The director presents the strategic report for the year ended 28 February 2026.
Paragon Quality Foods Ltd manufactures beefburgers, doner kebabs and other meat products for the UK foodservice sector and selected export markets. The company continues to maintain its position as a trusted manufacturing partner, recognised for consistent product quality, technical compliance and high standards of customer service.
The company operates to the highest industry standards and continues to hold AA+ certification under the BRCGS Global Standard for Food Safety. During the year, the business continued to invest in modernisation initiatives, including new machinery and enhanced process controls aimed at improving efficiency, reducing downtime and strengthening food safety assurance.
All finished goods are sold to its distribution partner, Paragon Foodservice Ltd. This integrated operating model provides a streamlined route to market and enables both businesses to remain agile and closely aligned to customer requirements.
Key Performance Indicators:
Metric | FY26 | FY25 | % Change |
Turnover | £59,131,823 | £46,221,412 | +27.9% |
Gross Profit | £1,663,563 | £7,264,104 | -77.2% |
Net Profit / (Loss) Before Tax | (£2,266,440) | £2,217,486 | -169.4% |
The financial year was characterised by unprecedented and exceptionally rapid inflation across manufacturing beef and other key raw material inputs, including packaging and operational costs. Although turnover increased significantly during the year, reflecting strong underlying customer demand and increased production volumes, profitability was materially impacted by the speed and scale of cost inflation experienced throughout the sector.
As part of the wider group strategy, the business supported long-standing customer relationships by maintaining continuity of supply during a period of exceptional market volatility. Due to pricing lag within larger national customer accounts operating fixed menu cycles and agreed pricing periods, increases in raw material costs could not immediately be fully recovered through selling prices.
Despite this temporary margin compression, the business continued to operate normally throughout the year, maintaining strong production levels, high technical standards and uninterrupted supply to customers across the UK and export markets.
During the latter part of the financial year and into the first quarter of FY27, revised customer pricing was successfully implemented across the majority of accounts, bringing selling prices back into closer alignment with raw material costs. Trading performance and margins have subsequently improved and the directors are encouraged by the return to profitability in the early part of FY27.
The directors remain confident in the long-term strength of the business, supported by continued investment in manufacturing capability, strong supplier and customer relationships, recognised product quality standards and the growing reputation of the Paragon brand across both UK and European markets.
The company operates in a competitive market, which presents several principal risks and uncertainties. Key risks include fluctuations in raw material prices, which can impact production costs and profit margins. Regulatory risks also pose challenges, as changes in food safety and manufacturing standards may necessitate significant adjustments to processes and products. Additionally, increasing consumer awareness and regulatory pressure on sustainability practices require continuous efforts towards environmentally friendly operations.
To mitigate these risks, the company employs strategic sourcing, maintains high standards of quality control, invests in technology to improve efficiencies, and continuously monitors market trends to adapt its product offerings.
Reliance on a network of distributors introduces the risk of dependency on third-party performance, which the company addresses through robust relationship management and diversification of its distribution channels.
Overall, while these risks present challenges, the company remains proactive in its risk management strategies to ensure resilience and sustained growth.
The directors of the company, as those of all UK companies, must act in accordance with a set of general duties. These duties detailed in section 172 of the UK Companies Act 2006 which is summarised as follows:
A director of a company must act in a way they consider, in good faith, would be most likely to promote the success of the company for the benefit of its shareholders as a whole and, in doing so have regard (amongst other matters) to:
1. The likely consequences of any decisions in the long term:
The company's main strategic decisions in the year where those that resulted in decisions to continue to invest in automating and upgrading equipment and machinery and develop its people and processes to enable it to be competitive for the short, medium and long term.
2. The interest of the company's employees:
Investment is not only in machinery but also in its people and processes to ensure staff's training and development needs are met.
