Company Reports & Accounts


By Roger Dean


Hi-Peak Feeds The principal activity of the company continues to be the manufacture of animal feed supplements. The company submitted ‘Small’ company accounts until 26 February


2018, transiting to ‘Full’ company accounts on 4 March 2019. The latter included data for the financial year ending 31 May 2018. On 7 June 2021, reporting on the financial year ending 31 May


2020, the company’s Directors noted that the results for the year and the financial position at the year-end were adversely affected by a health and safety incident on the production site in December 2018. The ensuing remedial measures and restructured operations and management teams caused ‘disruption to the company’s business over the following twelve months’. From £26.25 million in the year to 31 May 2019, turnover fell by £4.74 million or 22.1 per cent in the twelve months ending in 31 May 2020.


As a result of the fall in the company’s sales, direct costs (cost


of sales) in the year under review fell sharply by almost 24 per cent. However, the company’s indirect costs, at approximately £1.33 million remained almost identical between the 2019 and 2020 accounting years with the result that in the year ending 31 May 2019, the company recorded an operating loss of £355,513 and in the following year this was compounded by an operating loss of £250,974. The accounts for the year ending 31 May 2019 show a loss before


tax of £361,617; in the succeeding year, this increased to £403,996. A substantial proportion of this sum reflected the impact of a fine levied on the company by the Health and Safety Executive as a result of the accident. The company’s ultimate parent undertaking and controlling party is Devenish (NI) Ltd, which is registered in Northern Ireland.


Devenish Nutrition Ltd This company, registered in Northern Ireland, reported its annual financial results for the twelve months ending 31 May 2020 on 27 May 2021. The company is a member of a group whose ultimate parent is


Devenish (NI) Ltd. The strategy of the group continues to be influenced by the increased demand for ‘nutrient-dense, safe food produced in a sustainable way’. The Directors further note that consumer demand for safe, healthy food produced in a transparent and environmentally conscious manner continues to increase. The company’s innovation investment is targeted at meeting these challenges and ‘differentiating Devenish in the marketplace’. The Directors note that ‘in June 2016, the UK voted by referendum


to leave the European Union’ and that, since that time, the company had been impacted by the issues surrounding Brexit, most notably on foreign


PAGE 14 JULY/AUGUST 2021 FEED COMPOUNDER


exchange rates and market uncertainties. The Directors noted that during the financial year under review, the lack of clarity surrounding the terms under which the UK would leave the EU impacted market confidence, subduing demand and constraining investment appetite. In the year ending 31 May 2020, the company reported sales of


£101.18 million or 1.4 per cent down on the preceding twelve months. After deducting direct cost, Gross Profit amounted to £20.25 million, suggesting that the company was unable to recover some of its raw material costs, reflecting market conditions. The company’s Gross Profit ratio (Gross Profits divided by sales) in the year under review amounted to 20 per cent, compared with the previous year’s Gross Profit ratio of 22.2 per cent and the company’s five-year average Gross Profit ratio of 20.6 per cent. The company incurred ‘exceptional administrative expenses’ in


the year under review, comprising redundancy and related costs and to uninsured losses following a significant fire at its Distribution Centre in Belfast. In the year under review, the company recorded a pre-tax loss of


£3.24 million (against a loss of £804,437 in the preceding year). After taking tax into account, the loss for the financial year amounted to £2.8 million as against the previous year’s loss of £1.8 million. The company’s net assets amounted to £17.71 million in the year under review, as against the preceding year of £22.47 million. The company’s immediate parent undertaking is Devenish Holdings


Ltd. The company’s ultimate parent undertaking is Devenish (NI) Ltd. The Directors regard Mr. O. Brennan as the ultimate controlling party by virtue of his majority shareholding in Devenish (NI) Ltd.


Greencoat Ltd The principal activity of the company is that of the manufacture and distribution of specialized animal feed supplements and associated animal welfare products. In their report, the Directors noted that, since the end of the


company’s current accounting year, the spread of Covid-19 ‘has severely impacted many businesses and economies around the globe’. In the year to 31 March 2020, the company posted sales of £17.04


million, £118,000 or 0.7 per cent ahead of the previous accounting period. However, it appears that the company was unable, given the prevailing market conditions, to recover the equivalent in direct costs in that the company’s Gross Profit rose by just £14,000 or 0.14 per cent. The result was that the company’s Gross Profit ratio stood at 61 per cent, compared with the previous year’s GPR of 61.3 per cent and the five-year average of 62.2 per cent. After indirect costs are taken into account, the company was able


to report a significant reduction in the company’s indirect cost ratio, from 48 per cent in the previous accounting year to 45.8 per cent in the year under review. Reductions in the ratio were recorded for both distribution and administrative costs. Largely as a result of the improvement in the indirect cost segment of the company’s accounts, there was a significant increase in the Operating Profit ratio, from 13.6 per cent in the previous accounting year to 15.2 per cent in the year under review. The company’s ultimate controlling parties are the Cleeve family with no one individual having control.


Comment section is sponsored by Compound Feed Engineering Ltd www.cfegroup.com


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68