
Financial Statements
Statement of Directors' responsibilities
The Directors are responsible for preparing the Annual Report and Accounts, including the consolidated financial statements and the Company financial statements and the Directors' remuneration report, 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 prepared the consolidated financial statements in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) as adopted by the European Union, and the Company financial statements and the Directors' remuneration report in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice). The consolidated financial statements and Company financial statements are required by law to give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the Company on a consolidated and individual basis and of the consolidated profit of the Company for that period.
In preparing those financial statements, the Directors are required to:
select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;
make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
state that the consolidated financial statements comply with IFRS as adopted by the European Union, and with regard to the Company financial statements that applicable UK Accounting Standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements; and
prepare the consolidated financial statements and Company financial statements on a going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the Company will continue in business, in which case there should be supporting assumptions or qualifications as necessary.
The Directors confirm that they have complied with the above requirements in preparing both the consolidated financial statements and the Company financial statements.
The Directors are responsible for keeping proper accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the Company on a consolidated and individual basis and to enable them to ensure that the consolidated financial statements comply with the Companies Act 1985 and Article 4 of the IAS Regulation and the Company financial statements and the Directors' remuneration report comply with the Companies Act 1985. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the Company and its subsidiaries and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.