Final Results

RNS Number : 8320M

Westminster Group PLC

14 May 2020

 

THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONTAINS INSIDE INFORMATION AS DEFINED IN ARTICLE 7 OF THE MARKET ABUSE REGULATION NO. 596/2014 ("MAR"). UPON THE PUBLICATION OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT, THIS INSIDE INFORMATION IS NOW CONSIDERED TO BE IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN

Westminster Group Plc

('Westminster', the 'Group' or the 'Company')

Final Results

Westminster Group Plc (AIM: WSG), a leading supplier of managed services and technology-based security solutions worldwide, announces its Final Results for the 12 months to 31 December 2019.

Highlights include:

Operational:

· EBITDA^ profit of £0.1m from underlying continuing and discontinued operations (2018 restated* loss of £0.4m)

· Strong performance by both Managed Services and Technology Divisions

· Secured new Managed Services project in Tema Port, Ghana

· Secured a $3.48m USD contract for the provision of advanced container screening solutions to two separate ports in an Asian country

· West Africa airport operations performed at record levels

· Acquired French security and support services company, Euro Ops

· Successfully delivered the remainder of the $4.5m USD vehicle screening contract in the Middle East, that the Company secured in 2018

· Significant progress with several large-scale project opportunities

· Supplied products and solutions to 66 countries across the world

· Formed Strategic Joint Venture, Westminster Arabia, in Saudi Arabia

· Entered into strategic alliance with the Gulf Aviation Academy in Bahrain

· Entered into strategic alliance with the Tunisian Academy for Civil Aviation Safety and Security Training

· Provided training throughout 2019 to various airports, including several major hubs, across the Middle East, Africa and Asia

· Board strengthened in terms of skills and experience with the appointment of two new Non-Executive Directors Charles Cattaneo in January 2019 and Mawuli Ababio in November 2019

Financial:

· Revenues up by 63% to £10.9m (2018: £6.7m)

· Recurring Revenue ^ (such as Managed Service contracts) in the year up by 46% to £5.6m (2018: £3.8m)

· Fourth consecutive year of double-digit percentage revenue growth

· EBITDA ^ profit from underlying continuing and discontinued operations of £0.1m (2018: restated* loss £0.4m)

· Total Equity / Net Assets grows from £1.1m in 2018 to £1.9m in 2019

Post period End:

· 2020 commenced on a strong and profitable note with Q1 orders and revenues ahead of budget

· Q1 2020 revenues increased by 22% to over £4.5m (Q1 2019: £3.7m), producing a healthy profit at both pre and post-tax levels

· Q1 2020 passenger numbers for our West Africa airport operations at record levels before airport closed end of March due to Coronavirus

· 5-year main contract signed relating to Ghana port managed services project awarded in June 2019

· Completed balance of $3.48m USD of advanced container screening solutions for two ports in Asia secured in 2018

· Reduced the Group's convertible loan notes by £561,250 to £1,683,750, maturity date for the balance extended to 1 May 2021

· Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic causing disruption to airport security and training operations but effect mitigated by significant increase in fever screening product sales.

* restated as a result of the implementation of IFRS16

^ This is an Alternative Performance Measure refer to Note 2 for further details

Commenting on the results and prospects, Peter Fowler, Chief Executive of Westminster said:

"I am delighted to report that 2019 was a record year for the Group with a 63% (£4.2m) year on year increase in revenues to £10.9m (2018: £6.7m), our fourth year of double-digit percentage revenue growth and shows the momentum we are building.

"Both the Managed Services and Technology divisions delivered an impressive performance during the year, both financially and operationally. Financially our Managed Services Division achieved a 50% increase in revenues to £5.5m (2018: £3.7m) whilst our Technology Division achieved an impressive 80% increase in revenues to £5.4m (2018: £3.0m). Operationally both Divisions had a busy year and made excellent progress on a number of fronts.

"2020 has started on an equally positive note, building on the success of 2019 with both order intake and revenues ahead of budget. Q1 delivered revenues of over £4.5m, an increase of more than 22% over the same period in 2019 (Q1 2019: £3.7m), and I am pleased to report our management accounts show we made a healthy profit of several hundred thousand GBP in the quarter at both pre and post-tax levels as we begin to benefit from new contracts and the investment we have been making in our business over the years.

"The current Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, in addition to the tragic loss of life, is of course having a profound impact on the global economy and businesses across the globe. As a company operating globally the pandemic has affected parts of our business in various ways. The business model we have been developing is based on multiple revenue streams, many of which are from long term or recurring contracts, from diverse sources in varying parts of the world and this has proved invaluable during the current pandemic. Whilst some parts of our business have been adversely affected and others have seen little impact, some have experienced significant growth, particularly our sales of fever screening and safety solutions.

"We entered 2020 with visibility of over £8m of annual recurring revenue for the year from long term managed services, guarding and maintenance contracts and because of the nature of our long term contracts, where we have experienced reductions in such revenue streams during the COVID-19 disruption these are expected to resume quickly once the pandemic passes. We not only have more large-scale project opportunities under discussions than ever before but in view of the COVID-19 situation we continue to expand our online and non-contact sales opportunities and are developing new opportunities as our business model evolves.

"Over the next few months and years, we have an opportunity to achieve unprecedented growth from the prospects we are pursuing, and the Board and I remain committed to delivering on this potential."

For further information please contact:

Westminster Group Plc	Media enquiries via Walbrook PR
Rt. Hon. Sir Tony Baldry - Chairman
Peter Fowler - Chief Executive Officer
Mark Hughes - Chief Financial Officer
S. P. Angel Corporate Finance LLP (NOMAD & Broker)
Stuart Gledhill	020 3470 0470
Caroline Rowe
Walbrook (Investor Relations)
Tom Cooper	020 7933 8780
Paul Vann	0797 122 1972
Nick Rome	[e-mail]

Notes:

Westminster Group plc is a specialist security and services group operating worldwide via an extensive international network of agents and offices in over 50 countries.

Westminster's principal activity is the design, supply and ongoing support of advanced technology security solutions, encompassing a wide range of surveillance, detection (including Fever Detection), tracking and interception technologies and the provision of long-term managed services contracts such as the management and running of complete security services and solutions in airports, ports and other such facilities together with the provision of manpower, consultancy and training services. The majority of its customer base, by value, comprises governments and government agencies, non-governmental organisations (NGO's) and blue-chip commercial organisations.

The Westminster Group Foundation was formed in 2014 as an initiative of Westminster Group plc. during the West African Ebola Crisis.

The Foundation's goal is to support the communities in which the Group operates by working with local partners and other established charities to provide goods or services for the relief of poverty and the advancement of education and healthcare particularly in the developing world.

The Westminster Group Foundation is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation, CIO, registered with the Charities Commission number 1158653.

Chairman's Statement    

Overview

I am pleased to present the Westminster Group plc. Final Results for the year ended 31 December 2019 which was a record year for the Group both in terms of revenue and growth.

I am also pleased to report we achieved a record 63% growth in revenues to £10.9m, an increase of £4.2m over the £6.7m reported in 2018. This is the fourth consecutive year of double-digit percentage revenue growth and the highest growth rate since Westminster's shares were admitted to trading on AIM in 2007. Encouragingly our recurring revenue ^ also rose strongly, up by 46% to £5.6m (2018: £3.8m). Accordingly, we have delivered an improved financial position with an EBITDA^ profit from underlying continuing and discontinued operations of £0.1m (2018: loss £0.4m restated). This bodes well for our future trading and demonstrates what the Group is capable of. Q1 2020 has already commenced on a strong footing ahead of budget with revenues of over £4m, being around 30% up on Q1 2019 (£3.1m).

A key achievement in the year was that within only two weeks from receiving a letter of intent in June 2019 and our being appointed as technical partner running the container screening operations in the new $1.5bn container port in Ghana, we mobilised, set up and were running a complex screening operation in time for the port opening. As Chairman, I was impressed by our team's ability to deliver such a complex operation in a short timescale.

Both our operating divisions are performing well. Enquiry levels remain healthy and levels of interest in the Group's services are growing. Both divisions are developing and pursuing sizeable business opportunities and it is encouraging to see our Technology division securing important contracts such as $3.48m USD contract announced in April 2019. More detail on the strategic developments, projects and opportunities we are undertaking is covered in the CEO's Strategic Report.

During the year the Group raised £1.55m gross from the issue of new equity to support the development of the Group. In January 2020 we announced we had secured a flexible financing facility consisting of a £3.0m mezzanine loan supported by a £1.75m Equity Placing and Sharing Agreement and elected to draw down an initial £1.5m to commence a redemption programme of the Company's £2.245m Convertible Loan Notes. This was due to be completed before 30 June 2020 but due to the Coronavirus pandemic this was extended with the support and consent of noteholders to 1 May 2021. With the option to draw down further funds at our discretion, this financing facility provides us with the necessary flexibility needed to support the continued growth of the business.

Corporate Conduct

As a company whose shares are traded on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange, we recognise the importance of sound corporate governance throughout our organisation giving our shareholders and other stakeholders including employees, customers, suppliers and the wider community confidence in our business. We endeavour to deliver on our corporate Vision and Mission Statements in an ethical and sensitive manner irrespective of race, colour or creed. This is not only a requirement of a well-run public company but makes good commercial and business sense.

In my capacity as Executive Chairman, I have ultimate responsibility for ensuring the Board adopts and implements a recognised corporate governance code in accordance with our stock market status. Accordingly, the Board has adopted, and is working to, the Quoted Companies Alliance (QCA) Corporate Governance Code 2018. The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) has responsibility for the implementation of governance throughout our organisation, commensurate with our size of business and worldwide operations.

The QCA Corporate Governance Code 2018 has ten key principles and we set out on our website how we apply those principles to our business, and more detailed information is provided in these accounts.

We operate worldwide with a focus on emerging markets and in a sector where discretion, professionalism and confidentiality are essential. It is vitally important that we maintain the highest standards of corporate conduct. The Corporate Governance Report sets out the detailed steps that we undertake to ensure that our standards, and those of our agents, can stand any scrutiny by Government or other official bodies.

Social Responsibility

As a Group, we take our corporate social responsibilities very seriously, particularly as we operate in emerging markets and in some cases in areas of poverty and deprivation. I am proud of the support and assistance we as a company provide in many of the regions in which we operate, and I would like to pay tribute to our employees and other individuals and organisations for their generous support and contributions to our registered charity, the Westminster Group Foundation. We work with local partners and other established charities to provide goods or services for the relief of poverty or advancement of education or healthcare making a difference to the lives of the local communities in which we operate. For more information or to donate please visit www.wg-foundation.org .

Employees and Board

It is with great sadness that in 2019 we marked the passing of Lt Col Sir Malcolm Ross GCVO, OBE, GCStJ, DL.

Sir Malcolm was Westminster's Chairman from 2007 and was an inspirational and supportive leader. Sir Malcolm was a true Gentleman in every sense of the word and a hard-working public servant. In 2017 Sir Malcolm moved to Deputy Chairman in order to allow more time for his public duties and yet he continued to devote considerable support to the Company.

Sir Malcolm was a former member of the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom, and from 2006, that of the Prince of Wales (retired March 2008). He was made an OBE in 1988 and joined the Royal Victorian Order in 1994 as a CVO. He was knighted as a KCVO in 1999, and advanced to GCVO in 2005. He had been a member of the Royal Company of Archers since 1981, and a Freeman of the City of London since 1994. In 2006, he was made Her Majesty's Lord Lieutenant of the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright. Until recently Sir Malcolm was also the Lord Prior of The Order of St John. 

He was a wonderful man and will be greatly missed by a great many people, not least all at Westminster.

The vacancy left by Sir Malcolm's passing was filled in November 2019 by Mawuli Ababio stepping up from our international advisory board to Non-Executive Director. Mawuli is based in Accra, Ghana and has extensive board and corporate governance experience having served on several listed and unlisted boards over the last 20 years, both as an Executive and Non-Executive Director.  His experience across the whole of sub-Saharan Africa is already proving to be invaluable to the Group. Mawuli has taken over the chair of the Remuneration Committee.

In January 2019 Charles Cattaneo joined the board as a Non-Executive Director. Charles has been a director of a number of public and private companies and is currently the Chairman of the Midlands Regional Advisory Group of the London Stock Exchange.  His wealth of City and corporate finance knowledge and experience gained from a variety of business sectors, in particular advising AIM companies and serving on boards of growing and successful companies, is of great value to our business as we expand and deliver on our significant potential.  As a Chartered Accountant he has taken over as Chair of the Audit Committee.

Also, in January 2019, James Sutcliffe, by agreement, left the Westminster Group Plc board to take on the role as Chairman of the International Advisory Board, where the benefit of his extensive international experience and high-level Government contacts overseas can be of significant value to the Company's business development and expansion going forward.

We continue to work closely with and receive excellent support from the Foreign Office and UK Diplomatic Missions around the world and I am very grateful for the support these and other governmental departments provide to our teams and our operations worldwide.

At the time of writing we are in the midst of the global Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic which, in addition to the tragic loss of life, has major implications for the global economy creating material uncertainty and challenges. The duration and full impact of this pandemic is difficult to predict at the present time although we are seeing encouraging signs that the worst now appears to be over in some parts of the world with some countries looking to gradually relax restrictions. As a company operating globally the pandemic has affected parts of our business in various ways. Some parts of our business have been adversely affected, others have seen little impact, whilst some have seen significant growth.  The Chief Executive Officer's Report provides some detail on the challenges this pandemic has created and how we have responded to the situation.

Meeting with the Group's ever-expanding team of consummate professionals is one of the Board's more pleasurable responsibilities. As a service-based business, our employees are key to delivering success. On behalf of the Board, I want to congratulate Westminster's management and employees around the globe for their achievements and the vital contribution they have made to our success in 2019 and the way in which they have risen to the challenges and opportunities presented by COVID-19.

I would finally like to extend my appreciation to our investors for their continued support and to our strategic investors who are bringing their expertise to help deliver value for all.

Rt. Hon Sir Tony Baldry DL

Chairman

Chief Executive Officer's Report    

Business Description

The Westminster Group is a global integrated security services company delivering niche security solutions and long-term managed services to high growth and emerging markets around the world, with a particular focus on long term recurring revenue ^ business.

Our target customer base is primarily governments and governmental agencies, critical infrastructure (such as airports, ports & harbours, borders and power plants), and large-scale commercial organisations worldwide.

We deliver our wide range of Land, Sea and Air solutions and services through a number of operating companies that are currently structured into two operating divisions; Managed Services and Technology; both primarily focused on international business as follows:

Managed Services division

Focusing on long term (typically 10 - 25 years) recurring revenue ^ managed services contracts such as the management and operation of security solutions in airports, ports and other such facilities, together with the provision of manpower, consultancy and training services.

Technology division

Focussing on providing advanced technology led security solutions encompassing a wide range of surveillance, detection, tracking, screening and interception technologies to governments and organisations worldwide.

In addition to providing our business with a broad range of opportunities, these two divisions offer cost effective dynamics and vertical integration with the Technology division providing vital infrastructure and complex technology solutions and expertise to the Managed Services division. This reduces both supplier exposure and cost and provides us with increasing purchasing power. Our Managed Services division provides a long-term business platform to deliver other cost-effective incremental services from the Group.

We have a successful track record of delivering a wide range of solutions to governments and blue-chip organisations around the world. Our reputation grows with each new contract delivered - this in turn underpins our strong brand and provides a platform from which we can expand our business.

Business Review

As highlighted in the Chairman's Statement, 2019 was a record year for the Group with 63% (£4.2m) year on year increase in revenues to £10.9m (2018: £6.7m), our fourth year of double-digit revenue growth and shows the momentum we are building. We are greatly encouraged that within this revenue growth, recurring revenue ^ from our managed services, guarding and maintenance contracts (including 6 months of contribution from our Ghana operations and 8 months of Euro Ops) grew by 46% (£1.8m) to £5.6m (2018: £3.8m). This is significant as our growing base of contracted recurring revenue^ is what underpins the future growth of the business.

