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Registered number:
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2025
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VETERINARY PATHOLOGY GROUP LIMITED
COMPANY INFORMATION
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VETERINARY PATHOLOGY GROUP LIMITED
CONTENTS
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VETERINARY PATHOLOGY GROUP LIMITED
STRATEGIC REPORT
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2025
The directors present their strategic report for the company for the year ended 31 December 2025.
The principal activities of the Company comprise the provision of veterinary pathology services.
The company provides testing and diagnostic support to veterinary surgeries and clinics. The company was acquired by Zoetis Inc. on 10 November 2025. The trading conditions in 2025 have continued to be challenging, reflecting global economic conditions and pressures in the wider veterinary sector. The company has net assets of £5,363,468 (2024: £4,344,228) as at the year-end despite a loss for the year of £1,847,164 (2024: £2,338,364).
The directors consider that the principal key performance indicators relating to the company are revenue and operating profit. During the year the company had revenue of £11,240,649 (2024: £11,382,768) and an operating loss of £1,628,343 (2024: £1,439,262). Revenue in 2025 declined by 1.25% compared to the prior year, reflecting a decrease in test volumes, customer churn and pricing pressures. Gross profit margin has decreased from 83.3% to 79.9% reflecting pricing pressures. The decrease in sales price tariff has driven this together with cost pressures and the economic environment. Administrative expenses have decreased by 2.5%, driven by lower personnel costs which were a result of restructuring at the end of 2024.
Economic risk
The geopolitical uncertainty and macroeconomic environment continue to suffer from inflationary pressures leaving the UK and many parts of the world in a cost-of-living crisis. However, the company continues to operate fully and achieve healthy revenue streams which the company expects to continue with further growth anticipated, especially as part of Zoetis which presents many opportunities and synergies within the UK veterinary market and beyond. The current and ongoing key risks and impacts that the company is exposed to are:
∙decreasing sales demand; significant inflationary price increases in materials, fuel, and utility costs;
∙uncertainty in relation to cash collection;
∙uncertainty in relation to the impact to key suppliers; and
∙uncertainty to the duration of ongoing geopolitical environment and how it will continue to impact the UK economic environment.
The cost-of-living crisis, post Brexit has affected the retail vet services market as consumers have reduced budgets for their pet care. Challenges in the sector are further evidenced by the Consumer & Markets Authority review published on 24 March 2026.
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VETERINARY PATHOLOGY GROUP LIMITED
STRATEGIC REPORT (CONTINUED)
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2025
Principal risks and uncertainties (continued)
Pricing risk The company operates in a very competitive market and is subject to pressure on its price tariffs. To mitigate this risk the business operates in both routine and specialist markets and regularly monitors its sales price to ensure they remain appropriate, competitive and reflective of the highest quality of pathology work. This is increasingly important given the current economic climate. Credit risk Management has credit policies in place to manage risk and to monitor exposure to risk on an ongoing basis. These include the use of customer specific credit limits based on third party credit reports and in cases of customer default or requests for credit above agreed limits the use of pro forma invoices to secure payment in advance of delivery. Key supplier risk The company's operations are dependent on a number of key product and consumable lines from a limited number of suppliers. The operations would be at risk if the supply chain was not maintained and therefore this risk is mitigated through continual review of stock levels and order processing. Liquidity risk The ultimate parent company, Zoetis Inc., are committed long-term investors, willing to provide support should it be needed. The company is also a cash-generating business. Regulatory risk The company operates in a heavily regulated market and it complies with all necessary legislation and supervisory bodies.
Our parent, Zoetis Inc., has a sustainability strategy “Driven to Care” that builds on their purpose to nurture our world and humankind by advancing care for animals; more information can be found in their website on https://www2.zoetis.co .uk/about-zoetis/sustainability.
The company expects to grow the business within the same veterinary sector and will look to increase our market share. The company will continue to focus on its core value of quality and exceptional service delivery.
This report was approved by the board and signed on its behalf.
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VETERINARY PATHOLOGY GROUP 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.
The loss for the year, after taxation, amounted to £1,847,164 (2024 - loss £2,338,364).
The directors do not recommend a dividend.
The directors who served during the year were:
S Warweg (resigned 16 January 2025)
L Hoogeveen (resigned 16 January 2025)
The directors have a reasonable expectation that the company will continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. The expectation is based on the most recent budget, latest forecast and customer commitments leading the directors to support the going concern basis. This is for a period at least 12 months from signing of the accounts and beyond. The company has also received a letter of support from the parent company.
The company has made qualifying third party indemnity provisions for the benefit of its directors which were made during the year and remain in force at the date of this report.
As permitted by s414c(11) of the Companies Act 2006, the directors have elected to disclose information, required to be in the directors' report by Schedule 7 of the 'Large and Medium-sized Companies and Groups (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008', in the strategic report.
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VETERINARY PATHOLOGY GROUP LIMITED
DIRECTORS' REPORT (CONTINUED)
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2025
This report was approved by the board and signed on its behalf.
