The directors present their annual report and financial statements for the year ended 30 April 2022.
The Ski Club of Great Britain Limited is a company limited by guarantee. The liability of the members is limited in the event of the company being wound up to an amount not exceeding £1 each.
The directors who held office during the year and up to the date of signature of the financial statements were as follows:
The Club is a membership organisation with about 18,500 members. Among its activities, it runs a travel company providing snow and mountain holidays to members, as well as other services such as ski and travel insurance. The Club is managed by a staff of employees (18 in 2021/22), under the control of an elected Council of up to ten members. It includes two active limited companies, one of which (Ski Club Winter Arrangements Limited) runs the travel business. Council members are directors of the other (parent) limited company, Ski Club of Great Britain Limited.
The financial performance of the Club was satisfactory in the year to 30 April 2022. It made an operating profit for the first time in four years and a pre-tax profit of £301,774 in the year (2020/21 £367,840). The 2021/22 profit is after paying a settlement agreement (£270,000) to release the Club from its obligations under a lease held for its office premises in Wimbledon. The Club moved in October 2021 to less expensive and more appropriate offices near the Oval in South London, which are proving to be convenient and popular with staff.
Following the suspension of the Club’s ski operations in the previous winter, the reduction in COVID-19 restrictions in most countries during the winter of 2021/22 enabled a more normal ski season to operate. The Club’s representative and instructor-led guiding activities operated for most of the season and the majority of planned holidays were able to run, although cancellations were required in December and January due to restrictions in France and Switzerland. Staff who had been on furlough in 2020/21 were brought back to normal working during the year.
Satisfactory trading and an increase in the value of the Club’s investments enabled an increase in the Club’s reserves from £2.67m at 30 April 2021 to £2.94m at 30 April 2022.
The Council looks forward to future successful ski seasons, with a continued increase in membership and in the services provided to our members.
This report has been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to companies entitled to the small companies exemption.
We have audited the financial statements of Ski Club of Great Britain Limited (the 'parent company') and its subsidiaries (the 'group') for the year ended 30 April 2022 which comprise the group profit and loss account, the group balance sheet, the company balance sheet and notes to the financial statements, including significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).
Basis for opinion
We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor's responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the group and parent company in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard , and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.
Conclusions relating to going concern
In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the directors' use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.
Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the group's and parent company’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.
Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the directors with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.
Other information
The other information comprises the information included in the annual report other than the financial statements and our auditor's report thereon. The directors are responsible for the other information contained within the annual report. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon. Our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the course of the audit, or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether this gives rise to a material misstatement in the financial statements themselves. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.
We have nothing to report in this regard.
Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006
In our opinion, based on the work undertaken in the course of our audit :
the information given in the directors' r eport for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements ; and
the directors' report has been prepared in accordance with applicable legal requirements.
In the light of the knowledge and understanding of the group and parent company and their environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identifie d material misstatements in the directors' report. We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Companies Act 2006 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:
adequate accounting records have not been kept by the parent company, or returns adequate for our audit have not been received from branches not visited by us; or
the parent company financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or
certain disclosures of directors' remuneration specified by law are not made; or
we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit; or
the directors were not entitled to prepare the financial statements in accordance with the small companies regime and take advantage of the small companies' exemption in preparing the directors' report and from the requirement to prepare a strategic report.
As explained more fully in the directors' r esponsibilities s tatement, the directors are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the directors determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error. In preparing the financial statements , the directors are responsible for assessing the parent company ' s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the directors either intend to liquidate the parent company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.
Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements . As part of the audit in accordance with ISAs (UK), the auditor exercises professional judgement and maintains professional scepticism throughout the audit.
Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We design procedures in line with our responsibilities, outlined above, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud. The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud, is detailed below.
Our approach to identifying and assessing the risks of material misstatement in respect of irregularities, including fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations, was as follows:
the engagement partner ensured that the engagement team collectively had the appropriate competence, capabilities and skills to identify or recognise non-compliance with applicable laws and regulations;
we identified the laws and regulations applicable to the group and parent company through discussions with directors and other management, and from our commercial knowledge and experience of the sector;
we focused on specific laws and regulations which we considered may have a direct material effect on the financial statements or the operations of the group and parent company, including the Companies Act 2006, ATOL regulations, taxation legislation, data protection, anti-bribery, employment, environmental and health and safety legislation;
we assessed the extent of compliance with the laws and regulations identified above through making enquiries of management and inspecting legal correspondence; and
identified laws and regulations were communicated within the audit team regularly and the team remained alert to instances of non-compliance throughout the audit.
We assessed the susceptibility of the group and parent company’s financial statements to material misstatement, including obtaining an understanding of how fraud might occur, by:
making enquiries of management as to where they considered there was susceptibility to fraud, their knowledge of actual, suspected and alleged fraud;
considering the internal controls in place to mitigate risks of fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations, and
understanding the design of the parent company's remuneration policies.