We continue to invest in our worldwide business development programmes in order to deliver on our growth potential, particularly in our long-term major managed services projects. Operating in frontier markets is time consuming, complex and costly but the potential rewards are substantial. Despite the cost of business development, the set up costs for our Ghana project and the costs associated with setting up our various strategic alliances and joint ventures around the world, we are pleased to report a greatly improved EBITDA^ performance for the full year with a profit from underlying continuing and discontinued operations of £0.1m as compared with 2018 which was a £0.4m (restated) EBITDA^ loss from underlying continuing and discontinued operations. As a business we are operationally geared in that we have relatively fixed operating costs and as our revenues continue to grow our profitability will grow proportionally faster. In this respect we believe we are now approaching an inflection point.

Both the Managed Services and Technology divisions delivered an impressive performance during the year, both financially and operationally. Financially our Managed Services Division achieved a 50% increase in revenues to £5.5m (2018: £3.7m) whilst our Technology Division achieved an impressive 80% increase in revenues to £5.4m (2018: £3.0m). Operationally both Divisions had a busy year and made excellent progress on a number of fronts.

Enquiry levels remain healthy and levels of interest in the Group's services continues to grow across both Divisions. However, whilst our Technology Division provides the technological resources and platform to expand our operations around the world and is capable of delivering large scale projects, it is our Managed Services Division, with its potential for delivering large scale, long term, recurring revenue ^ and transformational growth, which is increasingly our core focus, particularly within the transportation security sector.

Passenger numbers for our West Africa airport operations for the year are at record levels and the last few months of 2019 were consistently some of the highest monthly traffic numbers experienced since we commenced operations there.

Building on the growing success of our aviation training business we have constructed a training facility at our UK Headquarters in Banbury so that we can conduct specialist technical and operational training courses for airline and airport delegates from around the world. The facility was completed and opened in early 2019 and has undertaken numerous training courses including for one of the largest airlines in Europe.

In February we delivered the remainder of the $4.5m USD vehicle screening contract in the Middle East, which the Company secured in 2018.

In March 2019 we had entered into a Technical Partnership Agreement with a Ghanaian company, Scanport Ltd. In June 2019, we announced a letter of intent had been received acknowledging Westminster as the Technical Partner and setting out the preliminary terms regarding the appointment and scope of work relating to a container screening project at the new container port, Terminal 3 at Tema, Ghana.

Terminal 3 is a new $1.5 billion investment project by Meridian Port Services ('MPS') which is creating one of the most advanced port operations in Africa, if not the world. The first two berths opened on 28 June 2019 and the first commercial vessel successfully docked on 3 July 2019. The third berth became operational in Q1 2020 and the fourth berth is due for completion at the end of 2020. When complete it will expand the port's capacity from around 1 million Twenty-foot Equivalent Units ('TEU') p.a. to over 3.5 million p.a.

Despite not having formal contracts in place due to unrelated issues within the port, Scanport-Westminster were officially appointed and have been successfully running the container screening and secondary search operations since the port opened on 28 June 2019, with Westminster providing the technical management and operations and Scanport responsible for local costs, management and employment.

The formal contract confirming the appointment for a renewable 5-year term was eventually signed in March 2020 naming Westminster as the designated Technical Partner for the duration of the contract. Revenues are based on a percentage of the relevant port tariffs which are shared between Scanport and Westminster and are driven by container traffic volumes passing through the Port. Westminster's share of revenues during the soft opening and start-up phase of operations in 2019 amounted to several hundred thousand USD and we look forward to the operation producing a meaningful contribution to our revenues in 2020 as the port continues to expand, the new berths come on stream, capacity and throughput increases, and new tariffs come into operation.

We are excited by the prospects of this long-term managed services project and we expect Ghana to be an important and growing part of our business.

In April 2019, our Technology division announced the award of a $3.48m USD contract for the provision of advanced container screening solutions to two separate ports in an Asian country. Following manufacture and site preparation works the first of these was delivered in November 2019 and the second unit was dispatched in January 2020.

In May 2019, we announced we had acquired Euro Ops, a French based aviation security and support services company which, through its sister company, Euro Ops International (also trading as ICare), provides aviation support services such as Airport Security, Aircrew Management, Humanitarian Logistics, Operations & Dispatch, Ground Handling etc. Euro Ops has been fully integrated into the Group and is developing meaningful business and opportunities within Francophone territories. Our new French operation joins our existing German subsidiary, which is also developing a number of sizeable business opportunities, in providing us with a European footprint. Whilst Westminster is not likely to be materially affected by Brexit, having European operating companies will be beneficial.

In June 2019, we announced we will be forming a joint venture, in Saudi Arabia, under the name Westminster Arabia. Our JV partners are Hazar International who, under their impressive Chairman, Sheikh Salman Bin Mohammed Bin Khalid Bin Hethlain, are strong and influential partners.

An experienced business development team is now in place within the country and is already involved in several large-scale project opportunities in the Kingdom. One of several projects already being pursued in the Kingdom is Saudi ports and in 2019 at the request of the authorities we conducted detailed operational and vulnerability assessments at certain ports following which, the Westminster team met with the port authorities in February 2020 for more detailed discussions regarding port security solutions. The follow up activity from these meetings and discussions have been delayed due to the COVID-19 effects and the travel restrictions in the Kingdom however these will resume once restrictions are lifted. The business opportunities for Westminster's products and services within Saudi Arabia are substantial and the formation of Westminster Arabia represents an important strategic development for the Group.

Westminster's international reputation and expertise in the field of aviation security continues to grow and, in addition to our direct contracts with airports and governmental bodies around the world, and the opening of the training centre in the UK in 2019, we have entered into two important Strategic Alliances. In July 2019, we announced we had signed a strategic alliance agreement with the Gulf Aviation Academy ('GAA'), a leading provider of professional aviation training in Bahrain and the wider Middle East and North Africa ('MENA') region. This alliance has already produced tens of thousands USD in new business and in January 2020 GAA secured an important new contract with the Bahrain Airport Company ('BAC'), the operator and managing body of Bahrain International Airport ('BIA') to provide civil aviation security training to hundreds of airport-stationed Ministry of Interior ('MOI') personnel each year and which will involve Westminster in the delivery of this service.  

In November 2019, Euro Ops entered into a strategic alliance with the Tunisian Academy for Civil Aviation Safety and Security Training ('AFSAC'). From its impressive training centre in Tunisia AFSAC provides certified aviation security training workshops on behalf of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and is an AACO Approved Training Centre (Organization of Arab Air Carriers) and an AFRAA Approved Training Centre (African Airlines Associations). This strategic alliance is a major step forward in the delivery of aviation security training and will allow each party to offer, collaborate, market and deliver an expanded certified training program.

In December 2019, we finalised the sale of the Sierra Queen which had a book value of £170,000. The vessel has been sold. As at December total consideration was $643,000 over 36 instalments and subsequently after the year end the consideration was significantly improved to $676,500 over 38 instalments. Under the sale agreement the Company agreed to ship the vessel at its own cost to the purchaser in Greece and the vessel left Sierra Leone waters in February 2020 and was delivered to the purchasers on 6 March 2020. The vessel will be secured by a mortgage charge over the vessel until final payment has been received.

Keyguard U.K Ltd, the UK based security and risk management company we acquired in November 2018, was fully integrated into the Group during 2019 and is now operating from our corporate HQ in Oxfordshire. Whilst Keyguard performed below budget during the year the integration into the Group has opened up a number of new business opportunities which will lead to improved performance and higher margins particularly within the aviation and critical infrastructure market where we now have joint marketing and sales activities with other parts of the business underway.

In 2019 our Technology Division supplied a wide a diverse range of products and services to numerous clients in 66 countries around the world, including in the UK, Middle East, Africa, Europe, Asia, the Americas and the Caribbean.  By way of example of the diverse range of contracts secured by the Group in 2019 we delivered Westminster's unique diver communication system for Middle Eastern navy, vehicle screening solutions to a customs organisation in the Caribbean, bomb disposal equipment in Europe, body scanners to a prison service in Latin America, advanced screening equipment to an Iconic building in the UK. Explosive and Narcotic Detection solutions saw an increase in sales across various geographies. As in previous years we continued to supply security equipment and services to Government facilities across the UK.

On a wider front we continue to progress various existing and new large-scale managed services project opportunities around the world. No two opportunities are the same and each can have their own idiosyncrasies and challenges. As we have previously advised, project opportunities of this size and nature, particularly in emerging markets, are not only time-consuming and involve complex negotiations with numerous commercial and political bodies but discussions can ebb and flow over many months, with periods of intense activity which can be followed by long periods of inactivity. It is however precisely because of such challenges that competition is limited and the opportunities offer transformational growth opportunities.

We operate in a market that requires strict confidentiality and we are not able to provide detailed updates or explanations for delays which, if made public, may cause issues with our clients and be prejudicial to discussions. However, whilst there is never certainty as to timing or outcome of the many project opportunities we are pursuing, we are making progress on a number of fronts and we will provide market updates on material developments when appropriate and in line with our regulatory responsibilities. 

In summary, 2019 was a busy year and a year of growth during which we have made significant strides forward.

Strategy

Our vision is to build a global business with strong brand recognition delivering advanced security solutions and long-term managed services to high growth and emerging markets around the world, with a particular focus on building multiple revenue streams, many of which involve long term recurring revenue ^ business, from diverse sources in varying parts of the world, providing a degree of resilience to external events and enhancing shareholder value. The value of this strategy has been demonstrated during the COVID-19 pandemic where Westminster is able to maintain and grow certain revenues mitigating reductions in its airport business.

To deliver on this vision the Company has in place a 5-year Strategic Growth Plan which is reviewed annually, and which includes a number of strategies to be pursued to achieve our goals. As part of that strategy for growth we continue to improve and enhance our board and senior management team and have made a number of key appointments broadening our range of experience and expertise. If we are to maximise the substantial growth opportunities we are developing, particularly with our airport security operations, it is essential we have the right strategies, people, processes and systems in place to successfully deliver such growth.

We have a growing number of companies within the Group as we expand our international operations and offices around the world which together with recent acquisitions such as Keyguard and Euro Ops, both of which are now consolidated into our Group operations, means we are operating under a range of business identities and with a number of different websites etc.

A key strategy for commenced in 2019 and running into 2020 is redefining our diverse businesses in line with our "One Company, One Vision" approach. This will involve rebranding parts of our business to better reflect the Westminster brand and regardless of what company or division or what product or service is involved it will be undertaken and recognised as Westminster. As part of this exercise we are undertaking a complete overhaul of our extensive web presence bringing all our various websites into a new and expanded Westminster Group website. Our extensive portfolio of products and services will all be brought together into one large but easily navigable site and categorised in three key focus sectors - Land, Sea and Air.

Whilst we continue to pursue our many organic growth opportunities the expansion strategy, we commenced in 2019 of targeted acquisitions and strategic joint ventures (JVs) in key markets and regions continues and we believe this strategy will enable the Company to expand its sphere of operations in a controlled and effective way.

We entered 2020 with our business in a stronger position than it has been for some time and with renewed optimism for the future and as part of our growth strategy the Board has set 10 priority goals to be delivered although we accept the unpredictability of the present COVID-19 pandemic and the uncertainty of its duration may impact the delivery of some of these goals:

1.  Improve ratio of enquiries received/quotations issued by number and quotations issued/orders received by value;

2.  Increase product portfolio and sales achieved;

3.  Secure at least one more long-term managed services contract;

4.  Enter into at least one more strategic alliance/joint venture in key markets;

5.  Deliver another year of double-digit revenue growth;

6.  Deliver another year of significant recurring revenue ^ growth;

7.  Deliver a material improvement in profitability;

8.  Deliver a sustained and material improvement in our share price;

9.  Instigate an Investors in People programme;

10.  Deliver a companywide 'One Vision, One Company' ethos and our new website focussed on Land, Sea and Air business activities.

Performance Indicators

The Group constantly monitors various key performance indicators for factors affecting the overall performance. At Group level, the revenues and gross margin are monitored to give a constant view of the Group's operational performance. A key focus for the Group is in building its recurring revenue ^ base from contracted income relating to its managed services projects, our maintenance and guarding contracts and this is a key metric being monitored. As employment costs are the single largest cost base for the Group the number of employees and employee costs are also monitored to ensure best use of resources. Days sales outstanding is used to measure as to the cash conversion of revenue and identifies debtor aging issues.

The Managed Services division measures its performance in the four key areas of its deliverables - passengers served in its airport operations, vehicles and containers served in its port and border operations, the number of days training delivered by our training businesses and the number of guarding hours delivered by our guarding businesses.

The Technology division measures its sales activity by reference to the number of enquiries received per month and the number of orders received. The number of countries and number of return customers are monitored to give a view on the performance of the Division .

Group	2019	2018
Revenue	£10.9m	£6.7m
Gross Margin	41%	55%
Recurring Revenues ^	£5.6m	£3.8m
Days Sales Outstanding	38	41
Number of Employees	261	233
Average Employee Cost Per Head	£16,843	£14,738

Managed Services	2019	2018
Passengers Served ('000)	121	113
Vehicles/Containers Served ('000)	309	-
Training Hours Delivered	4,040	3,808
Guarding Hours Delivered	70,671	9,081

Technology Division	2019	2018
Average Enquiries Per Month	185	174
Average Number of Orders Per Month	41	37
Number of Countries Supplied	66	53
Number of Return Customers	96	71

Current Trading & Business Outlook

The Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak was declared a Public Health Emergency of international Concern on 30 January 2020 and on the 11 March 2020 the World Health Organisation (WHO) elevated the outbreak to a global pandemic. In just a few weeks the COVID-19 virus had spread from a single city in China right across the globe, creating a worldwide healthcare crisis with millions of citizens infected and a tragic toll of life. Governments around the world reacted in various ways with many closing borders, some putting large parts of their populations on lockdown and imposed travel restrictions. This has had a profound impact on the global economy and businesses across the globe, the like of which has not been experienced in a generation.

At the time of writing, the duration and full extent of the impact on the global economy cannot be determined with any accuracy although there are green shoots of optimism with some countries appearing to be over the worst of the disruption and some, including the UK, easing lockdowns. The expectation is that the global economy will begin to recover from the second half of 2020 although it is suspected the virus will be with us for some time and that some countries may yet face renewed outbreaks.

In the current business climate COVID-19 pandemic does therefore create some uncertainty and has impacted our business in varying ways, as explained more fully below.

We are a business which operates internationally with staff around the world and we are heavily involved in international travel. We therefore carefully monitor global events for anything that could be a threat to, or an opportunity for, our business. We identified the COVID-19 as one such event and began to take early action in January before the WHO had declared it a Public Health Emergency. We undertook risk assessments of our various operations and prepared plans for repatriation of overseas staff if necessary. We increased our stocks of fever screening and safety equipment and began to look for alternative sources of supply in case of supply chain issues, as well as new products we could add to our portfolio of safety equipment. We also instigated a marketing campaign, increased the prominence of our fever screening capabilities on our website and used our international network and reach to begin promoting ways in which we could assist governments and organisations protect against the pandemic.

We have been closely monitoring the situation and as the outbreak developed, we continued to update our risk assessments and began implementing logistical and organisational changes. We reduced costs and put planned capital expenditure on hold. We worked with our loan note holders to defer the planed redemption programme and extend the maturity date to May 2021. We worked with our suppliers and supply chains to ensure we can continue to supply our clients and the early action we had taken in this respect has proved invaluable. We instigated safe working practices including social distancing, provision of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and home working for a number of staff.

We have put in place new procedures for deliveries and despatch of goods and we have reorganised our engineering teams so that they have no direct personal contact with each other to limit any disruption should any of them develop the virus. These measures and others, including utilisation of governmental support schemes, has meant that our business has so far managed to maintain operations, keep our employees safe and successfully trade through this global crisis.

Westminster is fortunate in that the business model we have been developing is based on multiple revenue streams, many of which are from long term or recurring contracts, from diverse sources in varying parts of the world. As such Westminster is in a better position than many companies to weather the impact of the crisis. Whist the COVID-19 crisis is likely have an impact on our airport security operations for some months our sales of screening and safety equipment have risen significantly. In this respect in Q1 2020 we saw over $2.1m USD of online product orders of which $1.7m USD were in March 2020 and over $1.2m USD of that was the last two weeks of March demonstrating the benefit of multiple revenue streams, mitigating the reductions elsewhere in our airport business.  We have seen no reduction in demand for our services in this respect and we believe that the significant increase in our fever detection and safety equipment will continue for quite some time yet and is a real opportunity for the business. We are already seeing businesses and organisations planning to introduce more permanent screening systems into their operations and the aviation industry, which has been hard hit by the global restrictions on air travel, are now looking at introducing fever screening and testing as a means to get air travel operational, with Westminster's experience in the aviation screening sector and our market reach we believe this represents a significant opportunity for our business.

