Corporate Governance
A report on corporate governance is
set out on pages 42 to 50.
Payment of Suppliers and
Commercial Arrangements
The Group’s policy is to pay suppliers
in line with the terms of payment
agreed with each of them when
contracting for their products or
services. Group trade creditors at 31
March 2015 represent 59 days of
purchases during the year (2014: 50
days). The increase over the previous
year is as a result of the high level of
capital expenditure in March 2015
compared to March 2014. The Group is
not reliant on any single commercial
arrangement.
Going Concern
The Directors consider each year the
appropriateness of the assumption of
preparing the financial statements on
a going concern basis. This is based
upon a review of the Company’s and
the Group’s business plan, budget,
financial forecasts, investment
programme, and the forecast
compliance with borrowing
covenants, availability of undrawn
borrowing facilities and surplus cash
to provide liquidity and also based on
the Group’s strong track record of
renewing or replacing the Group’s
borrowing facilities when they mature
to provide liquidity.
adequate resources to continue in
operational existence for the
foreseeable future. Accordingly, they
continue to adopt the going concern
basis in preparing the accounts.
The Group’s business activities,
together with the factors likely to
affect its future development,
performance and position, are set out
in the Strategic Report from pages 4 to
31. The financial performance and
position of the Group, its cash flows,
liquidity position and borrowing
facilities are described in the Financial
Review on pages 26 to 31. After
making enquiries, the Directors have a
reasonable expectation that the
Company and the Group have
A resolution proposing the
reappointment of Deloitte LLP as
auditor will be put to the Annual
General Meeting.
Independent Auditor
In accordance with the Companies
Act 2006, the Directors confirm that
as far as they are aware, there is no
relevant audit information of which
the Company’s auditor is unaware
and that the Board has taken all
reasonable steps to make itself aware
of any relevant audit information and
to establish that the Company’s
auditor is aware of that information.
By Order of the Board
J Goodwin
Company Secretary
30 July 2015
41
Annual Report 2015
Corporate Social Responsibility
South Staffordshire Plc regards
compliance with relevant
environmental laws, the adoption of
responsible social and ethical standards
and the health, safety, wellbeing and
development of its employees,
including disabled persons, as integral
to its businesses. A summary of the
Group’s practices and activities in this
regard is provided on pages 32 to 37.