due to the company's cost savings and profit making position in the year.

Principal risks and uncertainties

The main risks and uncertainties facing the company come from the economic climate and general competition.

The main financial risk facing the business continues to be linked to working capital, and the impact of economic conditions on the motor industry. The company manages these risks through controlling the level of stock and cash and by closely working with key suppliers.

Approved and authorised by the Board on 27 July 2026 and signed on its behalf by:
 

......................................... Mr N D Burke Director

Somerset County Cars Limited

Directors' Report for the Year Ended 31 December 2025

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

Directors of the company

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

Mr N D Burke

Mr J M Lafferty

Mr W R Campsie (ceased 31 December 2025)

Mr P A Thomas

Ms D A Jenkins

The following director was appointed after the year end:

Mr J L Harris (appointed 1 January 2026)

Financial instruments

The company’s principal financial instruments comprise bank balances, liquid investments, trade debtors, trade creditors, and loans to the company.

Principal financial risks

The company's activities expose it to a number of financial risks. The company's approach to dealing with these risks are detailed in the strategic report, which can be found on page 2.

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 27 July 2026 and signed on its behalf by:
 

......................................... Mr N D Burke Director

Somerset County Cars 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.

Somerset County Cars Limited

Independent Auditor's Report to the Members of Somerset County Cars Limited

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of Somerset County Cars Limited (the 'company') for the year ended 31 December 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 December 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.

Somerset County Cars Limited

Independent Auditor's Report to the Members of Somerset County Cars 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 below:

Somerset County Cars Limited

Independent Auditor's Report to the Members of Somerset County Cars Limited

Based on our understanding of the company and industry, we identified that the principal risks of non-compliance with laws and regulations as relating to breaches around health and safety regulations and breaches of The General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”). We also considered those laws and regulations that have a direct impact on the preparation of the financial statements such as The Companies Act 2006, and relevant tax legislation (Corporation Tax, VAT, claims made under the Corornavirus Job Retention Scheme etc.). We considered the extent to which non-compliance with these laws and regulations may have a material effect on the financial statements.

We also evaluated management’s incentives and opportunities for fraudulent manipulation of the financial statements and determined that the principal risks were related to the overstatement of profit, either through overstating revenue, understating expenditure or management bias in accounting estimates.

Based on this understanding we designed our audit procedures to identify irregularities. Our procedures involved the following:

• Enquiries to members of Senior Management, regarding their knowledge of any non-compliance or potential non-compliance with laws and regulations that could affect the financial statements;

• Inspection of documents in relation to any health and safety incidents which have been reported under The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (“RIDDOR”) during the period;

• Evaluation of the group’s controls in relation to GDPR and enquiries to Senior Management as to the occurrence and outcome of any reportable breaches;

• Challenging assumptions and judgements made by management in its significant accounting estimates; and

• Evaluation and testing of the design and implementation of management’s controls designed to prevent and detect irregularities;

• Testing the recognition of revenue and costs, in particular around the year end date;

• Reviewing draft tax computations and involving the use of our specialists as required (e.g. VAT);

• Testing on a sample basis of the accuracy of claims submitted under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme;

• Auditing the risk of management override of controls, including through testing journal entries and other adjustments for appropriateness, and evaluating the business rationale of significant transactions outside the normal course of business.

• Reviewing financial statement disclosures and testing to supporting documentation to assess compliance with applicable laws and regulations.

Somerset County Cars Limited

Independent Auditor's Report to the Members of Somerset County Cars 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.

......................................
NEIL HITCHINGS (Senior Statutory Auditor)
PKF Francis Clark, Statutory Auditor

Centenary House
Peninsula Park
Rydon Lane
Exeter
EX2 7XE

27 July 2026

Somerset County Cars Limited

Profit and Loss Account

Year Ended 31 December 2025

	Note	2025 £	2024 £
Turnover	3	40,316,562	44,069,140
Cost of sales		(35,818,037)	(40,536,096)
Gross profit		4,498,525	3,533,044
Distribution costs		(1,354,881)	(1,461,333)
Administrative expenses		(3,062,257)	(2,594,965)
Operating profit/(loss)	4	81,387	(523,254)
Gain on financial assets at fair value through profit and loss		6,824	21,346
Other interest receivable and similar income	8	4	5
Interest payable and similar expenses	9	(16,879)	(26,236)
		(10,051)	(4,885)
Profit/(loss) before tax		71,336	(528,139)
Tax on profit/(loss)	10	(54,306)	78,213
Profit/(loss) for the financial year		17,030	(449,926)

Somerset County Cars Limited

Balance Sheet

31 December 2025

	Note	2025 £	2024 £
Fixed assets
Tangible assets	11	944,183	1,011,297
Investments	12	2	2
		944,185	1,011,299
Current assets
Stocks	13	4,810,669	3,621,620
Debtors	14	1,059,577	1,471,603
Other financial assets	15	-	45,969
Cash at bank and in hand		837,109	688,967
		6,707,355	5,828,159
Creditors: Amounts falling due within one year	16	(6,885,350)	(5,161,028)
Net current (liabilities)/assets		(177,995)	667,131
Total assets less current liabilities		766,190	1,678,430
Creditors: Amounts falling due after more than one year	16	(245,224)	(378,800)
Provisions for liabilities	22	(122,093)	(67,787)
Net assets		398,873	1,231,843
Capital and reserves
Called up share capital		99,990	99,990
Capital redemption reserve		10	10
Profit and loss account		298,873	1,131,843
Shareholders' funds		398,873	1,231,843

Approved and authorised by the Board on 27 July 2026 and signed on its behalf by:
 

......................................... Mr N D Burke Director

Company Registration Number: 04170008