To address the risk of fraud through management bias and override of controls, we:
performed analytical procedures to identify any unusual or unexpected relationships;
tested journal entries to identify unusual transactions;
assessed whether judgements and assumptions made in determining the accounting estimates were indicative of potential bias; and
investigated the rationale behind significant or unusual transactions.
In response to the risk of irregularities and non-compliance with laws and regulations, we designed procedures which included, but were not limited to:
agreeing financial statement disclosures to underlying supporting documentation;
reading the minutes of meetings of the board of directors; and
enquiring of management as to actual and potential litigation and claims.
There are inherent limitations in our audit procedures described above. The more removed that laws and regulations are from financial transactions, the less likely it is that we would become aware of non-compliance. Auditing standards also limit the audit procedures required to identify non-compliance with laws and regulations to enquiry of the directors and other management and the inspection of regulatory and legal correspondence, if any.
Material misstatements that arise due to fraud can be harder to detect than those that arise from error as they may involve deliberate concealment or collusion.
A further description of our responsibilities is available on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at: https://www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor's report.
Use of our report
This report is made solely to the parent company’s members, as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the parent company’s members those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor's report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the parent company and the parent company’s members as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.
These financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to groups and companies subject to the small companies regime.
As permitted by s408 Companies Act 2006, the c ompany has not presented its own profit and loss account and related notes. The c ompany’s profit for the year was £219,264 (2021 - £261,544 profit).
Ski Club Of Great Britain Limited ("the company") is a private company limited by guarantee incorporated and domiciled in England and Wales . The registered office is 3.28 Canterbury Court, Kennington Park, 1-3 Brixton Road, London, SW9 6DE.
The group consists of Ski Club Of Great Britain Limited and all of its subsidiaries: Ski Club Services Limited, Ski Club Winter Arrangements Limited and Mountain Tracks Limited. All of which have the registered office: 3.28 Canterbury Court, Kennington Park, 1-3 Brixton Road, London, SW9 6DE.
These financial statements have been prepared in accordance with FRS 102 “The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland” (“FRS 102”) and the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 as applicable to companies subject to the small companies regime. The disclosure requirements of section 1A of FRS 102 have been applied other than where additional disclosure is required to show a true and fair view.
The financial statements are prepared in sterling , which is the functional currency of the group and company. Monetary a mounts in these financial statements are rounded to the nearest £.
The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention, modified to include certain financial instruments at fair value. The principal accounting policies adopted are set out below.
The consolidated group financial statements consist of the financial statements of the parent company Ski Club of Great Britain Limited together with all entities controlled by the parent company (its subsidiaries) and the group’s share of its interests in joint ventures and associates .
All financial statements are made up to 30 April 2022 . Where necessary, adjustments are made to the financial statements of subsidiaries to bring the accounting policies used into line with those used by other members of the g roup.
All intra-group transactions, balances and unrealised gains on transactions between group companies are eliminated on consolidation. Unrealised losses are also eliminated unless the transaction provides evidence of an impairment of the asset transferred.
Income is recognised at the fair value of the consideration received or receivable for goods and services provided in the normal course of business, and is shown net of VAT and other sales related taxes. The fair value of consideration takes into account trade discounts, settlement discounts and volume rebates.
Revenue s from the sale of holidays are recognised when the holiday departs.
Subscription incomes are recognised across the term of the subscription.
Insurance commissions are recognised in month in which the policy is sold.
Amortisation is recognised so as to write off the cost or valuation of assets less their residual values over their useful lives on the following bases:
The gain or loss arising on the disposal of an asset is determined as the difference between the sale proceeds and the carrying value of the asset, and is recognised in the profit and loss account .
Equity in vest ments are measured at fair value through profit or loss , except for those equity investments that are not publicly traded and whose fair value cannot otherwise be measured reliably , which are recognised at cost less impairment until a reliable measure of fair value becomes available.
I n the parent company financial statements, investments in subsidiaries, associates and jointly controlled entities are initially measured at cost and subsequently measured at cost less any accumulated impairment losses.
A subsidiary is an entity controlled by the group. Control is the power to govern the financial and operating policies of the entity so as to obtain benefits from its activities.
At each reporting period end date, the group reviews the carrying amounts of its tangible and intangible assets to determine whether there is any indication that those assets have suffered an impairment loss. If any such indication exists, the recoverable amount of the asset is estimated in order to determine the extent of the impairment loss (if any). Where it is not possible to estimate the recoverable amount of an individual asset, the company estimates the recoverable amount of the cash-generating unit to which the asset belongs.
The carrying amount of the investments accounted for using the equity method is tested for impairment as a single asset. Any goodwill included in the carrying amount of the investment is not tested separately for impairment.
Recoverable amount is the higher of fair value less impairment, costs to sell and value in use. In assessing value in use, the estimated future cash flows are discounted to their present value using a pre-tax discount rate that reflects current market assessments of the time value of money and the risks specific to the asset for which the estimates of future cash flows have not been adjusted.