The impact of COVID-19 on the aviation industry is expected to last for some time and will almost certainly lead to changes in the way air travel is conducted however we believe airports in emerging markets, which is where we are focussed, are likely return to more normal passenger volumes much quicker due to the essential nature of air travel in such regions.

As reported, passenger numbers for our West Africa airport operations were at record levels for 2019 and this trend had continued into 2020 with passenger numbers continuing at the highest levels since we commenced operations until the COVID-19 impact caused the government to suspend flights for a period of 90 days commencing 22 March 2020. the government is currently still working to reopen the airport towards the end of June.  Whilst this will have an inevitable impact on our revenues from this part of our business for much of the remainder of 2020 providing the contagion is under control. We therefore expect that passenger numbers will begin to recover in the second half of the year regaining more normal levels by year end. We are carrying out regular local risk assessments and have put in place social distancing and procedural processes to protect staff and others using the airport. We do however believe it is important that we also support our staff and the local community through these challenging times for the country, as we did during the Ebola epidemic a few years ago. In this respect we are maintaining employment of our local staff to preserve security at the airport and will be using time between flights to undertake additional training for staff and to carry out comprehensive servicing and maintenance of all equipment. This is not only the right and moral thing to do but it will enable us to ramp up operations at very short notice once flights recommence.

Our aviation training business has been adversely affected by COVID-19 and currently all planned courses have been put on hold due to social distancing and travel bans. We expect our training business to begin to recover as airports recommence operations and travel restrictions are eased. One of our important governmental framework agreements relating to international aviation training programmes we run around the world has now been extended and is due to run to September 2021 with a provision to extend for a further year.

Container volumes and revenues relating to our container screening operations in Ghana continued to increase into 2020 with the daily averages in Q1 2020 being a 56% increase on the 2019 daily average. We did see a slight reduction in volume during the 3-week lockdown period in Ghana which ended on 20 April 2020 but volumes since then have risen back to the 2020 daily averages and whilst we may yet see further disruption during the COVID-19 crisis, we expect volumes overall to increase further during 2020 as the port continues to expand and new berths become operational.

Our Managed Services division not only has more large-scale project opportunities under discussions than ever before but we are also securing an increasing number of smaller contracts to assist airport authorities around the world with their equipment and security needs, and this enhances our future prospects for our large scale, long term airport opportunities post COVID-19 and are hopeful of securing at least one more major contract in the year.

Our guarding business has been affected by some site closures during the COVID-19 shutdowns although there is a likelihood that some guarding requirements may increase during site closures to ensure sites remain secure and in this respect we have secured an important new guarding contract since the COVID-19 shutdown occurred.

Our operations in Saudi Arabia have been restricted whilst the country is on COVID-19 lockdown and curfew, but we anticipate this will resume after Ramadan towards the end of May and we are excited by the prospects from this venture.

We have achieved impressive year on year revenue growth over the past few years and we expect this to continue albeit impacted in the short term depending on how long the COVID-19 pandemic lasts. Both our Managed Services and Technology divisions continue to have a healthy and active enquiry bank and given on our expected annual recurring revenue ^ base and our current order book, together with the improvement in our airport passenger numbers and our run rate business, we expect 2020 to be another successful year.

In view of the COVID-19 crisis we continued to investigate new opportunities to expand our online and non-contact sales opportunities. We believe that there will now be a growing demand for more permanent fever screening systems to be installed not just at major facilities such as airports, ports, stadiums and shopping malls etc. but we are seeing increasing demand for such systems from factories, offices, mines and other commercial organisations and we believe this is likely to be a growing part of our business in the future. 

One such development is an extension of our COVID-19 PPE sales through medical vending machines. We have recently secured exclusive rights to specialised medical vending machines for use in the UK to be used for dispensing packs of face coverings, sanitiser and other safety equipment for deployment at key locations around the and transport hubs country and we are already in discussions with major transport organisations. With the drive to now have the travelling public wear protective face covering on public transport etc this initiative could greatly increase our distribution of PPE and safety equipment.

Our overriding priority however is and has been the safety and wellbeing of our people around the world and to continue to provide a valuable service to our customers. To those ends we put in place various precautionary measures, including cost reduction and are undertaking regular risk assessments for all areas of our business.

Notwithstanding the impact of COVID-19, trading for 2020 has started on a positive note, building on the success of 2019 with both order intake and revenues ahead of budget. Q1 delivered revenues of over £4.5m, an increase of more than 22% over the same period in 2019 (Q1 2019: £3.7m), and I am pleased to report we made a healthy profit in the quarter both before and after tax as we begin to benefit from new contracts and the investment we have been making in our business and we have a healthy order book going forward.

We are also fortunate in that much of our revenues are generated from long-term and recurring revenue ^ contracts (we entered 2020 with visibility of over £8m of annual recurring revenue^ for the year f rom long term managed services, guarding and maintenance contracts ) and because of the nature of our long term contracts, where we have experienced reductions in such revenue streams during the COVID-19 disruption these are expected to resume quickly once the pandemic passes.

Over the next few months and years, we have an opportunity to achieve unprecedented growth from the prospects we are pursuing, and the Board and I remain committed to delivering on this potential.

Peter Fowler

Chief Executive Officer

Chief Financial Officer's Report   

Revenue

Revenues of £10.9m were 63% higher than the £6.7m reported in 2018.

Managed Services has moved forward strongly in the year to £5.5m (2018: £3.7m) an increase of 50%.  This is primarily a combination of three factors, record passenger numbers at our West African Airport, a full year of Keyguard and initial revenues from our new Tema Port Ghana operation.

We have also reported on Euro-Ops for the first time.  Further information on this is contained in Note 30.

Technology revenues increased by 80% to £5.4m (2018: £3.0m).  This is continuing a focus on, and success at, obtaining larger sized contracts such as the $3.48m USD contract for the provision of advanced container screening solutions to two separate ports in an Asian country mentioned in the Chief Executive Officer's statement. 

Gross Margin

A significant amount of the increase in turnover was from the increase in lower margin Technology Solutions sales; typically, at about 15%. Because of this mix effect the headline Gross Margin decreased to 42% (2018: 55%).

Operating Cost Base

Demonstrating how operationally geared the Group is, despite a 63% increase in sales, Group administrative costs only rose by 12% to £5.3m (2018: £4.7m) in total. However, excluding share-based payments (increasing due to accounting for warrants issued) and discontinued items, the costs only rose by 3%. This is was primarily due to inflation.

Exceptional Items

The exceptional item of £0.1m (2018: £0.4) is the pre contract costs on a Middle East airport project. This project was fully shelved in the first half of 2019. The costs relate to the period up to 30 June 2019.

Operational EBITDA^ from underlying continuing and discontinued operations

The Group loss from operations was £0.8m (2018 Restated: £1.0m). When adjusted for the exceptional and non-cash items set out below and depreciation and amortisation, the Group recorded an   EBITDA^   profit from underlying  continuing and discontinued operations of £0.1m (2018: £0.4m loss restated).

Reconciliation to EBITDA^ from underlying continuing and discontinued operations	2019	2018 restated
	£'000	£'000
Loss from operations	(823)	(1,035)
Depreciation, amortisation and impairment charges	215	169
Write back of impairment of the Sierra Queen	-	(170)
Reported EBITDA	(608)	(1,036)
Share based expense	556	281
Exceptional items	106	401
EBITDA^ profit / (loss) from underlying continuing and discontinued operations	54	(354)

This is a significant improvement on 2018 and prior years.

Finance Costs

Total finance costs of £0.6m (2018: £0.3m) increased from the prior year as the coupon on the Secured Convertible Loan Note (SCLN) rose from 12% to 15%.  Plus, a calculated interest adjustment following the extension of the SCLN. There was an underlying cash charge of £0.5m (2018: £0.4m).

Restatement of 2018 Accounts

The 2018 comparative figures have been restated to take into account the application of the new accounting standard on Leases - IFRS 16.  There are further details in Note 2 and the financial effect of introducing this standard is demonstrated in Note 12.

Result for the Year

The Group loss before taxation was £1.4m (2018 Restated: £1.4m) and the loss per share was 1.02p (2018 Restated: 0.39p).  The main reason for the difference in earnings per share was that in 2018 a deferred tax credit of £0.9m was recognised, but in 2019 this was only £0.02m.

Statement of Financial Position

Total Group assets amounted to £7.0m at 31 December 2019 compared with £8.8m (restated) at 31 December 2018.  The main movement was a reduction in debtors at the year end. 

Net Group current assets amounted to £0.7m at 31 December 2019 compared to Net Group current liabilities of £0.2m (restated) at 31 December 2018.

The Group trade and other receivables balance as at 31 December 2019 was £2.6m (2018: £4.6m). Average days sales outstanding at the year-end were 38 (2018: 41).  The 2018 figure had a significant amount for the Middle East contract in progress at that time. This also explains a drop in contract liabilities.

Cash and cash equivalents of £0.6m at 31 December 2019 compared with £0.3m at 31 December 2018.

Assets of disposal groups classified as held for sale were £0.17m (2018: £0.17m) this is the Sierra Queen, see Note 29 and Note 32

Trade and other payables were £2.5m (2018 Restated: £2.6m) and average creditor days were 66 (2018: 27).  The year-end increase in creditor days was influenced by the Asia Port contract.

A deferred tax asset of £0.91m (2018: £0.89m) was held at the year end.

Total equity at 31 December 2018 stood at a surplus of £1.9m (2018 restated: £1.1m).

Key Performance Indicators

The Key Performance Indicators by which we measure performance of our business are set out in the Chief Executive Officer's Report.

Convertible Loan Notes (CLN) and Convertible Unsecured Loan Notes (CULN)

Summary of movements in loan notes at principal value £'000	2019	2019	2019	2018	2018	2018
	CULN	CLN	Total	CULN	CLN	Total
At 1 January	171	2,245	2,416	-	2,245	2,245
New issue	-	-	-	171	-	171
At 31 December	171	2,245	2,416	171	2,245	2,416

At 31 December 2019, the secured CLN carried a coupon of 15% payable quarterly in arrears, had a conversion price of 12.5p (10p from 1 January 2020) and, following an extension after the year end, matures on 1 May 2021

At 31 December 2019, the unsecured CLN carried a coupon of 5% payable quarterly in arrears, had a conversion price of 10p and matures on 31 July 2021.

Equity Issues

Equity Issues	Number of Shares	Price per share (p)	Funds Raised £'000
Allotment 8 February 2019	5,000,000	10.0	500
Allotment 25 July 2019	10,000,000	10.0	1,000
Allotment 19 December 2019	375,000	12.5	47
	15,375,000		1,547

Summary of Warrants

Number	Holder and Description	Strike  Price (p)	Life (years)	Vesting Criteria
589,330	Yaron Bull, February 2016	20.15	4	At grant: - detachable
1 70,455	S P Angel , January 2018	22. 00	5	At grant
9,625,000	Various Holders, July 2019	12.50	2	At grant: - detachable

The S P Angel Warrants were inadvertently omitted from the 2018 accounts but have been accounted for in 2019. The omission of a charge of £27,000 from the 2018 accounts was not material.

In July 2019 10,000,000 warrants were issued to various holders alongside the equity issue. On 19 December 2019 375,000 of these warrants were converted to ordinary shares.

Cash Flow Statement

During the year, the Group had an operating cash outflow of £0.4m (2018: outflow £1.2m) which arose primarily from an unfavourable working capital movement of £0.6m (2018: £0.2m) offset by the £0.1m EBITDA^ from underlying  continuing and discontinued operations result.

During the year, the Group raised £1.55m gross from the issue of new equity.  In 2018, £1.34m was raised from new equity, with a further £0.2m of proceeds from the issue of convertible loan notes.

Reconciliation from EBITDA^ from underlying continuing and discontinued operations to normalised operating cash flow	2019	2018 Restated
	£'000	£'000
EBITDA^ from underlying continuing and discontinued operations	54	(354)
(Loss) / profit on asset disposal	(9)	2
Net changes in working capital	( 552 )	(192)
Movement on tax	(26)	(872)
Net cash used in underlying operating activities	( 533 )	(1,416)

Net cash used in underlying operating activities is presented excluding exceptional items, share options expense, and depreciation and amortisation.

Mark L W Hughes

Chief Financial Officer

Westminster Group PLC

Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income for the year ended 31 December 2019

	Note	2019	2019	2019	2018	2018	2018
		Continuing Operations	Discontinued Operations	Total	Continuing Operations (Restated)	Discontinued Operations	Total (Restated)
		£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000
REVENUE	3	10,889	-	10,889	6,668	-	6,668
Cost of sales		(6, 444 )	-	(6, 444 )	(3,020)	-	(3,020)
GROSS PROFIT		4, 445	-	4, 445	3,648	-	3,648
Administrative expenses		(5,296)	28	(5,268)	(4,832)	149	(4,683)
(LOSS) / PROFIT FROM OPERATIONS	6	(851)	28	(823)	(1,184)	149	(1,035)
Analysis of operating loss
Profit from operations		(851)	28	(823)	(1,184)	149	(1,035)
Add back amortisation	11	43	-	43	33	-	33
Add back depreciation	12	172	-	172	136	-	136
Reversal of impairment	29	-	-	-	-	(170)	(170)
Add back share-based expense		556	-	556	281	-	281
Add back exceptional items	4	106	-	106	380	21	401
EBITDA^ Profit/(loss) from underlying operations		26	28	54	(354)	-	(354)
Finance costs	5	(620)	-	(620)	(333)	-	(333)
(LOSS) / PROFIT BEFORE TAXATION		(1,471)	28	(1,443)	(1,517)	149	(1,368)
Taxation	7	26	-	26	872	-	872
(LOSS) / PROFIT AND TOTAL COMPREHENSIVE EXPENSE FOR THE YEAR		(1,445)	28	(1,417)	(645)	149	(496)
(LOSS) / PROFIT AND TOTAL COMPREHENSIVE (LOSS) / INCOME ATTRIBUTABLE TO:
OWNERS OF THE PARENT		(1,426)	28	(1,398)	(499)	149	(350)
NON-CONTROLLING INTEREST		(19)	-	(19)	(146)	-	(146)
(LOSS) / PROFIT AND TOTAL COMPREHENSIVE (LOSS) / INCOME		(1,445)	28	(1,417)	(645)	149	(496)
LOSS PER SHARE	9	(1.04p)	0.02p	(1.02p)	(0.50p)	0.11p	(0.39p)

The accompanying notes form part of these financial statements.

