Statement of directors’ responsibilities

Directors’ responsibilities

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, for safeguarding the assets of the company, for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities and for the preparation of a directors’ report and directors’ remuneration report which comply with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006.

The directors are responsible for preparing the annual report and the financial statements in accordance with the Companies Act 2006. The directors are also required to prepare financial statements for the group in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards, as adopted by the European Union (IFRSs) and Article 4 of the IAS Regulation. The directors have chosen to prepare financial statements for the company in accordance with IFRSs.

Group financial statements

International Accounting Standard 1 requires that financial statements present fairly for each financial year the group’s and company’s financial position, financial performance and cash flows. This requires the faithful representation of the effects of transactions, other events and conditions in accordance with the definitions and recognition criteria for assets, liabilities, income and expenses set out in the International Accounting Standards Board’s ‘Framework for the preparation and presentation of financial statements’. In virtually all circumstances, a fair presentation will be achieved by compliance with all applicable IFRSs. A fair presentation also requires the directors to:

  • consistently select and apply appropriate accounting policies;
  • present information, including accounting policies, in a manner that provides relevant, reliable, comparable and understandable information; and
  • provide additional disclosures when compliance with the specific requirements in IFRSs is insufficient to enable users to understand the impact of particular transactions, other events and conditions on the entity’s financial position and financial performance.

The directors confirm to the best of their knowledge that:

  • they have complied with the above requirements in preparing the financial statements which give a true and fair view of the assets, liabilities, financial position and profit or loss of the company and the undertakings included in the consolidation taken as a whole; and
  • the business review includes a fair review of the development and performance of the business and the position of the company and the undertakings included in the consolidation taken as a whole, together with a description of the principal risks and uncertainties that they face.

Financial statements are published on the group’s website in accordance with legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements, which may vary from legislation in other jurisdictions. The maintenance and integrity of the group’s website is the responsibility of the directors. The directors’ responsibility also extends to the ongoing integrity of the financial statements contained therein.

On behalf of the board

J.D. Burns,
Chief executive officer

D.M.A. Wisniewski,
Finance director
17th March 2010

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