3. The need to foster the company's business relationships with suppliers, customers and others business relationships:
We work closely with our suppliers to ensure a continuous, high-quality flow of raw materials. Concurrently, we closely monitor raw material prices and market trends. By maintaining transparent communication with our supply partners and tracking input costs, the company ensures it can sustainably add an appropriate margin to sales. This approach allows us to deliver fair value to our end customers while protecting the financial health and long-term success of the business.
4. The impact of the company's operations on the community and the environment:.
Investment in equipment, and processes will lead to increased efficiencies in the use of energy which will reduce our impact on the environment both locally and on a nationally.
5. The desirability of the company maintaining a reputation for high standards of business conduct:
The company prides itself on its professional reputation. We are regularly audited by external bodies to ensure compliance with all relevant food hygiene legislation.
6. The need to act fairly as between stakeholders of the company:
Fairness and equality are important to the company, we work with members at all levels and promote a good working relationship between all colleagues.
On behalf of the board
The director presents his annual report and financial statements for the year ended 28 February 2026.
The results for the year are set out on page 10.
No ordinary dividends were paid in the current year or prior year. The director does not recommend payment of a final dividend.
The director who held office during the year and up to the date of signature of the financial statements was as follows:
The company has not made qualifying third party indemnity provisions for the benefit of its directors in the year.
The company continues to perform research and development activities in the pursuit of achieving greater efficiencies in the packaging, distribution and logistical management of products.
There have been no material events since the balance sheet date which would require adjustment to, or disclosure in, the financial statements.
The company anticipates that the turnover will remain consistent during the current financial year to February 2027, but profitability to improve as raw materials prices have stabilised, and price increases were implemented during the year.
In accordance with the company's articles, a resolution proposing that Sedulo Audit Limited be reappointed as auditor of the company will be put at a General Meeting.
Carbon Neutral Britain Limited have provided a Carbon (GHG) Emissions Report for Paragon Quality Foods Limited. As this is the company's principal consumer of energy and producer of emissions this report has been used for company energy and carbon reporting purposes.
We have followed the 2019 HM Government Environmental Reporting Guidelines. We have also used the GHG Reporting Protocol – Corporate Standard and have used the 2020 UK Government’s Conversion Factors for Company Reporting.
The chosen intensity measurement ratio is total gross emissions in metric tonnes CO2e per employee.
In order to further reduce carbon emissions the group is targeting increased energy efficiency measures including, but not limited to, energy efficient lighting and the increased use of renewable energy sources such as solar panels as well as enhancing waste separation processes.
The company has been certified as a Carbon Neutral Business by Carbon Neutral Britain Limited.
Credit risk
The company's principal financial assets are bank balances, cash, stock, trade debtors and amounts due from fellow group companies. These represent the company's maximum exposure to credit risk in relation to financial assets. The credit risk is primarily attributable to its trade debtors. The risk is managed by having a strict credit policy and effective credit rating of prospective customers. The amounts presented in the balance sheet are et of allowances for doubtful debts estimated by the company's management based on prior experience and their assessment of the current economic environment.
Liquidity and Cash flow risk
The directors do not consider that the company is exposed to significant liquidity or cash flow risk due to the diversity of the customer base as well as the liquid reserves of both the company and group.
Company law requires the director to prepare financial statements for each financial year. Under that law the director has 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 director must not approve the financial statements unless he is 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 director is 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; and
prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the company will continue in business.
The director is 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. He is 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 Paragon Quality Foods Ltd (the 'company') for the year ended 28 February 2026 which comprise the profit and loss account, the statement of comprehensive income, 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
Other information
Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006
As explained more fully in the director's responsibilities statement, the director is 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 director determines 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 director is 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 director either intends to liquidate the company or to cease operations, or has no realistic alternative but to do so.
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.
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:
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 manufacturing and supply 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 and taxation 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.nt to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud, is detailed below.
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 selected on a risk criteria basis to identify unusual transactions; and
investigated the rationale behind significant or unusual transactions; and
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 any actual and potential litigation and claims.
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 profit and loss account has been prepared on the basis that all operations are continuing operations.