If the recoverable amount of an asset (or cash-generating unit) is estimated to be less than its carrying amount, the carrying amount of the asset (or cash-generating unit) is reduced to its recoverable amount. An impairment loss is recognised immediately in profit or loss, unless the relevant asset is carried at a revalued amount, in which case the impairment loss is treated as a revaluation decrease.
The group has elected to apply the provisions of Section 11 ‘Basic Financial Instruments’ and Section 12 ‘Other Financial Instruments Issues’ of FRS 102 to all of its financial instruments.
The company only enters into b asic financial instrument transactions that result in the recognition of financial assets and l iabilities , such as trade debtors and creditors.
Trade debtors are measured at transaction price less any impairment.
Trade creditors are obligations to pay for goods or services that have been acquired in the ordinary course of business from suppliers. A m ounts payable are classified as current liabilities if payment is due within one year or less. If not, they are presented as non-current liabilities. Trade creditors are recognised initially at transaction price and subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method.
The tax expense represents the sum of the tax currently payable and deferred tax.
The company is not subject to corporation tax on its activities arising as mutually trading with club members.
The costs of short-term employee benefits are recognised as a liability and an expense, unless those costs are required to be recognised as part of the cost of stock or fixed assets .
The cost of any unused holiday entitlement is recognised in the period in which the employee’s services are received.
Termination benefits are recognised immediately as an expense when the company is demonstrably committed to terminate the employment of an employee or to provide termination benefits.
Payments to defined contribution retirement benefit schemes are charged as an expense as they fall due.
Rentals payable under operating leases, including any lease incentives received, are charged to profit or loss on a straight line basis over the term of the relevant lease except where another more systematic basis is more representative of the time pattern in which economic benefits from the lease d asset are consumed.
Government grants are recognised at the fair value of the asset receive d or receivable when there is reasonable assurance that the grant conditions will be met and the grants will be received.
Government grants relating to turnover are recognised as income over the periods when the related costs are incurred . Grants relating to an asset are recognised in income systematically over the asset's expected useful life. If part of such a grant is deferred it is recognised as deferred income rather than being deducted from the asset's carrying amount.
Transactions in currencies other than pounds sterling are recorded at the rates of exchange prevailing at the dates of the transactions. At each reporting end date, monetary assets and liabilities that are denominated in foreign currencies are retranslated at the rates prevailing on the reporting end date. Gains and losses arising on translation in the period are included in profit or loss.
In the application of the group’s accounting policies, the directors are required to make judgements, estimates and assumptions about the carrying amount of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. The estimates and associated assumptions are based on historical experience and other factors that are considered to be relevant. Actual results may differ from these estimates.
The estimates and underlying assumptions are reviewed on an ongoing basis. Revisions to accounting estimates are recognised in the period in which the estimate is revised where the revision affects only that period, or in the period of the revision and future periods where the revision affects both current and future periods.
The following judgements (apart from those involving estimates) have had the most significant effect on amounts recognised in the financial statements.
Revenue from insurance commission is recognised in total upon confirmation from the insurer of these policies being agreed. This is due to there being no right of recourse available with the Ski Club of Great Britain in respect of cancellations.
The aggregate of the capital loaned to the Ski Club to be repaid within 12 months and the items identified as liquid within the investment portfolio by the managing agents are classified as current asset investments. Investments are classified as liquid where they are cash, government bonds or high-quality investment grade assets.
Goodwill is amortised based on an assessment of the brand value from experience of their existing brand.
During the year the company paid a settlement agreement to release it from its obligation under the lease held for its office premises. The amounts included above include the settlement fee and the associated additional charges less amounts provided for in the prior year in relation to dilapidations.
In the reporting period, £25,496 (2021: £142,565) of government grants have been received in respect of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. The grants have been recognised on a straight-line basis over the period of furlough and are included within other operating income.
The average monthly number of persons (including directors) employed by the group and company during the year was:
Details of the company's subsidiaries at 30 April 2022 are as follows:
The group received loans of £100,000 under the government-backed Coronavirus Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS) in February 2021. The amounts are included under bank loans above. There is a capital repayment holiday for the first 12 months of the loans and the interest for the first 12 months is payable by the government. During the year the terms of the loans were amended to increase the payment holiday period and to extend the term of the loans to 10 years.
The company has a £1m draw down loan facility in place with its investment manager secured against the investment portfolio. At year-end, a total amount of £700,000 had been drawn down and is included in bank loans above. Interest is charged at base rate plus 2.5%.
The prior year included a dilapidations provision for the costs of returning the Club’s leased premises to their original state, as required by the lease. This was settled during the year.
At the reporting end date the group had outstanding commitments for future minimum lease payments under non-cancellable operating leases, as follows:
During the year the group entered into the following transactions with related parties:
Amounts relating to sales made via the Ski Club shop are charged on a commission basis to one of the directors, the amounts are shown above.
An adjustment has been made to the recognition of income from the sale of insurance. Revenue is now recognised as policies are sold, having previously been deferred over the period of membership.