The Directors of the group, as those of all UK companies, must act in accordance with a set of general duties. These duties are detailed in section 172 of the UK Companies Act 2006 which is summarised as follows:

A director of a company must act in the 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:

-the likely consequences of any decisions in the long-term;
-the interests of the company’s employees;
-the need to foster the company’s business relationships with suppliers, customers and others;
-the impact of the company’s operations on the community and environment;
-the desirability of the company maintaining a reputation for high standards of business conduct; and the need to act fairly as between shareholders of the Company.

As part of their induction, a Director is briefed on their duties and they can access professional advice on these, either from the Group Financial Director or, if they judge it necessary, from an independent adviser.

It is important to recognise that in an organisation such as ours, the Directors fulfil their duties mainly by a “hands-on” control of all activities and close supervision of employees of the group.

This Strategic Report sets out how the Directors have managed risk and engaged with employees throughout the year. The group’s stakeholders are its Directors and communication with them is maintained by regular Board Meetings.

On behalf of the board

Dan Herron
Director

19 July 2021