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Registered number:
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2025
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COMPANY INFORMATION
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CONTENTS
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GROUP STRATEGIC REPORT
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2025
The Directors present their strategic report on the Group for the year ended 31 December 2025.
The Group continues to focus on Marketing and Communications as its core activities. Despite the challenges posed by the external environment, the Group has continued to perform well this year delivering strong bottom line growth, showcasing the resilience and adaptability of the business.
The directors are satisfied with the performance of the business for the year under review.
The Board recognises that the Group operates in a dynamic public relations and media environment, where both external and internal factors could affect performance and prospects. The principal risks identified and monitored include market and client risk, reputational risk, operational and talent considerations.
The Group is exposed to potential revenue volatility due to changing market demands, while reputational risk could affect both client relations. Operational risks, including dependence on skilled personnel and the ability to attract and retain talent, are actively managed alongside risks from technological change and innovation. Economic fluctuations, including downturns or changes in client marketing budgets, and risks associated with executing strategic initiatives, including growth and diversification plans, are also considered. The Board regularly reviews these risks, assessing both likelihood and potential impact, and implements mitigation strategies to ensure the resilience and sustainability of the business. Emerging risks are closely monitored, and mitigation measures are adapted as necessary.
The Group monitors a range of financial key performance indicators (“KPIs”) to measure performance, manage risk and support the delivery of its strategy. These KPIs are reviewed regularly by the Board and senior management and are considered to be the most relevant measures for assessing the Group’s performance, financial position and future prospects.
Revenue Revenue for the year was £43.3m (2024 - £43m), representing an increase of approximately 0.7%. Note 4 provides a breakdown of turnover by geographical market. Increases in turnover from the Rest of Europe and the Rest of the World offset the fall in turnover from the United Kingdom and United States of America. Given the nature of the business fluctuations in markets are expected. Operating profit and operating margin Operating profit for the year was £12.2m (2024 - £9.7m), with an operating margin of 28.2% (2024 - 22.6%). EBITDA (''Earnings before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortisation'') EBITDA was £12.8m (2024 - £10.4m). Staff costs as a percentage of revenue Staff costs represented 55.3% of revenue (2024 - 54.9%).
The Directors consider the successful running of the Group and the Company centres around the long-term strategy of maintaining a sustainable, profitable business. The Directors consider that they and the Directors of the various group companies (“the Directors”) have acted in the way they consider, in good faith, would be most likely to promote the success of the Group for the benefit of its members as a whole (having regard to the
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GROUP STRATEGIC REPORT (CONTINUED)
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2025
stakeholders and matters set out in S172(1)(a-f) of the Act) in the decisions taken during the financial year ended 31 December 2025.
In coming to this conclusion, the Directors have considered the following: • Consideration of long-term consequences are an inherent part of the Group's decision-making processes. As a privately-owned Group, the Directors consider that the interests of the Group and the shareholder are aligned in seeking sustainable value creation over the longer term through the Group's operations, promoting long term strategic decision-making. • The Directors continue to ensure that a reputation for high standards of business conduct with customers and other stakeholders is maintained. • The Group has continued throughout the year to provide employees with relevant information and to seek their views on matters of common concern. Priority is given to ensuring that employees are aware of all significant matters affecting the Group. • When taking decisions, the Directors consider the potential impact the decisions they take may have on the community and environment and socially. • The integrity of the Group is underpinned with policies in relation to bribery and corruption, data protection, equality, diversity, fraud and whistleblowing, each of which is reinforced through appropriate training. • The Directors confirm that throughout the year they have acted in the way they consider, in good faith, to be most likely to promote the success of the Company and Group for the benefit of the members as a whole.
This report was approved by the board on 8 September 2026 and signed on its behalf.
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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.
The profit for the year, after taxation and minority interests, amounted to £9,164,085 (2024 - £7,297,831).
The Directors do not recommend a final dividend.
The directors who served during the year were:
There are no plans which will significantly change the activities and risks of the Group.
Management encourages the involvement and participation of the employees in the Group and make every effort to ensure regular contact and exchange of information with staff. It is the Group's policy to give full and fair consideration to suitable applications from disabled persons for employment. Where employees become disabled in the course of their employment, they will continue to be employed, wherever practicable, in the same job or, if this is not practicable, every effort will be made to find suitable alternative employment and to provide appropriate training.