 

Westminster Group PLC Consolidated and Company Statements of Financial Position As at 31 December 2019
			Restated		Restated
		Group	Group	Company	Company
		2019	2018	2019	2018
	Note	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000
Goodwill	10	614	596	-	-
Other intangible assets	11	129	100	128	100
Property, plant and equipment	12	1,979	2,112	1,079	1,094
Investment in subsidiaries	14	-	-	6,252	6,906
Deferred tax asset	17	907	889	-	-
TOTAL NON-CURRENT ASSETS		3,629	3,697	7,459	8,100
Inventories	18	47	74	-	-
Trade and other receivables	19	2,566	4,616	70	27
Cash and cash equivalents	20	557	290	28	29
TOTAL CURRENT ASSETS		3,170	4,980	98	56
Assets of disposal groups classified as held for sale	29	170	170	-	-
TOTAL ASSETS		6,969	8,847	7,557	8,156
Called up share capital	21	14,540	13,003	14,540	13,003
Share premium account		9,577	9,568	9,577	9,568
Merger relief reserve		300	300	300	300
Share based payment reserve		1,166	858	1,166	858
Equity reserve on convertible loan note		423	222	12	21
Revaluation reserve		133	133	133	133
Retained earnings:
At 1 January		(22,594)	(22,258)	(16,149)	(14,228)
Loss for the year		(1,398)	(349)	(2,652)	(1,921)
Other changes in retained earnings		148	13	148	-
At 31 December		(23,844)	(22,594)	(18,653)	(16,149)
(DEFICIT)/EQUITY ATTRIBUTABLE TO:
OWNERS OF THE COMPANY		2,295	1,490	7,075	7,734
NON-CONTROLLING INTEREST		(365)	(346)	-	-
TOTAL EQUITY		1,930	1,144	7,075	7,734
Borrowings	23	2,510	2,545	212	223
TOTAL NON-CURRENT LIABILITIES		2,510	2,545	212	223
Contractual liabilities	24	73	2,438	-	-
Trade and other payables	24	2,456	2,569	270	199
TOTAL CURRENT LIABILITIES		2,529	5,007	270	199
Liabilities of disposal group classified as held for sale	29	-	151	-	-
TOTAL LIABILITIES		5,039	7,703	482	422
TOTAL LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY		6,969	8,847	7,557	8,156

The accompanying notes form part of these financial statements. The Group and Company financial statements were approved by the Board and authorised for issue on 13 May 2020 and signed on its behalf by:

Peter Fowler    Mark L W Hughes

Director    Director 

Westminster Group PLC

Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity

For the year ended 31 December 2019

	Called up share capital	Share premium account	Merger relief reserve	Share based payment reserve	Revaluation reserve	Equity reserve on convertible loan note	Retained earnings	Total	Non-controlling interest	Total
	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000
AS AT 1 JANUARY 2019	13,003	9,568	300	858	133	222	(22,594)	1,490	(346)	1,144
Shares issued for cash	1,500	-	-	-	-	-	-	1,500	-	1,500
Cost of share issues	-	-	-	-	-	-	(100)	(100)	-	(100)
Share based payment charge	-	-	-	556	-	-	-	556	-	556
Exercise of warrants and share options	37	9	-	-	-	-	-	46	-	46
Lapse of Share Options				(44)			44	-	-	-
Lapse of Warrants	-	-	-	(204)	-	-	204	-	-	-
CLN movement	-	-	-	-	-	201	-	201	-	83
TRANSACTIONS WITH OWNERS	1,537	9	-	308	-	201	148	2,203	-	2,203
Total comprehensive expense for the year	-	-	-	-	-	-	(1,398)	(1,398)	(19)	(1,417)
AS AT 31 DECEMBER 2019	14,540	9,577	300	1,166	133	423	(23,844)	2,295	(365)	1,930

Westminster Group PLC

Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity

For the year ended 31 December 2018 (restated)

	Called up share capital	Share premium account	Merger relief reserve	Share based payment reserve	Revaluation reserve	Equity reserve on convertible loan note	Retained earnings	Total	Non-controlling interest	Total
	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000
AS AT 1 JANUARY 2018	12,074	9,226	300	621	133	186	(22,256)	284	(200)	84
Restatement for IFRS 16	-	-	-	-	-	-	(2)	(2)	-	(2)
AS AT 1 JANUARY 2018 (RESTATED)	12,074	9,226	300	621	133	186	(22,258)	282	(200)	80
Shares issued for cash	841	409	-	-	-	-	-	1,250	-	1,250
Cost of share issues	-	(67)	-	-	-	-	-	(67)	-	(67)
Share based payment charge	-	-	-	237	-	-	-	237	-	237
Exercise of warrants and share options	88	-	-	-	-	-	-	88	-	88
Other movements in equity	-	-	-	-	-	-	13	13	-	13
CLN movement	-	-	-	-	-	36	-	36	-	36
TRANSACTIONS WITH OWNERS	929	342	-	237	-	36	13	1,557	-	1,557
Total comprehensive expense for the year	-	-	-	-	-	-	(349)	(349)	(146)	(495)
AS AT 31 DECEMBER 2018	13,003	9,568	300	858	133	222	(22,594)	1,490	(346)	1,144

Westminster Group PLC

Company Statement of Changes in Equity

For the year ended 31 December 2019

	Called up share capital	Share premium account	Merger relief reserve	Share based payment reserve	Revaluation reserve	Equity reserve on convertible loan note	Retained earnings	Total
	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000
AS AT 1 JANUARY 2019	13,003	9,568	300	858	133	21	(16,149)	7,734
Shares issued for cash	1,500	-	-	-	-	-	-	1,500
Cost of share issues	-	-	-	-	-	-	(100)	(100)
Share based payment charge	-	-	-	556	-	-	-	556
Exercise of warrant	37	9	-	-	-	-	-	46
Recognition of equity component of convertible loan notes (CLN)	-	-	-	-	-	(9)	-	(9)
Lapse of Share Options				(44)			44	-
Lapse of Warrants	-	-	-	(204)	-	-	204	-
TRANSACTIONS WITH OWNERS	1,537	9	-	308	-	(9)	148	1,993
Total comprehensive expense for the year	-	-	-	-	-	-	(2,652)	(2,652)
AS AT 31 DECEMBER 2019	14,540	9,577	300	1,166	133	12	(18,653)	7,075
AS AT 1 JANUARY 2018	12,074	9,226	300	621	133	-	(14,227)	8,127
Restatement for IFRS 16	-	-	-	-	-	-	(1)	(1)
AS AT 1 JANUARY 2018 RESTATED	12,074	9,226	300	621	133	-	(14,228)	8,126
Shares issued for cash	841	409	-	-	-	-	-	1,250
Cost of share issues	-	(67)	-	-	-	-	-	(67)
Share based payment charge	-	-	-	237	-	-	-	237
Exercise of warrant	88	-	-	-	-	-	-	88
Recognition of equity component of convertible loan notes (CLN)	-	-	-	-	-	21	-	21
TRANSACTIONS WITH OWNERS	929	342	-	237	-	21	-	1,529
Total comprehensive expense for the year	-	-	-	-	-	-	(1,921)	(1,921)
AS AT 31 DECEMBER 2018	13,003	9,568	300	858	133	21	(16,149)	7,734

 

Westminster Group PLC

Consolidated Cash Flow Statement

For the year ended 31 December 2019

					Restated
		2019	2019	2019	2018	2018	2018
		Continuing Operations	Discontinued Operations	Total	Continuing Operations	Discontinued Operations	Total
	Note	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000
(LOSS) / PROFIT AFTER TAX		(1,445)	28	(1,417)	(645)	149	(496)
Taxation debit / (credit)		(26)	-	(26)	(872)	-	(872)
(LOSS) / PROFIT BEFORE TAX		(1,471)	28	(1,443)	(1,517)	149	(1,368)
Non-cash adjustments	25	1,412	-	1,412	491	(170)	321
Net changes in working capital	25	(401)	(151)	(552)	(192)	-	(192)
NET CASH USED IN OPERATING ACTIVITIES		(460)	(123)	(583)	(1,218)	(21)	(1,239)
INVESTING ACTIVITIES:
Purchase of property, plant and equipment		(70)	-	(70)	(58)	-	(58)
Purchase of intangible assets		(72)	-	(72)	-	-	-
Acquisition of subsidiary	30	(18)	-	(18)	-	-	-
Cash inflow on acquisition		-	-	-	104	-	104
CASH (OUTFLOW) / INFLOW FROM INVESTING ACTIVITIES		(160)	-	(160)	46	-	46
CASHFLOWS FROM FINANCING ACTIVITIES:
Gross proceeds from the issues of ordinary shares and exercise of warrants		1,547	-	1,547	1,338	-	1,338
Costs of share issues		(100)	-	(100)	(68)	-	(68)
CULN debt raised		-	-	-	176	-	176
Reduction in Finance Lease Debt		(60)	-	(60)	-	-	-
Finance cost on lease liabilities		(54)	-	(54)	(4)		(4)
Interest paid		(323)	-	(323)	(351)	-	(351)
CASH INFLOW FROM FINANCING ACTIVITIES		1,010	-	1,010	1,091	-	1,091
Net change in cash and cash equivalents		390	(123)	267	(81)	(21)	(102)
CASH AND EQUIVALENTS AT BEGINNING OF YEAR				290			392
CASH AND EQUIVALENTS AT END OF YEAR				557			290

 

Company Cash Flow Statement

For the year ended 31 December 2019

		Company	Company
		2019	2018
	Note	£'000	£'000
(LOSS)/PROFIT AFTER TAX		(2,652)	(1,921)
Non-cash adjustments	25	1,104	82
Net changes in working capital	25	28	99
NET CASH USED IN OPERATING ACTIVITIES		(1,520)	(1,740)
INVESTING ACTIVITIES:
Purchase of property, plant and equipment		(26)	(33)
Purchase of intangible assets		(71)	-
Advances to subsidiaries	14	(11)	-
Cash inflow from intercompany loans	14	557	622
CASH OUTFLOW FROM INVESTING ACTIVITIES		499	589
CASHFLOWS FROM FINANCING ACTIVITIES:
Gross proceeds from the issues of ordinary shares		1,547	1,338
Costs of share issues		(100)	(68)
Net proceeds from the issue of convertible loan notes		-	177
Finance cost on lease liabilities		(47)	(42)
Interest paid		(330)	(303)
CASH INFLOW FROM FINANCING ACTIVITIES		1,070	1,102
Net change in cash and cash equivalents		(1)	(49)
CASH AND EQUIVALENTS AT BEGINNING OF YEAR		29	78
CASH AND EQUIVALENTS AT END OF YEAR		28	29

The accompanying notes form part of these financial statements.

Notes to the Financial Statements

1.  General information and nature of operations

Westminster Group plc ("the Company") was incorporated on 7 April 2000 and is domiciled and incorporated in the United Kingdom and quoted on AIM.  The Group's financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2019 consolidate the individual financial statements of the Company and its subsidiaries. The Group design, supply and provide on-going advanced technology solutions and services to governmental and non-governmental organisations on a global basis.

2.  Summary of significant accounting policies

Basis of preparation

The Group financial statements have been prepared and approved by the Directors in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS") as adopted by the European Union. The Parent Company has elected to prepare its financial statements in accordance with IFRS.

The financial information is presented in the Company's functional currency, which is British pounds sterling ('GBP') since that is the currency in which the majority of the Group's transactions are denominated.

Basis of measurement

The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention with the exception of certain items which are measured at fair value as disclosed in the accounting policies below.

Consolidation

(i)  Basis of consolidation

The consolidated financial statements comprise the financial statements of the Company and its subsidiaries for the year ended 31 December 2019.

(ii)  Subsidiaries

Where the company has control over an investee, it is classified as a subsidiary, The company controls an investee if all three of the following elements are present: power over the investee, exposure to variable returns from the investee, and the ability of the investor to use its power to affect those variable returns. Control is reassessed whenever facts and circumstances indicate that there may be a change in any of these elements of control.

De-facto control exists in situations where tile company has tile practical ability to direct tile relevant activities of the investee without holding the majority of the voting rights. In determining whether de-facto control exists tile company considers au relevant facts and circumstances, including:

· The size of the company's voting rights relative to both the size and dispersion of other parties

· who hold voting rights

· Substantive potential voting rights held by the company and by other parties

· Other contractual arrangements

· Historic patterns in voting attendance.

The consolidated financial statements present the results of the company and its subsidiaries ("the Group") as if they formed a single entity.  lntercompany transactions and balances between group companies are therefore eliminated in full.

The consolidated financial statements incorporate the results of business combinations using the acquisition method. In the statement of financial position, the acquiree's identifiable assets, liabilities and contingent liabilities are initially recognised at their fair values at the acquisition date.  The results of acquired operations are included in the consolidated statement of comprehensive income from the date on which control is obtained. They are deconsolidated from the date on which control ceases.

(iii)  Transactions eliminated on consolidation

Intragroup balances and any unrealised gains and losses or income and expenses arising from intragroup transactions are eliminated in preparing the consolidated financial statements.

(iv)  Company financial statements

Investments in subsidiaries are carried at cost less provision for any impairment. Dividend income is recognised when the right to receive payment is established.

Going concern

The Group made a loss during the period of £1,417,000 (2018: Restated loss of £496,000).  The cash outflow from operating activities during the year was £460,000 (2018: Outflow £1,218,000), which was partly financed through raising new equity. 

The financial statements are prepared on a going concern basis. In assessing whether the going concern assumption is appropriate, management have taken into account all relevant available information about the current and future position of the Group, including new long-term contracts. As part of its assessment, management have taken into account the profit and cash forecasts, the continued support of the shareholders and loan note holders and the Directors' and management's ability to affect costs and revenues. Management regularly forecast results, the financial position and cash flows for the Group.

The Directors acknowledge that the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 is having a profound impact on the global economy and businesses across the globe, the like of which has not been experienced in a generation. At the time of writing, the duration and full extent of the impact on the global economy cannot be determined with any accuracy although there are green shoots of optimism with some countries appearing to be over the worst of the disruption and some, including the UK, easing lockdowns. The expectation is that the global economy will begin to recover in the second half of 2020 although it is suspected the virus will be with us for some time and that some countries may yet face renewed outbreaks.

The Directors have stress tested the revenue and utilisation assumptions included in the Group's cash projections for a period of 12 months from the date of approval of these financial statements.  The Directors believe the measures and mitigation strategies they have put in place together with its various revenue ongoing streams, means the Group will therefore generate sufficient working capital and cash flows to continue in operational existence and in addition to utilisation of governmental support schemes it will continue to have the support of lenders and shareholders, if required. Thus, they continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in the preparing the financial statements.

The Directors therefore took timely action implementing logistical and organisational changes to consolidate the Group's resilience to COVID-19, including a reduction in costs, risk assessments, safe working practices and various other measures, including utilisation of governmental support schemes. The Directors also took action to expand the Group's range of fever screening and safety equipment, expanding its supply base and instigating targeted marketing campaigns which has seen a significant rise in product sales revenues mitigating reductions elsewhere in the business. The Directors continue to monitor the situation and to update its risk assessments and contingency planning as necessary. 

Further details on measures being taken to address the challenges and opportunities presented by COVID-19 can be found in the Chief Executive Office's report.

The Directors equally acknowledge that, at the current time, the COVID-19 does create areas of uncertainty for the business, particularly its aviation security and training operations, although the restrictions on travel and disruptions to supply chains and logistics may also present a challenge as to when travel restrictions will be lifted and how long it will take for air travel and the aviation industry to recover. This will likely have an impact, for some months on certain areas of the business, in particular the airport security and training operations.  

Since the year end a £3m Mezzanine Loan Facility repayable over 18 months together with a £1.75m Equity Placing and Sharing Agreement has been entered in to with RiverFort Global Opportunities PCC and YA II PN Ltd (the "Financing Facility"). The proceeds from the initial tranche of the Financing Facility have been used to commence paying down the Group's Convertible Secured Loan Notes (CLN). On 30 March 2020 the outstanding CLN balance of £1.68m was extended in agreement with noteholders to 1 May 2021 to help mitigate any adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The balance of the Riverfort Facility will be used, if required, to repay any CLN balance.

These events or conditions emanating from COVID-19 indicate that a material uncertainty exists which may cast significant doubt on the Group's ability to continue as a going concern and therefore its ability to settle it debts and realise its assets in the normal course of business.

The financial statements do not include the adjustments that would be required should the going concern basis of preparation no longer be appropriate.

Business combinations

The consideration transferred by the Group to obtain control of a subsidiary is calculated as the sum of the acquisition date fair values of assets transferred, liabilities incurred and the equity interests issued by the Group, which includes the fair value of any asset or liability arising from a contingent consideration arrangement. Acquisition costs are expensed as incurred.

The Group recognises identifiable assets acquired and liabilities assumed in a business combination regardless of whether they have been previously recognised in the acquiree's financial statements prior to the acquisition. Assets acquired and liabilities assumed are generally measured at their acquisition date fair values.

Foreign currency

Items included in the financial statements of the Company are measured using the currency of the primary economic environment in which the entity operates - 'the functional currency'. The functional and presentation currency in these financial statements is the Great British Pounds (GBP).

Transactions in foreign currencies are translated at the foreign exchange rate ruling at the date of the transaction (spot exchange rate). Foreign exchange gains and losses resulting from the settlement of such transactions and from the re-measurement of monetary items at year-end exchange rates are recognised in profit or loss. Non-monetary items measured at historical cost are translated using the exchange rates at the date of the transaction and not subsequently retranslated.

Foreign exchange gains and losses are recognised in arriving at profit before interest and taxation (see Note 6).