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VETERINARY PATHOLOGY GROUP LIMITED
DIRECTORS' RESPONSIBILITIES STATEMENT
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2025
The directors are responsible for preparing the strategic report, the directors' 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 applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice), including Financial Reporting Standard 101 ‘Reduced Disclosure Framework’. 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;
∙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 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 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 hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
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VETERINARY PATHOLOGY GROUP LIMITED
INDEPENDENT AUDITOR'S REPORT TO THE MEMBERS OF VETERINARY PATHOLOGY GROUP LIMITED
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2025
We have audited the financial statements of Veterinary Pathology Group Limited (the 'company') for the year ended 31 December 2025, which comprise the statement of comprehensive income, the balance sheet, the 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 101 ‘Reduced Disclosure Framework’ (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 Auditor's 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 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 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.
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VETERINARY PATHOLOGY GROUP LIMITED
INDEPENDENT AUDITOR'S REPORT TO THE MEMBERS OF VETERINARY PATHOLOGY GROUP LIMITED (CONTINUED)
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2025
The other information comprises the information included in the annual report other than the financial statements and our auditor's report thereon. The directors are responsible for the other information contained within the annual report. 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. 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 course of 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.
In our opinion, based on the work undertaken in the course of the 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.
In the light of the 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 or the directors' report.
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VETERINARY PATHOLOGY GROUP LIMITED
INDEPENDENT AUDITOR'S REPORT TO THE MEMBERS OF VETERINARY PATHOLOGY GROUP LIMITED (CONTINUED)
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2025
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:
∙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 the company’s 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, including the Companies Act 2006, taxation legislation and data protection, anti-bribery, employment and health and safety 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 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, we:
∙performed analytical procedures to identify any unusual or unexpected relationships;
∙tested a sample of journal entries to identify unusual transactions;
∙assessed whether judgements and assumptions made in determining the accounting estimates set out in note 3 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.
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 require that we identify non-compliance with laws and regulations through enquiry of the directors and other management and the inspection of regulatory and legal correspondence, if any, as well as any additional procedures deemed necessary.
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VETERINARY PATHOLOGY GROUP LIMITED
INDEPENDENT AUDITOR'S REPORT TO THE MEMBERS OF VETERINARY PATHOLOGY GROUP LIMITED (CONTINUED)
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2025
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 auditor's report.
This report is made solely to the company's shareholders, 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 shareholders 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 shareholders, as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.
for and on behalf of
Chartered Accountants
Statutory Auditor
16 Great Queen Street
Covent Garden
WC2B 5AH
Date:
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VETERINARY PATHOLOGY GROUP LIMITED
STATEMENT OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2025
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VETERINARY PATHOLOGY GROUP LIMITED
BALANCE SHEET
AS AT 31 DECEMBER 2025
The financial statements were approved and authorised for issue by the board and were signed on its behalf by:
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VETERINARY PATHOLOGY GROUP LIMITED
BALANCE SHEET (CONTINUED)
AS AT 31 DECEMBER 2025
The notes on pages 15 to 32 form part of these financial statements.
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VETERINARY PATHOLOGY GROUP LIMITED
NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2025
13.Tangible fixed assets (continued)
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VETERINARY PATHOLOGY GROUP LIMITED
NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2025
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VETERINARY PATHOLOGY GROUP LIMITED
NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2025
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VETERINARY PATHOLOGY GROUP LIMITED
NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2025
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VETERINARY PATHOLOGY GROUP LIMITED
NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2025
Share premium account
Capital contribution reserve
Merger reserve
Profit and loss account
During the year, certain historic share capital transactions were reviewed. The directors determined that an amount of £17,801,597, previously classified as capital contribution reserve, should in fact have been reflected as share premium. Accordingly, the share premium account, as at 31 December 2023 and 31 December 2024, has been increased by this amount with a corresponding reduction in the capital contribution reserve. The prior year restatement has no impact on net assets nor the loss incurred in 2024 or prior.
The company operates a defined contributions pension scheme. The assets of the scheme are held separately from those of the company in an independently administered fund. The pension cost charge represents contributions payable by the company to the fund and amounted to £138,924 (2024: £143,908).
25.Capital commitments
The company has entered into agreements for services amounting to £198,092 (2024: £366,092) payable within one year.
In addition, the company entered into a capital commitment amounting to £88,000 (2024: £Nil) prior to the year end.
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VETERINARY PATHOLOGY GROUP LIMITED
NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2025
As permitted by FRS 101, the company has taken advantage of the exemption contained in IAS 24 Related Party Disclosures not to disclose related party transactions entered into between two or more members of a group, provided that any subsidiary which is a party to the transaction is wholly-owned by such a member.
Transactions with other related parties are as follows: During the year the company incurred expenses with Jaigo Limited in relation to software development of £196,000 (2024: £449,295) and software maintenance cost of £8,400 (2024: £nil). The director and shareholder of Jaigo Limited is the spouse of a director of the company during the year. At the year end the company owed Jaigo limited £nil (2024: £58,440) Amounts owed to related parties are unsecured, interest free and due for repayment within one year.
In the opinion of the directors, the Company's ultimate parent company and ultimate controlling party is
The company's immediate controlling party is Zoetis B.V., a company registered in the Netherlands and whose registered office is Rivium Westlaan 74, 2909LD Capelle aan den IJssel, Netherlands. Copies of the group financial statements for Zoetis Inc. are available on request from 10 Sylvan Way, Parsippany, New Jersey, NJ 07054, USA or at www.zoetis.com.
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