Delivering the Group's strategy requires strong mutually beneficial relationships with contractors, suppliers, customers, and providers of finance and the directors seek the promotion and application of certain general principles in such relationships. These principles involve integrity and fairness in all aspects of the Group’s/Company’s business. The ability to promote these principles effectively is an important factor in the decision to enter into or remain in such relationships.
The Group has not disclosed information in respect of greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption and energy efficiency action as its energy consumption in the United Kingdom for the year is 40,000kWh or lower.
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DIRECTORS' REPORT (CONTINUED)
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2025
There have been no significant events affecting the Group since the year end.
Under section 487(2) of the Companies Act 2006, Sopher + Co LLP will be deemed to have been reappointed as auditors 28 days after these financial statements were sent to members or 28 days after the latest date prescribed for filing the accounts with the registrar, whichever is earlier.
This report was approved by the board on
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DIRECTORS' RESPONSIBILITIES STATEMENT
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2025
The directors are responsible for preparing the Group Strategic Report, the Directors' Report and the consolidated 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 applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice), including Financial Reporting Standard 102 ‘The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland'. 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 for the Group's financial statements and then apply them consistently;
∙make judgments and accounting estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
∙state whether applicable UK Accounting Standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements;
∙prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the Group 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 the Group and to 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.
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INDEPENDENT AUDITORS' REPORT TO THE MEMBERS OF FREUD 4.0 LIMITED
We have audited the financial statements of Freud 4.0 Limited (the 'parent Company') and its subsidiaries (the 'Group') for the year ended 31 December 2025, which comprise the Group Statement of Comprehensive Income, the Group and Company Statements of Financial Position, the Group Statement of Cash Flows, the Group and Company Statement of Changes in Equity and the related notes, 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).
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 United Kingdom, including the Financial Reporting Council'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.
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 or 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.
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 Auditors' 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
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INDEPENDENT AUDITORS' REPORT TO THE MEMBERS OF FREUD 4.0 LIMITED (CONTINUED)
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.
In our opinion, based on the work undertaken in the course of the audit:
∙the information given in the Group 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 Group Strategic Report and the Directors' Report have been prepared in accordance with applicable legal requirements.
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 Directors' Report.
We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which 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.
As explained more fully in the Directors' Responsibilities Statement set out on page 5, 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 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.
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 Auditors' 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 Group 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,
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INDEPENDENT AUDITORS' REPORT TO THE MEMBERS OF FREUD 4.0 LIMITED (CONTINUED)
including fraud. The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud is detailed below:
Our approach to identifying and assessing the risks of material misstatement in respect of irregularities, including fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations, was as follows:
∙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 and Group through discussions with directors and other management, and from our commercial knowledge and experience of the public relations sector;
∙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 and Group, including the Companies Act 2006, taxation legislation and data protection, anti-bribery and employment legislation;
∙we assessed the extent of compliance with the laws and regulations identified above through making enquiries of management and inspecting legal correspondence; and
∙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 and Group'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;
∙considering the internal controls in place to mitigate risks of fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations; and
∙understanding the design of the Company’s and Group's remuneration policies.
To address the risk of fraud through management bias and override of controls, we:
∙performed analytical procedures to identify any unusual or unexpected relationships;
∙tested journal entries to identify unusual transactions;
∙assessed whether judgements and assumptions made in determining the accounting estimates were indicative of potential bias; and
∙investigated the rationale behind significant or unusual 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 documentation;
∙reading the minutes of meetings of those charged with governance;
∙enquiring of management as to actual and potential litigation and claims; and
∙reviewing correspondence with HMRC, relevant regulators and the Company’s and Group's 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 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
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INDEPENDENT AUDITORS' REPORT TO THE MEMBERS OF FREUD 4.0 LIMITED (CONTINUED)
Auditors' 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 Auditors' 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.
for and on behalf of
Sopher + Co LLP
Chartered Accountants
Statutory Auditors
5 Elstree Gate
Elstree Way
Borehamwood
Hertfordshire
WD6 1JD
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CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2025
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CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION
AS AT 31 DECEMBER 2025
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CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION (CONTINUED)
AS AT 31 DECEMBER 2025
The financial statements were approved and authorised for issue by the board and were signed on its behalf on 8 September 2026.
The notes on pages 19 to 37 form part of these financial statements.
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COMPANY STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION
AS AT 31 DECEMBER 2025
The financial statements were approved and authorised for issue by the board and were signed on its behalf on
The notes on pages 19 to 37 form part of these financial statements.
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