Segmental reporting

Operating segments are reported in a manner consistent with the internal reporting provided to the chief decision-maker.  The chief decision-maker has been identified as the Executive Board, at which level strategic decisions are made.

An operating segment is a component of the Group;

· That engages in business activities from which it may earn revenues and incur expenses,

· Whose operating results are regularly reviewed by the entity's chief operating decisions maker to make decisions about resources to be allocated to the segment and assess its performance, and

· For which discrete financial information is available.

Revenue

Revenue recognition

Revenue is measured at the fair value of the consideration received or receivable and represents amounts receivable for goods and services provided in the normal course of business, net of discounts, VAT and other sales-related taxes:

Supply of products

Revenue in respect of supply of product is recognised at a point in time when products are delivered, and legal title is transferred to the customer.

Supply and installation contracts and supply of services

Where the outcome can be estimated reliably in respect of long-term contracts and contracts for on-going services, revenue is recognised over the time and represents the value of work done in the period, including estimates of amounts not invoiced. Revenue in respect of long-term contracts and contracts for on-going services is recognised by reference to the stage of completion, where the stage of completion can be assessed with reasonable accuracy. This is assessed by reference to the estimated project costs incurred to date compared to the total estimated project costs. Revenue is recognised only to the extent that it is highly probable that a significant reversal in the amount of cumulative revenue recognised will not occur when the uncertainty associated with the variable consideration is subsequently resolved Where a contract is loss making, the full loss is recognised immediately. Managed services income is recognised over time and is based on the volume of the passenger processed and freight scanned.

When the outcome of long-term contracts cannot be estimated reliability, contract revenues are recognised to the extent of contract costs incurred where it is probable those costs will be recovered

Maintenance Income

The revenue in relation to supply of maintenance contract is recognised over time on a straight-line basis. The unrecognised portion of maintenance contract is included within trade and other payables as Contract Obligation.

Training courses

The revenue on training course is recognised at a point in time after the course has been conducted i.e. performance obligation in relation to the course are fulfilled.

Operating expenses

Operating expenses are recognised in profit or loss upon utilisation of the service or at the date of their origin.  Expenditure for warranties is recognised and charged against the associated provision when the related revenue is recognised. Certain items have been disclosed as operating exceptional due to their size and nature and their separate disclosure should enable better understanding of the financial dynamics.

Interest income and expenses

Interest income and expenses are reported on an accruals basis using the effective interest method.

Goodwill

Goodwill is stated after separate recognition of identifiable intangible assets. It is calculated as the excess of the sum of a) fair value of consideration transferred, b) the recognised amount of any non-controlling interest in the acquiree

and c) acquisition date fair value of any existing equity interest in the acquiree, over the acquisition date fair value of identifiable net assets. If the fair value of identifiable net assets exceeds the sum calculated above, the excess amount (i.e. gain on a bargain purchase) is recognised in profit or loss immediately. Goodwill is carried at cost less accumulated impairment losses.

Property, plant and equipment (continued)

Plant and equipment, office equipment, fixtures and fittings and motor vehicles are stated at cost less accumulated depreciation and any recognised impairment loss.

Depreciation is charged so as to write off the cost or valuation of assets to their residual value over their estimated useful lives, using the straight-line method, typically at the following rates. Where certain assets are specific for a long-term contract and the customer has an obligation to purchase the asset at the end of the contract they are depreciated in accordance with the expected disposal / residual value.

	Rate
Freehold buildings	2%
Plant and equipment	7% to 25%
Office equipment, fixtures & fittings	20% to 33%
Motor vehicles	20%

Freehold land is not depreciated

Leases

All leases that fall under IFRS 16 will be recorded on the balance sheet as liabilities, at the present value of the future lease payments, along with an asset reflecting the right to use the asset over the lease term. Rentals payable under operating leases exempt from IFRS 16 are charged to income on a straight-line basis over the term of the relevant lease.

IFRS 16 also changes the definition of a "lease" and the manner of assessing whether a contract contains a lease. At inception of a contract, the Group assesses whether a contract is, or contains, a lease based on whether the contract conveys the right to control the use of an identified asset for a period of time in exchange for consideration.

The Group recognises a right-of-use asset and a corresponding lease liability at the lease commencement date. The lease liability is initially measured at the present value of the following lease payments:

-  fixed payments

-  variable payments that are based on index or rate

-  the exercise price of any extension or purchase option if reasonably certain it can be exercised; and

-  penalties for terminating the lease, if relevant

The lease payments are discounted using the interest rate implicit in the lease or, if that rate cannot be readily determined, the group's incremental borrowing rate.

The right-of-use assets are initially measured based on initial amount of the lease liability adjusted for any lease payments made at or before the commencement date, plus any initial direct costs. The right-of-use assets are depreciated over the period of the lease term using the straight-line method. The lease term includes periods covered by the option to extend, if the group is reasonably certain to exercise that option. In addition, right-of -use assets may during the lease term be reduced by any impairment losses, if any, or adjusted for certain remeasurements of the lease liability.

Impairment on non-financial assets

At each reporting date, the Group reviews the carrying amounts of its non-current 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). The recoverable amount is the higher of fair value less costs to sell and value in use.  If the recoverable amount of an asset is estimated to be less than its carrying amount, the carrying amount of the asset is reduced to its recoverable amount. An impairment loss is recognised as an expense immediately, unless the relevant asset is carried at a revalued amount, in which case the impairment loss is treated as a revaluation decrease. Where an impairment loss subsequently reverses, the carrying amount of the asset is increased to the revised estimate of its recoverable amount, but so that the increased carrying amount does not exceed the carrying amount that would have been determined had no impairment loss been recognised for the asset in prior years. 

Financial instruments

Financial assets

The Group's financial assets include cash and cash equivalents and loans and other receivables. All financial assets are recognised when the Group becomes party to the contractual provisions of the instrument. All financial assets are initially recognised at fair value, plus transaction costs. They are subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method, less any impairment losses. Any changes in carrying value are recognised in the Statement of

Comprehensive Income. Interest and other cash flows resulting from holding financial assets are recognised in the Statement of Cash Flows when received, regardless of how the related carrying amount of financial assets is measured.

The Group recognises a loss allowance for expected losses on financial assets that are measured at amortised cost including trade receivables and contract assets. The amount of expected credit losses is updated at each reporting date to reflect changes in credit risk since initial recognition.

Cash and cash equivalents comprise cash at bank and deposits and bank overdrafts. Bank overdrafts are shown within borrowings in current liabilities unless a legally enforceable right to offset exists.

Financial liabilities

The Group's financial liabilities comprise trade and other payables and borrowings.  All financial liabilities are recognised initially at their fair value and subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method.  Financial liabilities are derecognised when they are extinguished, discharged, cancelled or expire.

Convertible loan notes with an option that leads to a potentially variable number of shares, have been accounted for as a host debt with an embedded derivative. The embedded derivative is accounted for at fair value through profit and loss at each reporting date. The host debt is recognised initially at fair value, and subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method.

Convertible loan notes which can be converted to share capital at the option of the holder, and where the number of shares to be issued does not vary with changes in fair value, are considered to be a compound instrument.

The liability component of a compound instrument is recognised initially at the fair value of a similar liability that does not have an equity conversion option. The equity component is recognised initially at the difference between the fair value of the compound instrument and fair value of the liability component. Any directly attributable transaction costs are allocated to the liability and equity components.

Financial liabilities and equity instruments issued by the Group are classified according to the substance of the contractual arrangements entered into and the definitions of a financial liability and an equity instrument.  An equity instrument is any contract that evidences a residual interest in the assets of the Group after deducting all of its liabilities.

Investments in subsidiaries

Subsidiary fixed asset investments are valued at cost less provision for impairment. The Group applies the IFRS 9 simplified approach to measuring expected credit losses which uses a lifetime expected loss allowance for all investment in subsidiaries.

Inventories

Inventories are stated at the lower of cost and net realisable value. Costs of ordinarily interchangeable items are assigned using the first in, first out cost formula. Costs principally comprise of materials and bringing them to their present location. Net realisable value represents the estimated selling price less all estimated costs to completion and costs to be incurred in marketing, selling and distribution.

Taxation

The tax expense represents the sum of the tax currently payable and deferred tax. Current and deferred tax are recognised as an expense or income in profit or loss, except in respect of items dealt with through equity, in which case the tax is also dealt with through equity.

The tax currently payable is based on taxable profit for the year. Taxable profit differs from net profit as reported in the Statement of Comprehensive Income because it excludes items of income or expense that are taxable or deductible in other years and it further excludes items that are never taxable or deductible. The Group's liability for current tax is calculated by using tax rates that have been enacted or substantively enacted by the balance sheet date.

Deferred tax is the tax expected to be payable or recoverable on material differences between the carrying amount of assets and liabilities in the financial statements and the corresponding tax bases used in the computation of taxable profit and is accounted for using the balance sheet liability method. Deferred tax liabilities are recognised for all taxable temporary differences and deferred tax assets are recognised to the extent that it is probable that taxable profits will be available against which deductible temporary differences can be utilised. Such assets and liabilities are not recognised if the temporary difference arises from the initial recognition of goodwill or from the initial recognition (other than in a business combination) of other assets and liabilities in a transaction which affects neither the tax profit not the accounting profit.

Cash and cash equivalents

Cash and cash equivalents include cash in hand, deposits held at call with banks, other short-term highly liquid investments with original maturities of three months or less, and bank overdrafts. Bank overdrafts are shown within borrowings in current liabilities unless a legally enforceable right to offset exists.

Equity, reserves and dividend payments

Share capital represents the nominal value of shares that have been issued.

Share premium includes any premiums received on issue of share capital.  Any transaction costs associated with the issuing of shares are deducted from share premium, net of any related income tax benefits.

Merger relief reserve includes any premiums on issue of share capital as part or all of the consideration in a business combination.

The share-based payment reserve represents equity-settled share-based employee remuneration until such share options are exercised or lapse.

The revaluation reserve within equity comprises gains and losses due to the revaluation of property, plant and equipment.

Retained earnings include all current and prior period retained profits and losses.

Dividend distributions payable to equity shareholders are included in liabilities when the dividends have been approved in a general meeting prior to the reporting date.

The Group operates a defined contribution pension scheme for employees in the UK and is operating under auto enrolment. Local labour in Africa benefit from a termination payment on leaving employment. The expected value of this is accrued on a monthly basis.

Share-based compensation (Employee Based Benefits)

The Group operates an equity-settled share-based compensation plan. The fair value of the employee services received in exchange for the grant of options is recognised as an expense over the vesting period, based on the Group's estimate of awards that will eventually vest, with a corresponding increase in equity as a share-based payment reserve.  For plans that include market-based vesting conditions, the fair value at the date of grant reflects these conditions and are not subsequently revisited.

Fair value is determined using Black-Scholes option pricing models. Non-market based vesting conditions are included in assumptions about the number of options that are expected to vest. At each reporting date, the number of options that are expected to vest is estimated. The impact of any revision of original estimates, if any, is recognised in profit or loss, with a corresponding adjustment to equity, over the remaining vesting period.

The proceeds received when vested options are exercised, net of any directly attributable transaction costs, are credited to share capital (nominal value) and share premium.

Provisions

Provisions are recognised when the Group has a present legal or constructive obligation as a result of a past event which it is probable will result in an outflow of economic benefits that can be reliably estimated.

SIGNIFICANT MANAGEMENT JUDGEMENTS IN APPLYING ACCOUNTING POLICIES

The following are significant management judgements in applying the accounting policies of the Group that have the most significant effect on the financial statements.

Items included in the financial statements of each of the group's entities are measured using the currency of the primary economic environment in which the entity operates ('the functional currency').  The board has judged that because the group is mainly situated in the UK, most of the Groups costs and a substantial part of its sales

Goodwill

  Goodwill has been tested for impairment by considering its net present value for the expected income stream in perpetuity at both a discount rate judge to be 5% based on the normal lending rate we are offered leases at and to establish what is the discount rate (18%) at which no impairment is needed.  The income is assumed to be flat and stable for the purpose of this test

Deferred tax asset

Deferred tax assets are recognised to the extent that it is probable that taxable profits will be available against which deductible temporary differences can be utilised.  The directors have prepared projections for the next five years based on the best available evidence and have concluded that this deferred tax asset will be utilised in the future.

SIGNIFICANT MANAGEMENT ESTIMATES IN APPLYING ACCOUNTING POLICIES

The following are significant management estimates in applying the accounting policies of the Group that have the most significant effect on the financial statements.

Revalued freehold property

The freehold property is stated at fair value. A full revaluation exercise was carried out in May 2017. The fair value is based on market value, being the estimated amount for which a property could be exchanged on the date of valuation between a willing buyer and a willing seller in an arm's length transaction after proper marketing wherein the parties had each acted knowledgeably, prudently and without compulsion.

New standards, amendments and interpretations

The following new standards have been adopted and where required the prior year's figures have been restated.

· IFRS 16  Leases (effective date 1 January 2019)

· IFRIC 23   Uncertain tax treatments (effective date 1 January 2019)

IFRS 16 'Leases'; effective for periods beginning on or after January 1, 2019. Under IFRS 16, a contract is, or contains a lease if the contact conveys the right to control the use of an identified asset for a period of time in exchange for consideration. The new standard eliminates the classification of leases by lessees as either finance leases or operating leases and instead introduces an integrated lessee accounting model. Applying this model, lessees are required to recognise a lease liability reflecting the obligation to make future lease payments and a 'right-of-use' asset for virtually all lease contracts.

IFRS 16 includes an optional exemption for certain short-term leases and leases of low-value assets. The Group has assessed the impact of the new standard which is not material to the Group's operations.

The Group has elected to apply IFRS 16 fully retrospectively with the cumulative effect of initially applying IFRS 16 recognised at 1 January 2018.  Consequently, comparatives for the year ended 31 December 2018 has been restated. Right of use assets are measured at the amount of the lease liability, thus on the adoption of IFRS 16, the Group recognised right of use asset and lease liability each amounting to £214,000 (2018: £29,000) and £216,000 (2018: £30,000) respectively. The effect of applying this standard is shown in note 12.

Effective from 1 January 2019, IFRIC 23 explains how to recognize and measure deferred and current income tax assets and liabilities if there is uncertainty over a tax treatment.  An uncertain tax treatment is any tax treatment applied by an entity where there is uncertainty over whether that approach will be accepted by the tax authority.

Standards in issue not yet effective

There are a number of standards, amendments to standards, and interpretations which have been issued by the IASB that are effective in future accounting periods that the group has decided not to adopt early. The most significant of these are as follows, which are all effective for the period beginning 1 January 2020:

· IAS 1 Presentation of Financial Statements and IAS 8 Accounting Policies, Changes in Accounting Estimates and Errors (Amendment - Definition of Material)

· IFRS 3 Business Combinations (Amendment - Definition of Business)

· Revised Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting

Amendments to IAS 1 and IAS 8 Definition of material

The amendments are intended to make the definition of material in IAS 1 easier to understand and are not intended to alter the underlying concept of materiality in IFRS Standards. The concept of 'obscuring' material information with immaterial information has been included as part of the new definition.

The threshold for materiality influencing users has been changed from 'could influence' to 'could reasonably be expected to influence'.

Standards in issue not yet effective (continued)

The definition of material in IAS 8 has been replaced by a reference to the definition of material in IAS 1. In addition, the IASB amended other Standards and the Conceptual Framework that contain a definition of material or refer to the term 'material' to ensure consistency.

The amendments are applied prospectively for annual periods beginning on or after 1 January 2020, with earlier application permitted.

Amendments to References to the Conceptual Framework in IFRS Standards

Together with the revised Conceptual Framework, which became effective upon publication on 29 March 2018, the IASB has also issued Amendments to References to the Conceptual Framework in IFRS Standards. The document contains amendments to IFRS 2, IFRS 3, IFRS 6, IFRS 14, IAS 1, IAS 8, IAS 34, IAS 37, IAS 38, IFRIC 12, IFRIC 19, IFRIC 20, IFRIC 22, and SIC-32.

Not all amendments, however, update those pronouncements with regard to references to and quotes from the framework so that they refer to the revised Conceptual Framework. Some pronouncements are only updated to indicate which version of the Framework they are referencing to (the IASC Framework adopted by the IASB in 2001, the IASB Framework of 2010, or the new revised Framework of 2018) or to indicate that definitions in the Standard have not been updated with the new definitions developed in the revised Conceptual Framework.