The notes on pages 14 to 24 form part of these financial statements.
The notes on pages 14 to 24 form part of these financial statements.
The notes on pages 14 to 24 form part of these financial statements.
The notes on pages 14 to 24 form part of these financial statements.
Paragon Quality Foods Ltd is a private company limited by shares incorporated in England and Wales. The registered office is Paragon Quality Foods Limited, Yorkshire Way, Armthorpe, Doncaster, South Yorkshire, United Kingdom, DN3 3FB.
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’: the company has taken advantage of the exemption under FRS 102 paragraph 33.1A and has therefore not disclosed transactions or balances with wholly owned members of the group, nor key management personnel compensation.
The financial statements of the company are consolidated in the financial statements of Paragon Property Investments Limited. These consolidated financial statements are available from its registered office, Unit D Herons Way, Balby, Doncaster, England, DN4 8WA.
The gain or loss arising on the disposal of an asset is determined as the difference between the sale proceeds and the carrying value of the asset, and is credited or charged to profit or loss.
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 carrying amount of deferred tax assets is reviewed at each reporting end date and reduced to the extent that it is no longer probable that sufficient taxable profits will be available to allow all or part of the asset to be recovered. Deferred tax is calculated at the tax rates that are expected to apply in the period when the liability is settled or the asset is realised. Deferred tax is charged or credited in the profit and loss account, except when it relates to items charged or credited directly to equity, in which case the deferred tax is also dealt with in equity. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are offset when the company has a legally enforceable right to offset current tax assets and liabilities and the deferred tax assets and liabilities relate to taxes levied by the same tax authority.
In the application of the company’s accounting policies, the director is required to make judgements, estimates and assumptions about the carrying amount of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. The estimates and associated assumptions are based on historical experience and other factors that are considered to be relevant. Actual results may differ from these estimates.
The estimates and underlying assumptions are reviewed on an ongoing basis. Revisions to accounting estimates are recognised in the period in which the estimate is revised where the revision affects only that period, or in the period of the revision and future periods where the revision affects both current and future periods.
The following judgements (apart from those involving estimates) have had the most significant effect on amounts recognised in the financial statements.
The director is required to determine whether there are indicators of impairment of the company's tangible assets. Factors taken into consideration in reaching such a decision include the economic viability and expected future financial performance of the asset and whether it is component of a larger cash generating unit, the viability and expected future performance of that unit. The director identified no impairment indicators at year-end.
Management judgment is involved in allocating a proportion of direct wages and overheads o be absorbed into stock cost based on production rates over the year.
The estimates and assumptions which have a significant risk of causing a material adjustment to the carrying amount of assets and liabilities are as follows.
Management estimates whether any stock provisions are required based on the age and quality of stock held. The director’s assessment indicated no stock write-off provisions are required.
The turnover and profit before taxation are attributable to the one principal activity of the company and substantially arose in the United Kingdom.
The average monthly number of persons (including directors) employed by the company during the year was:
Their aggregate remuneration comprised:
The director is remunerated through a fellow group company. It is not considered practical to attribute their time and remuneration to this company.
The actual (credit)/charge for the year can be reconciled to the expected (credit)/charge for the year based on the profit or loss and the standard rate of tax as follows:
The current year losses will be offset against the prior year tax profits through a carry-back relief. As a result, a current tax receivable has been recognised, with no deferred tax component arising from the current year losses.
Stock recognised in cost of sales during the year as an expense was £52,622,920 (2025: £34,335,267).
Amounts owed from group undertakings are interest free and repayable on demand.
The company operates an invoice discounting facility which is secured against the trade debtors of the company. As at the year end the balance of £1,180,365 is shown within other creditors (2025: £Nil).
The following are all the deferred tax liabilities and assets recognised by the company and movements thereon:
The company operates a defined contribution pension scheme for all qualifying employees. The assets of the scheme are held separately from those of the company in an independently administered fund.
No events after the reporting date have occurred that require disclosure.