The amendments, where they actually are updates, are effective for annual periods beginning on or after 1 January 2020, with early application permitted.

Amendments to IFRS 3 Definition of a business

The amendments clarify that while businesses usually have outputs, outputs are not required for an integrated set of activities and assets to qualify as a business. To be considered a business an acquired set of activities and assets must include, at a minimum, an input and a substantive process that together significantly contribute to the ability to create outputs.

Additional guidance is provided that helps to determine whether a substantive process has been acquired.

The amendments introduce an optional concentration test that permits a simplified assessment of whether an acquired set of activities and assets is not a business. Under the optional concentration test, the acquired set of activities and assets is not a business if substantially all of the fair value of the gross assets acquired is concentrated in a single identifiable asset or group of similar assets.

The amendments are applied prospectively to all business combinations and asset acquisitions for which the acquisition date is on or after the first annual reporting period beginning on or after 1 January 2020, with early application permitted.

Alternative performance measures (APM)

In the reporting of financial information, the Directors have adopted the APM 'EBITDA profit from underlying continuing and discontinued operations (APMs were previously termed 'Non-GAAP measures'), which is not defined or specified under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

The directors also look at recurring revenue as a key performance indicator. This is revenue arising from multi-year contracts.

This measure is not defined by IFRS and therefore may not be directly comparable with other companies' APMs, including those in the Group's industry.

APMs should be considered in addition to, and are not intended to be a substitute for, or superior to, IFRS measurements.

Purpose 

The Directors believe that this APM assists in providing additional useful information on the underlying trends, performance and position of the Group. This APM is also used to enhance the comparability of information between reporting periods and business units, by adjusting for non-recurring or uncontrollable factors which affect IFRS measures, to aid the user in understanding the Group's performance.

Consequently, APMs are used by the Directors and management for performance analysis, planning, reporting and incentive setting purposes and this remains consistent with the prior year.

The key APM that the Group has focused on is as follows:  EBITDA profit from underlying  continuing and discontinued operations': This is the headline measure used by management to measure the Group's performance and is based on operating profit before the impact of financing costs, share based payment charges, depreciation, amortisation, impairment charges and exceptional items. Exceptional items relate to certain costs that derive from events or transactions that fall within the normal activities of the Group but which, individually or, if of a similar type, in aggregate, are excluded by virtue of their size and nature in order to reflect management's view of the performance of the Group.

3.  Segment reporting

Operating segments

The Board considers the Group on a Business Unit basis.  Reports by Business Unit are used by the chief decision-makers in the Group.  The Business Units operating during the year are the two operating divisions; Managed Services and Technology. This split of business segments is based on the products and services each offer.

	Managed Services	Technology	Group and Central	Group Total
2019	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000
Supply of products	-	1,598	-	1,598
Supply and installation contracts	-	3,468	-	3,468
Maintenance and services	5,291	298	-	5,589
Training courses	234	-	-	234
Revenue	5,525	5,364	-	10,889
Segmental underlying EBITDA^ from underlying continuing and discontinued operations	1,084	525	(1,555)	54
Share based payments	-	-	(556)	(556)
Exceptional items (note 4)	(105)	-	(1)	(106)
Depreciation & amortisation	(72)	(30)	(113)	(215)
Segment operating result	907	495	(2,225)	(823)
Finance cost	(1)	(3)	(616)	(620)
Profit/ (loss) before tax	906	492	(2,841)	(1,443)
Income tax charge	18	-	8	26
Profit/(loss) for the financial year	924	492	(2,833)	(1,417)
Segment assets	2,949	2,023	1,997	6,969
Segment liabilities	1,072	1,433	2,534	5,039
Capital expenditure	48	4	18	70

	Managed Services Aviation	Technology	Group and Central	Group Total
	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000
2018 (Restated)
Supply of products	-	1,216	-	1,216
Supply and installation contracts	-	1,420	-	1,420
Maintenance and services	3,471	342	-	3,813
Training courses	219	-	-	219
Revenue	3,690	2,978	-	6,668
Segmental underlying EBITDA^ from underlying continuing and discontinued operations	829	(272)	(911)	(354)
Share option expense	-	-	(281)	(281)
Exceptional items (note 4)	(401)	-	-	(401)
Impairments	170	-	-	170
Depreciation & amortisation	(158)	(11)	-	(169)
Segment operating result	440	(283)	(1,192)	(1,035)
Finance cost	(4)	1	(330)	(333)
Income tax credit	492	380	-	872
Profit/(Loss) for the financial year	929	98	(1,522)	(496)
Segment assets	5,033	1,960	1,854	8,847
Segment liabilities	1,129	3,336	3,238	7,703
Capital expenditure	23	-	35	58

Geographical areas

The Group's international business is conducted on a global scale, with agents present in all major continents. The following table provides an analysis of the Group's sales by geographical market, irrespective of the origin of the goods/services.

	2019	2018
	£'000	£'000
UK and Europe	1,957	171
Africa	4,899	3,884
Middle East	2,397	1,878
Rest of World	1,636	735
Total	10,889	6,668

Some of the Group's assets are located outside the United Kingdom where they are being put to operational use on specific contracts.

Information about major customers

Included in revenues arising from the Technology Solutions in the Middle East are revenues of approximately £2,230,000 (2018: £1,414,000) which arose from a sale to the Group's largest customer in 2019. There was also a sale of  £1,236,000 for the provision of advanced screening of containers at ports in Asia (2018: Nil). Approximately 34% (2018: 50%) of the Group's revenues are derived from the contract with the Sierra Leone Airport Authority. This contract contains many individual customers. No other single customer contributed more than 10% of the Group revenue in either 2019 or 2018.

4.  Exceptional Items

	2019	2018
	£'000	£'000
Middle East airport pre-contract costs	105	294
Ferry closure costs	1	21
Other	-	86
	106	401

The project signed in 2018 for a long-term security support service in a Middle East airport pre-contract costs ceased during 2019 when the project was permanently put on hold.

5.  Finance costs

	Group	Group Restated
	2019	2018
	£'000	£'000
Interest received	-	1
Finance cost on lease liabilities	(54)	(4)
Interest payable on bank and other borrowings	(1)	(37)
Interest paid on convertible loan notes (Note 16)	(375)	(293)
Other financing costs	(190)	-
Total finance costs	(620)	(333)

6.  Loss from operations

The following items have been included in arriving at the loss for the financial year

		Group	Group
		2019	2018
		£'000	£'000
Staff costs (see Note 8)		4,396	3,434
Depreciation of property, plant and equipment		172	136
Amortisation of intangible assets		43	33
Lease rentals payable
Short term leases		85	66
Foreign exchange (gain) / loss		(166)	3

Auditor's remuneration

Amounts payable in both years relate to BDO LLP in respect of audit and other services. The local Audit in Sierra Leone is performed by Moore Sierra Leone.

Audit services
			Group	Group
			2019	2018
			£'000	£'000
Statutory audit of parent and consolidated financial statements			57	30
-  Review of interim results			2	2
-  Statutory audit of subsidiaries of the Company pursuant to legislation			21	21
Taxation services including research and development tax credits			18	12
Total payable to BDO			98	65
Local audit in Sierra Leone - Moore Sierra Leone			20	17
Total fees			118	82

7.  Taxation

Analysis of credit in year

Changes to the UK corporation tax rates were substantively enacted as part of the Finance Bill 2015 (on 26 October 2015) and Finance Bill 2016 (on 7 September 2017) and was to have reduced to 17% from 1 April 2020. Deferred taxes at the balance sheet date have been measured using these enacted tax rates and reflected in these financial statements.

	Group	Group
	2019	2018
	£'000	£'000
Current year
UK corporation tax on profits in the year	-	-
Potential foreign corporation tax on profits in the year	-	17
Deferred Tax
Foreign entity deferred tax	(18)	-
Review of expected utilisation of losses	(8)	(889)
	(26)	(872)
	Group	Group Restated
	2019	2018
	£'000	£'000
Reconciliation of effective tax rate
Loss on ordinary activities before tax	(1,443)	(1,368)
Loss on ordinary activities multiplied by the standard rate of corporation tax in the UK of 19% (2018: 19%)	(274)	(260)
Effects of:
Expenses not deductible for tax purposes	106	57
Deferred tax previously not recognised	-	(669)
Unrecognised losses carried forward	142	-
Total tax - credit	(26)	(872)

8.  Employee costs

Employee costs for the Group during the year

Group

		2019	2018
		£'000	£'000
Wages and salaries		3,854	2,922
Pension contributions		44	21
Social security costs		266	210
		4,164	3,153
Share based payments	Note 22	232	281
		4,396	3,434

The Group operates a stakeholder pension scheme.  The Group made pension contributions totalling £44,000 during the year (2018: £21,000), and pension contributions totalling £8,000 were outstanding at the year-end (2018: £4,000).

Details of the Directors' remuneration are included in the Remuneration Committee Report.  Key management within the business are considered to be the Board of Directors. The total Directors' remuneration during the year was £582,000 (2018: £922,000) and the highest paid director received remuneration totalling £201,000 (2018: £310,000).

Average monthly number of people (including Executive Directors) employed

Group	2019			2018
	Number			Number
	Continuing Operations	Discontinued Operations	Total	Continuing Operations	Discontinued Operations	Total
By function:
Sales	3	-	3	3	-	3
Operations	224	3	227	199	3	202
Administration	25	-	25	23	-	23
Management	6	-	6	5	-	5
	258	3	261	230	3	233

9.  Loss per share

Earnings per share is calculated by dividing the earnings attributable to ordinary shareholders by the weighted average number of ordinary shares outstanding during the year.

For diluted earnings per share the weighted average number of ordinary shares in issue is adjusted to assume conversion of all dilutive potential ordinary shares. Only those outstanding options that have an exercise price below the average market share price in the year have been included.

The weighted average number of ordinary shares is calculated as follows:

	2019	2018
	'000	'000
Issued ordinary shares
Start of year	130,028	120,743
Effect of shares issued during the year	8,834	5,409
Weighted average basic and diluted number of shares for year	138,862	126,152

	2019	2018
	£'000	£'000
Earnings
Profit / (loss) and total comprehensive expense (continuing)	(1,445)	(645)
Profit / (loss) and total comprehensive expense (discontinued)	28	149
Profit / (loss) and total comprehensive expense total	(1,417)	(496)

For the year ended 31 December 2019 and 2018 the issue of additional shares on exercise of outstanding share options, convertible loans and warrants would decrease the basic loss per share and there is therefore no dilutive effect. Loss per share was 1.02p (2018 Loss 0.39p).

10.  Goodwill

Group
		Note		2019		2018
				£'000		£'000
Gross carrying amount at 1 January				1,359		1,160
Acquisition in year		30		18		199
				1,377		1,359
Accumulated impairment at 1 January				(763)		(763)
Impairment charge for the year				-		-
Accumulated impairment at 31 December				(763)		(763)
Carrying amount at 1 January				596		397
Carrying amount at 31 December				614		596

The goodwill balance relates to the acquisition of Longmoor Security Limited, Keyguard U.K Limited in 2018 and Euro-Ops SARL in 2019.

The Group tests goodwill annually for impairment, or more frequently if there are indications that goodwill may be impaired. The recoverable amounts of the cash-generating unit are determined from value in use calculations.  The key assumptions are discount rate (5%) future revenues (assumed as flat) derived from the most recent 2020 financial budgets approved by management.  The projection assumes that the companies are held in perpetuity.  A discount rate of 18% would not result in any impairment based on management's latest forecast.

No reasonably possible change in any of the estimates and assumptions used in the impairment test would give rise to a material impairment.

11.  Other intangible assets

	Group Website and Software	Company Website and Software
2019
	£'000	£'000
Cost
At 1 January 2019	225	215
Additions	72	71
At 31 December 2019	297	286
Accumulated amortisation and impairment
At 1 January 2019	125	115
Charge for the year	43	43
At 31 December 2019	168	158
Net book value at 31 December 2019	129	128
2018
	£'000	£'000
Cost
At 1 January 2018	193	224
Disposals	(12)	(12)
Adjustment	40	(1)
Transfers	4	4
At 31 December 2018	225	215
Accumulated amortisation and impairment
At 1 January 2018	64	96
Charge for the year	33	33
Disposals	(12)	(12)
Adjustment	40	(2)
At 31 December 2018	125	115
Net book value at 31 December 2018	100	100

12.  Property, plant and equipment

Group	Freehold property	Plant and equipment	Office equipment fixtures and fittings	Motor vehicles	Right of use assets	Total
2019	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000
Cost or valuation
At 1 January 2019	1,031	471	1,194	159	260	3,115
Additions	8	32	25	5	-	70
Disposals	-	-	(63)	-	-	(63)
Transfer	-	224	(158)	-	-	66
At 31 December 2019	1,039	727	998	164	260	3,188
Accumulated depreciation and impairment
At 1 January 2019	17	236	553	151	46	1,003
Charge for the year	21	38	43	9	61	172
Disposals	-	-	(34)	-	-	(34)
Transfer	-	202	(134)	-	-	68
At 31 December 2019	38	476	428	160	107	1,209
Net book value at 31 December 2019	1,001	251	570	4	153	1,979
2018 (Restated)	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000
Cost or valuation
At 1 January 2018	1,014	727	1,123	99	33	2,996
Additions	17	-	41	-	131	189
Disposals	-	(79)	(102)	(20)	-	(201)
On acquisition	-	-	-	80	96	176
Transfer	-	(177)	132	-	-	(45)
At 31 December 2018	1,031	471	1,194	159	260	3,115
Accumulated depreciation and impairment
At 1 January 2018	-	434	488	89	4	1,015
Charge for the year	17	31	57	10	21	136
Disposals	-	(79)	(102)	(20)	-	(201)
Transfer	-	(150)	110	-	-	(40)
Acquisition	-	-	-	72	21	93
At 31 December 2018	17	236	553	151	46	1,003
Check
Net book value at 31 December 2018	1,014	235	641	8	214	2,112

Right of use assets (motor vehicles) above have been created in accordance with IFRS 16.  These numbers demonstrate the effect of implementing the standard on the Group.  Motor vehicles are leases for certain employees for lease terms ranging between 3-5 years with fixed payments.  The Group does not purchase or guarantee the future value of lease vehicles

Company	Freehold property	Plant and equipment	Office equipment, fixtures and fittings	Motor vehicles	Right of use assets	Total
2019	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000
Cost or valuation
At 1 January 2019	1,031	15	185	-	76	1,307
Additions	8	-	10	-	8	26
At 31 December 2019	1,039	15	195	-	84	1,333
Accumulated depreciation and impairment
At 1 January 2019	17	15	174	-	7	213
Charge for the year	21	-	7	-	19	47
Adjustment	-	-	(6)	-	-	(6)
At 31 December 2019	38	15	175	-	26	254
Net book value at 31 December 2019	1,001	-	20	-	58	1,079
2018	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000
Cost or valuation
At 1 January 2018	1,014	14	216	-	-	1,244
Additions	17	1	15	-	76	109
Disposals	-	-	(38)	-	-	(38)
Adjustment	-	-	(8)	-	-	(8)
At 31 December 2018	1,031	15	185	-	76	1,307
Accumulated depreciation and impairment
At 1 January 2018	-	13	203	-	-	216
Charge for the year	17	1	6	-	7	31
Disposals	-	-	(38)	-	-	(38)
Adjustment	-	1	3	-	-	4
At 31 December 2018	17	15	174	-	7	213
Net book value at 31 December 2018	1,014	-	11	-	69	1,094

The freehold property was valued professionally by Brown and Co, Chartered Surveyors, on 16 May 2017, which provided a valuation of £1,014,000. The valuation was made on the basis of recent market transactions on arm's length terms and on an alternative use basis. The Revaluation Reserve is not available for distribution to shareholders. The Directors are of the opinion that the valuation has not moved materially since the last valuation was performed. The valuation was not materially different to the value the asset is recorded at the balance sheet date.

No depreciation has been charged on the freehold land only building additions have been depreciated. The difference between the net book value of the total freehold property if depreciation, at 2%, had been charged as shown in the financial statements is not materially different to the value the asset is recorded at the balance sheet date.

The freehold property is stated at valuation, the comparable historic cost and depreciation values are as follows: This depreciation is charged on historical cost only

	2019 £'000	2018 £'000
Historical cost	722	714
Accumulated depreciation
At 1 January	279	265
Charge for the year	14	14
At 31 December	293	279
Net book value as at 31 December	429	435

13.  Lease commitments

The Group has moved to accounting for operating leases under IFRS 16.  There are some leases of small value or less than one-year duration which have been charged to expenses as incurred, but the aggregate commitment of these leases is immaterial.

Right to use assets

	2019	2018
At 1 January 2019	216	30
Additions	-	112
On acquisition	-	96
Movement in the year	(58)	(22)
As at 31 December	158	216
Of which
Current lease 0-1 years	60	58
Non-current lease 2-5 years	98	158
As at 31 December	158	216

14.  Investment in subsidiaries

Company	2019	2019	2019	2018	2018	2018
	Investments	Loans	Total	Investments	Loans	Total
Cost	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000
At 1 January 2019	378	15,458	15,836	378	16,080	16,458
Movement in Year	11	(557)	(546)	-	(622)	(622)
At 31 December	389	14,901	15,290	378	15,458	15,836
Accumulated impairment
At 1 January 2019	(378)	(8,552)	(8,930)	(378)	(8,964)	(9,342)
Movement in Year	(11)	(97)	(108)	-	412	412
At 31 December	(389)	(8,649)	(9,038)	(378)	(8,552)	(8,930)
Investment in subsidiaries	-	6,252	6,252	-	6,906	6,906

All loans relate to cash movements between Group companies and are repayable on demand. Expected credit losses assume that repayment of the loan is demanded at the reporting date. If the subsidiary has sufficient accessible highly liquid assets to repay the loan if demanded at the reporting date, the expected credit loss is likely to be immaterial. If the subsidiary could not repay the loan if demanded at the reporting date, the Group consider the expected manner of recovery to measure expected credit losses. This is a 'repay over time' strategy (that allows the subsidiary time to pay), Non-trading subsidiaries will not be able to repay loans or investments over time and are therefore deemed to be impaired.

  15.  Subsidiary undertakings

The subsidiary undertakings at 31 December 2019 were as follows:

Name	Country of incorporation	Principal activity	% of nominal ordinary share capital and voting rights held
Westminster International Limited	England	Advanced security technology, (Technology division)	100
Longmoor Security Limited	England	Close protection training and provision of security services (Managed Services)	100
Westminster Aviation Security Services Limited	England	Managed services of airport security under long term contracts. (Managed Services)	100
Sovereign Ferries Limited	England	Dormant	100
Westminster Operating Limited	England	Special purpose vehicle which exists solely for listing the 2013 CLN on the CISX. Year end 31 October. Only transactions are intra group	100
Keyguard U.K Limited	England	Security and risk management including manned guarding, mobile patrols, risk management and K9 services.	100
Longmoor (SL) Limited	Sierra Leone	Security and terminal guarding	100
Facilities Operations Management Limited	Sierra Leone	Infrastructure management	90
Westminster Sierra Leone Limited **	Sierra Leone	Local infrastructure for airport operations	49
Westminster Group GMBH	Germany	Dormant	100
GLIS Gesellschaft für Luftfahrt- und Infrastruktur-Sicherheit GmbH	Germany	Managed Services	85
Westminster Sicherheit GMBH	Germany	Dormant	85
Euro Ops SARL	France	Managed Services infrastructure	100
Westminster Managed Services Limited (formerly Westminster Facilities Management Limited)	England	Dormant	100
CTAC Limited	England	Dormant	100
Westminster Aviation Security Services (ME) Limited	England	Dormant	100

Westminster International (Ghana) Limited *

Ghana

Managed Services

90

Subsidiary company registered addresses:

England   Westminster House, Blacklocks Hill, Banbury, Oxfordshire, OX17 2BS, United Kingdom.

Sierra Leone   60 Wellington Street, Freetown, Sierra Leone.

Germany    Chiemseestrasse 25, 83233 Bernau am Chiemsee, Germany.

France   17 Route de Sundhoffen, 68280 Andolsheim. France

Ghana  2nd Floor, Emerald House, Gowa Lane, Roman Ridge, Accra

*   Formed 21 October 2019 

**  Consolidated due to de facto control. These results do not have a material effect on the financial statements.

16.  Financial instruments

Categories of financial assets and liabilities

The carrying amounts presented in the Consolidated and Company statement of financial position relate to the following categories of assets and liabilities:

	Group	Group  restated	Company	Company restated
	2019	2018	2019	2018
	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000
Financial assets
Trade and other receivables (note 19)	2,320	4,556	-	-
Cash and cash equivalents (note 20)	557	290	28	29
	2,877	4,846	28	29
Financial liabilities
Financial liabilities measured at amortised cost
Borrowings (note 23)	2,510	2,545	212	223
Trade and other payables (note 24)	2,405	2,440	254	184
Liabilities held for sale (note 28)	-	151	-	-
	4,915	5,136	466	407

See note 2 for a description of the accounting policies for each category of financial instruments.  The fair values are presented in this note and are the same as the carrying value.  A description of the Group's risk management and objectives for financial instruments is given in note 27.

Convertible Loan Notes

The Group had the following convertible loan notes outstanding during the year the key details of which are set out below:

	Secured Convertible Loan Notes ("CLN")
Amount	£2.245m
Conversion Price	25p until 22 May 2019 15p per share until 30 September 2019, 12.5p per share from 1 October 2019 until 31 December 2019 and thereafter 10p
Security	Secured fixed and floating
Redemption Date	30 June 2020. (Extended to 1 May 2021 after the year-end)
Management Fee	£25,000 per annum
Coupon	12 % until 31 March 2019 then15% paid quarterly in arrears. Listed on the CISX
Conversion Detail	Company can force conversion if the share price is > 65p for 15 working days after 19 June 2016. This condition was not met in the year. Company can make repayment without penalty at any time.  The holder can convert at any time.

	2019	2019	2019	2018	2018	2018
£'000	CULN	CLN	Total	CULN	CLN	Total
At 1 January	171	2,216	2,387	-	2,184	2,184
Fair value of new loans issued	-	-	-	165	-	165
Amortised finance cost	18	357	375	8	351	359
Interest paid	(10)	(312)	(322)	(2)	(253)	(255)
Fair value adjustment on extension	-	(28)	(28)	-	(66)	(66)
At 31 December	179	2,233	2,412	171	2,216	2,387

Analysis of movement in debt at principal value (excluding IFRS impacts), memorandum only

	2019	2019	2019	2018	2018	2018
£'000	CULN	CLN	Total	CULN	CLN	Total
At 1 January	171	2,245	2,416	-	2,245	2,245
New issue	-	-	-	171	-	171
At 31 December	171	2,245	2,416	171	2,245	2,416

The convertible loan notes have been separated into two components, the Host Debt Instrument and the Embedded Derivative on initial recognition. The value of the Host Debt Instrument will increase to the principal sum amount by the date of maturity.

The effective interest cost of the Notes is the sum of that increasing value in the period and the interest paid to Noteholders.

Secured convertible loan notes (CLN) are compound financial instruments that can be converted to share capital at the option of the holder, and the number of shares to be issued does not vary with changes in fair value.

On 24 May 2018 the Company extended the term of the CLN resulting in an increase of coupon to 12% from 24 May 2018 and conversion price decreased from 35p to 25p.

On 21 May 2019 the Convertible Loan Notes were extended to 30 June 2020.  Under the terms of the CLN extension the conversion price on any unredeemed or unconverted CLN will be 15p per share until 30 September 2019, 12.5p per share from 1 October 2019 until 31 December 2019 and thereafter 10p per share from 1 January 2020 until the new maturity date of 30 June 2020. The coupon payable on any unredeemed or unconverted CLN amount will be 15% pa from 1 April 2019 until 30 June 2020. The Company may redeem the whole or any part of the CLN holding at any time without restriction or penalty.

Like convertible unsecured loan notes (CULN), this instrument is determined to have a liability and equity component. The liability component is initially recognised at fair value of a similar liability without a conversion option. The equity component is recognised initially as the difference between the fair value of the compound financial instrument as a whole and the fair value of the liability component. It is not subsequently remeasured. The liability component is measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method.

See also Note 32 Subsequent events.

17.  Deferred tax assets and liabilities

Deferred tax assets are recognised to the extent that it is probable that taxable profits will be available against which deductible temporary differences can be utilised.  The Group's projections show the expectation of future profits, hence in 2018 a deferred tax asset was recognised.  A review has been performed this year which has confirmed those expectations. 

The tax losses against which this deferred tax asset is being recognised are in the group's holding company and its principle UK based subsidiaries. Evidence, both positive and negative, primarily the group's projections of future profits have been considered.  The critical judgement has been the timing of new contracts. The deferred tax asset is expected to be used in the period up to the end of 2022.

The Group believes it has a total potential deferred tax asset of £1,904,000 (2018: £1,795,000). It has recognised a deferred tax asset of £907,000 (2018: £889,000) due to budgeted future profits of the business beyond 2020. There remains £991,000 (2018: £896,000) of unrecognised deferred tax asset.

Deferred tax assets and liabilities have been calculated using the expected future tax rate of 17% (2018: 17%).  Any changes in the future would affect these amounts proportionately. On 17 March 2020, the change to 17% was reversed, such that the 19% was substantively enacted to continue to apply from 1 April 2020.

	2019	2018
	£'000	£'000
Opening balance as at 1 January	889	-
Credit to income statement	18	889
Deferred tax asset as at 31 December	907	889

18.  Inventories

		Group	Group	Company	Company
		2019	2018	2019	2018
		£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000
Finished goods		47	74	-	-
		47	74	-	-

The cost of inventories recognised as an expense within cost of sales amounted to £ 3,210,000 (2018: £1,309,000). No reversal of previous write-downs was recognised as a reduction of expense in 2019 or 2018.

19.  Trade and other receivables

	Group	Group	Company	Company
	2019	2018	2019	2018
	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000
Amounts falling due within one year:
Trade receivables, gross	851	701	1	2
Allowance for credit losses	(116)	(127)	(1)	(2)
Trade receivables	735	574	-	-
Amounts recoverable on contracts	1,430	1,909	-	-
Other receivables	155	2,073	-	-
Financial assets	2,320	4,556	-	-
Prepayments	246	60	70	27
Non-financial assets	246	60	70	27
Trade and other receivables	2,566	4,616	70	27

The average credit period taken on sale of goods in 2019 was 38 days (2018: 41 days).  An allowance has been made for estimated credit losses of £116,000 (2018: £127,000). This allowance has been based on the knowledge of receivables at the reporting date together with forecasts of future economic impacts and their collectability. There are no expected credit losses on amounts recoverable on contracts.

The following table provides an analysis of trade and other receivables at 31 December.  The Group believes that the balances are ultimately recoverable based upon a review of past payment history and the current financial status of the customers.

	2019	2018
	£'000	£'000
Current	474	306
Not more than 3 months	197	219
More than 3 months but less than 6 months	180	176
	851	701
Allowances for Credit Losses	2019	2018
	£'000	£'000
Opening balance at 1 January	127	52
Amounts written off	(113)	-
Amounts provided	102	75
Closing balance at 31 December	116	127

There are no significant expected credit losses from financial assets that are neither past due nor impaired.  At 31 December 2019 £510,000 (2018: £3,708,000) of receivables were denominated in US dollars.  The Directors consider that the carrying amount of trade and other receivables approximates to their fair value.

20.  Cash and cash equivalents

	Group	Group	Company	Company
	2019	2018	2019	2018
	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000
Cash at bank and in hand	605	292	28	29
Bank overdraft	(48)	(2)	-	-
Cash and cash equivalents	557	290	28	29

All the bank accounts of the Group are set against each other where a right of offset exists in establishing the cash position of the Group.  The bank overdrafts do not therefore represent bank borrowings, which is why they are presented as above for the purposes of the cash flow statement and the statement of financial position.

21.  Called up share capital

Group and Company

The total amount of issued and fully paid shares is as follows:

Ordinary Share Capital	2019		2018
	Number	£'000	Number	£'000
At 1 January	130,027,511	13,003	120,743,420	12,074
Arising on exercise of share options and warrants	375,000	37	875,000	88
Other issues for cash	15,000,000	1,500	8,409,091	841
At 31 December	145,402,511	14,540	130,027,511	13,003

During the year, the following equity issues took place

Date	Comment	Shares Issued	Issue price
08 February 2019	Equity placing	5,000,000	10.0p
25 July 2019	Equity placing	10,000,000	10.0p
19 December 2019	Exercise of warrants	375,000	12.5p

22.  Share options

The Company adopted the 2007 Share Option Scheme on 3 April 2007 that provides for the granting of both Enterprise Management Incentives and unapproved share options (Westminster Group Individual Share Option Agreements). The main terms of the option scheme are as follows:

· Although no special conditions apply to the options granted in 2007, the model form agreement allows the Company to adopt special conditions to tailor an option for any particular employee.

· The scheme is open to all full-time employees and Directors except those who have a material interest in the Company.

· For the purposes of this definition, a material interest is either beneficial ownership of, or the ability to control directly, or indirectly, more than 30% of the ordinary share capital of the Company.

· The Board determines the exercise price of options before they are granted. It is provided in the scheme rules that options must be granted at the prevailing market price in the case of EMI options and must not be granted at an exercise price that is less than the nominal value of a share.

· There is a limit that options over unissued shares granted under the scheme and any discretionary share option scheme or other option agreement adopted or entered into by the Company must not exceed 10% of the issued share capital.

· Options can be exercised on the second anniversary of the date of grant and may be exercised up to the 10th anniversary of granting. Options will remain exercisable for a period of 40 days if the participant is a good leaver

The Company adopted the 2017 Share Option Scheme on 21 September 2017 that provides for the granting of both Enterprise Management Incentives and unapproved share options (Westminster Group Individual Share Option Agreements). The main terms of the option scheme are as follows:

· Although no special conditions apply to the options granted in 2017, the model form agreement allows the Company to adopt special conditions to tailor an option for any particular employee.

· The scheme is open to all full-time employees and Directors except those who have a material interest in the Company.

· For the purposes of this definition, a material interest is either beneficial ownership of, or the ability to control directly, or indirectly, more than 30% of the ordinary share capital of the Company.

· The Board determines the exercise price of options before they are granted.  It is provided in the scheme rules that options must be granted at the prevailing market price in the case of EMI options and must not be granted at an exercise price that is less than the nominal value of a share.

· There is a limit that options over unissued shares granted under the scheme and any discretionary share option scheme or other option agreement adopted or entered into by the Company must not exceed 10% of the issued share capital.

· Options can be exercised on the second anniversary of the date of grant and may be exercised up to the 10th anniversary of granting. Options will remain exercisable for a period of 40 days if the participant is a "good leaver".

Options have subsequently been granted on this basis.

These options are valued by the use of the Black-Scholes model using a volatility of 70%, interest free rate of 0.5% and a life of 5 years.

The Company has the following share options outstanding to its employees (including those on good leaver terms). The weighted average exercise price at the reporting date was 18.1p (2018: 18.2p). The average life of the unexpired share options was 7.1 years (2018: 8.4 years).

		31 December 2019	31 December 2019	31 December 2018	31 December 2018
Grant Date	Exercise Price	Number Outstanding	Average Life Outstanding (Years)	Number Outstanding	Average Life Outstanding (Years)
25 September 2009	£0.345	-	-	56,000	0.7
28 June 2012	£0.365	225,000	2.5	295,000	3.5
1 July 2014	£0.510	225,000	4.5	245,000	5.5
10 December 2014	£0.285	2,281,250	4.9	2,281,250	5.9
9 October 2015	£0.140	40,000	5.8	40,000	6.8
1 June 2018	£0.130	6,150,000	8.4	6,500,000	9.4
1 November 2018	£0.130	750,000	8.8	750,000	9.8
		9,671,250	7.1	10,167,250	8.4

During the year, no employee options were granted (2018: 8,250,000), none were exercised (2018: none) and 496,000 lapsed (2018: 1,740,750). The weighted average price of the options lapsed in the year was 20.3p (2018: 19.9p).

The weighted average exercise price of exercisable options at the end of 2019 was 18.1p (2018 18.2p)

The Black-Scholes option-pricing model is used to determine the fair value of share options at grant date. The assumptions used to determine the fair values of share options at grant dates were as follows:

For share options granted post IPO the expected share price volatility was determined taking account of the historic daily share price movements. Since 2009, the standard deviation of the share price over the past 3 years has been used to calculate volatility.

The average expected term to exercise used in the models is based on management's best estimate for the effects of non- transferability, exercise restrictions and behavioural conditions, forfeiture and historical experience. The risk-free rate has been determined from market yields for government gilts with outstanding terms equal to the average expected term to exercise for each relevant grant.

The amount recognised in profit or loss in respect of employee share-based payments made in 2018 but expensed over a 12-month period was £232,000 (2018: £237,000).

Warrants

The Company has historically issued the following warrants which are still in force at the balance sheet date:

· On 22 February 2016 (£0.475m CULN) 589,330 warrants with a life of 3 years (extended to 4 years) and an exercise price of 20.15p per share

· On 31 January 2018 (Placing Commission) 170,455 warrants with an exercise price of 22.0p and a life of 5 years

· On 25 July 2019 (£1m Share Issue) 10m warrants with an exercise price of 12.5p and a life of 2 years

The S P Angel Warrants were inadvertently omitted from the 2018 accounts but have been accounted for in 2019.The omission of a charge of £27,000 from the 2018 accounts was not material.

On 25 July 2019 the Company announced a placing of 10,000,000 Ordinary Shares to various holders. For every share one detachable warrant was issued, each warrant having a life of two years and an exercise price of 12.5p per share.  Warrants are valued by the use of the Black-Scholes model, using volatility based on the previous three years varying between 50-70% and a relevant risk-free rate as noted above. Warrants are recorded at fair value at inception and are not remeasured.

The fair value of £324,000 (2018: Nil) for the issue of both of these warrants was recognised in the year as part of the share-based payments.

23.  Borrowings

		Group	Group	Company	Company
		2019	2018 restated	2019	2018 restated
		£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000
Non-current
Convertible loan note (note 16)		2,233	2,216	-	-
Convertible unsecured loan note (Note 16)		179	171	179	171
Non-current lease debt		98	158	33	52
Total borrowings		2,510	2,545	212	223

24.  Trade and other payables

Current		Group	Group Restated	Company	Company Restated
		2019	2018	2019	2018
		£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000
Trade payables		1,385	1,484	99	54
Accruals and other creditors		960	898	137	112
Finance lease creditor (IFRS 16)		60	58	18	18
Financial liabilities		2,405	2,440	254	184
Other taxes and social security payable		51	129	16	15
Contractual liabilities		73	2,438	-	-
Non-financial liabilities		124	2,567	16	15
Total current trade and other payables		2,529	5,007	270	199
Shown on the balance sheet as:
Contractual liabilities		73	2,438	-	-
Trade and other payables		2,456	2,727	545	199
		2,529	5,007	545	199

Trade and other payables principally comprise amounts outstanding for trade purchases and ongoing costs, as well as payments received in advance on contracts. The average credit period taken for trade purchases in 2019 was 66 days (2018: 27 days). The Directors consider that the carrying value of trade payables approximates to their fair value.

Contractual liabilities relate to amounts received from customers at year-end but not yet earned.

At 31 December 2019 £1,243,000 (2018: £1,393,000) of payables were denominated in US dollars, £16,000 (2018: Nil) were denominated in Euros and £22,000 (2018: Nil) were denominated in Sierra Leone Leones.

25.  Cash flow adjustments and changes in working capital

The following non-cash flow adjustments and adjustments for changes in working capital have been made to loss before taxation to arrive at operating cash flow:

Group		2019		2019		2019	2018		2018		2018
		Continuing Operations		Discontinued Operations		Total	Continuing Operations		Discontinued Operations		Total
		£'000		£'000		£'000	£'000		£'000		£'000
Adjustments:
Depreciation, amortisation and impairment of non-financial assets		215		-		215	150		(170)		(20)
Effect of assets / liabilities acquired		2		-		2	(303)		-		(303)
Net finance costs		620		-		620	330		-		330
Disposal & adjustment of fixed assets		2		-		2	-		-		-
Loss on disposal of non-financial assets		-		-		-	2		-		2
Non-cash accounting for CLN & CULN		35		-		35	75		-		75
Increase in deferred tax asset		(18)		-		(18)	-		-		-
Share-based payment expenses		556		-		556	273		-		273
Total adjustments		1,412		-		1,412	491		(170)		321

	2019 Continuing Operations	2019 Discontinued Operations	2019 Total	2018 Continuing Operations	2018 Discontinued Operations	2018 Total
	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000
Net changes in working capital:
Decrease / (increase) in inventories	27	-	27	(35)	-	(35)
Decrease / (increase) in trade and other receivables	2,050	-	2,050	(3,923)	-	(3,923)
(Decrease) / increase in contract liabilities	(2,365)	-	(2,365)	2,438	-	2,438
(Decrease) / increase in trade and other payables	(113)	-	(113)	1,328	-	1,328
Decrease in liabilities of disposal group classified as held for sale	-	(151)	(151)	-	-	-
Total changes in working capital	(401)	(151)	(552)	(192)	-	(192)

Company			Company	Company
			2019	2018
			£'000	£'000
Adjustments:
Depreciation, amortisation and impairment of non-financial assets			90	67
Finance costs			458	296
Non-cash accounting for CULN			(90)	(31)
Share-based payment expenses			556	237
Non-cash movement in intercompany balances			108	(412)
Other non-cash items			(18)	(75)
Total adjustments			1,104	82

Company			Company	Company
Net changes in working capital:			2019	2018
			£'000	£'000
(Increase) / decrease in trade and other receivables			(43)	15
Increase in trade and other payables			71	84
Total changes in working capital			(28)	99

26.  Contingent assets and contingent liabilities

There are no material contingent assets and contingent liabilities (2018: Nil).

27.  Financial risk management

The Group is exposed to various risks in relation to financial assets and liabilities. The main types of risk are foreign currency risk, interest rate risk, credit risk and liquidity risk.

The Group's risk management is closely controlled by the Board and focuses on actively securing the Group's short to medium term cash flows by minimising the exposure to financial markets. The Group does not actively trade in financial assets for speculative purposes nor does it write options. The most significant financial risks are currency risk and interest rate risk.

Foreign currency sensitivity

The Group operates internationally and is exposed to foreign exchange risk arising from various currency exposures, primarily with respect to the Euro and US dollar. The Group's policy is to match the currency of the order with the principal currency of the supply of the equipment. Where it is not possible to match those foreign currencies, the Group might consider hedging exchange risk through a variety of hedging instruments such as forward rate agreements, although no such transactions have ever been entered into.

Group	Short-term exposure USD	Short-term exposure EUR	Short-term exposure SLL
	£'000	£'000	£'000
31 December 2019
Financial assets	510	-	-
Financial liabilities	(1,243)	(16)	(22)
Total exposure	(733)	(16)	(22)
31 December 2018
Financial assets	3,708	-	-
Financial liabilities	(1,393)	-	-
Total exposure	2,315	-	-

If the US dollar were to depreciate by 10% relative to its year end rate, this would cause a gain of profits in 2019 of £81,000 (2018: £376,000 Loss). Exposures to foreign exchange rates vary during the year depending on the volume of overseas transactions. Nonetheless, the analysis above is considered to be representative of the Group's exposure to currency risk. Foreign currency denominated financial assets and liabilities are immaterial for the Company.

Interest rate sensitivity

The main borrowings of the Group are the convertible loans and are detailed in note 16. All have fixed interest rates.  Interest on the cash holdings of the Group and "other" loans noted in note 23 is not material and therefore no calculation of interest rate sensitivity have been undertaken.

Credit risk analysis

Credit risk refers to the risk that a counterparty will default on its contractual obligations resulting in financial loss to the Group. The Group has adopted a policy of only dealing with creditworthy counterparties and where possible working on a "cash with order".

The Group has a credit policy in place and the exposure to credit risk is monitored on an ongoing basis.  Credit evaluations are performed on all customers requiring credit over a certain amount. In the case of material sales transactions, the Group usually demands an initial deposit from customers and generally seeks to ensure that the balance of funds is secured by way of a letter of credit or similar instruments.

None of the Group's financial assets are secured by collateral or other credit enhancements. Details of allowance for credit losses are shown in note 19 of these financial statements.

The Company has investments in and amounts owing from subsidiary companies.  The amounts owing are held at fair value.  For loans that are repayable on demand, expected credit losses are based on the assumption that repayment of the loan is demanded at the reporting date.If the subsidiary has sufficient accessible highly liquid assets in order to repay the loan if demanded at the reporting date, the expected credit loss is likely to be immaterial. If it does not, then an impairment will be considered.

Liquidity risk analysis

Ultimate responsibility for liquidity risk management rests with the Board of Directors, which has established an appropriate liquidity risk management framework for the management of the Group's short, medium and long-term funding and liquidity management requirements. The Group manages its liquidity needs by monitoring scheduled debt repayments for long term financial liabilities as well as forecast cash flows due in day to day business.  Net cash requirements are compared to borrowing facilities in order to determine headroom or any shortfalls. This analysis shows if available borrowing facilities are expected to be sufficient over the outlook period.

As at 31 December 2019, the Group's financial liabilities have contractual maturities (including interest payments where

applicable) as summarised below:

	2019				2018 (Restated)
Group	Current (within 6 months)	6 to 12 months	Non-Current (1-5 years)			Current (within 6 months)	6 to 12 months	Non-Current (1-5 years)
Convertible loans	-	2,233	179			-	2,216	171
Trade and other payables	2,456	-	-			2,569	-	-
Total	2,456	2,233	179			2,569	2,216	171
Company	Current (within 6 months)	6 to 12 months	Non-Current (1-5 years)			Current (within 6 months)	6 to 12 months	Non-Current (1-5 years)
Convertible loans	-	-	179			-	-	171
Trade and other payables	270	-	-			199	-	-
Total	270	-	179			199	-	171

28.  Discontinued operations

At 30 September 2017 the Group took the decision to dispose of its ferry operation in Sierra Leone, from this date the operation together with the related finance obligations was being actively marketed for sale, and therefore has been reclassified as a disposal group held for sale within the financial statements.

A discontinued operation is a component of the Group's activities that is distinguishable by reference to geographical area or line of business that is held for sale, has been disposed of or discontinued, or is a subsidiary acquired exclusively with a view to resale. When an operation is classified as discontinued, the comparative statement of comprehensive income is re-presented as if the operation had been discontinued from the start of the comparative period.

Profit / (loss) for the year from discontinued operations:
		2019		2018
		£'000		£'000
Revenue		-		-
Cost of sales		-		-
Gross profit		-		-
Administration expenses		28		149
Operating loss from discontinued activities before taxation		28		149
Income tax expense		-		-
Loss from discontinued ordinary activities after taxation		28		149
Earnings per share relating to the discontinued operations		0.02p		0.11p
Cash flows relating to the discontinued operation are as follows:
Operating cash flows		28		149

29.  Disposal groups held for sale

At 30 September 2017 the Group took the decision to dispose of its ferry operation in Sierra Leone, from this date the operation together with the related finance obligations was being actively marketed for sale, and therefore has been reclassified as a disposal group held for sale within the financial statements. On this date the Group impaired the assets of the disposal group to nil. Details of the assets and liabilities held for sale are as follows:

	2019	2018
Assets held for sale:	£'000	£'000
Tangible fixed assets at cost	2,820	2,820
Accumulated depreciation	(2,650)	(2,650)
Intangible assets at cost	-	32
Accumulated amortisation	-	(32)
Assets held for sale	170	170
Related liabilities:
Accruals	-	(148)
Trade payables	-	(3)
Liabilities directly associated with assets classified as held for sale	-	(151)

The accounting estimates made at the end of 2017 proved to be too prudent, in 2018 therefore it was estimated that the net realisable amount was likely to be around £170,000. This decision was reviewed again at the end of 2019 and in the light of the sale, which was accounted for in February 2020, £170,000 was considered to remain the fair value of the Sierra Queen however because commitments such as repair and surrender of the terminals was completed in the year, these were utilised.

30. Acquisition of subsidiary

On 30 April 2019 Westminster Group plc acquired 100% of the shares of Euro Ops SRL along with the business and assets of Euro Ops International SRL. Euro Ops is a French based aviation security and support services company which, through its sister company, Euro Ops International (also trading as ICare), provides aviation support services such as Airport Security, Aircrew Management, Humanitarian Logistics, Operations & Dispatch, Ground Handling etc. The business operates primarily in emerging markets particularly in Francophone Africa providing humanitarian assignments and is responsible for sending teams all over the world to assist the UN and NGO's.

 The amounts recognised in respect of the identifiable assets acquired and liabilities assumed

Purchase of shares in Euro-Ops SRL	£'000
Financial assets	-
Inventory	-
Property, plant and equipment	-
Identifiable tangible assets	-
Financial liabilities	(2)
Contingent liability	-
Total identifiable assets	(2)
Goodwill	9
Total consideration	7
Satisfied by:
Cash	7
Total consideration	7
Net cash inflow arising on Acquisition
Cash consideration	(7)
Cash outflow on acquisition	(7)
Purchase of business & assets of Euro-Ops International SRL	£'000
Financial assets	-
Inventory	-
Property, plant and equipment	-
Identifiable tangible assets	-
Financial liabilities	-
Contingent liability	-
Total identifiable assets	-
Goodwill	9
Total consideration	9
Satisfied by:
Cash	9
Total consideration	9
Net cash inflow arising on Acquisition
Cash consideration	(9)
Cash outflow on acquisition	(9)

The fair value of the financial assets includes receivables - Trade Debtors was nil.

Acquisition-related costs (including administrative expenses) amounted to £10,000.

Euro Ops contributed £139,000 revenue and a loss of £21,000 to the Group's profit for the period between the date of acquisition and the balance sheet date.

If the acquisition of Euro Ops had been completed on the first day of the financial year, Group revenues for the year would have been £11,098,000 and the Group loss would have been (£1,438,000).

31. Related Party Transactions

Balances and transactions between the Company and its subsidiaries, which are related parties, have been eliminated on consolidation and are not disclosed in this note.

In the year to 31 December 2019 fees and expenses of £16,180 plus VAT were accrued to Cattaneo LLP a Limited Liability Partnership under the control of Charles Cattaneo. On the 31 December 2019 Cattaneo LLP was owed £1,600 including VAT. 

Certain members of the Fowler family, other than directors, have been employed by the Group on normal arms-length terms for between 10 and 22 years. Their remuneration, in aggregate, for the year ended 31 December 2019 was £171,659 (2018: £166,250)

In 2019, up to his resignation from the board Mr James Sutcliff was paid no consultancy fees and expenses through his service company JSS Consultants Limited.  (2018: £23,119).

In the year to 31 December 2018, prior to his being appointed as a director, Mr Mark L W Hughes received consultancy fees and expenses through his service company MLWH Limited.  A total of £17,901 was paid to this company.  There were no such fees in 2019.

32. Events after the Reporting Period

On 22 January 2020 the Company  has entered into a £3.0m Mezzanine Loan Facility and issued £1.75m (14m shares at 12½p) Equity Placing and Sharing Agreement (together the "Financing Facility") with RiverFort Global Opportunities PCC  and YA II PN Ltd. (together the "Investor") which is being used to repay its existing £2.245m Convertible Secured Loan Notes and to provide additional financing if required.

The Financing Facility will provide the Company with a £3m Mezzanine Loan Facility which may be drawn down in tranches, each repayable over 18 months, together with monthly cash inflows under the Equity Placing and Sharing Agreement, based on the Company's share price performance, which will go towards the monthly repayment costs of the loan.  £1.5m was drawn down on 22 January 2019.  The Company has the right, at its sole discretion, to draw down up to a further £1.5m at any time in the following 24 months, subject to certain conditions.

Separately under the Equity Placing and Sharing Agreement ("EPSA") the Investor subscribed £1.75m ("Subscription Amount") for ordinary shares in the Company at a price of 12½p per ordinary share ("Subscription Shares") on deferred payment terms. The Investor will have the right to sell the Subscription Shares, subject to certain volume restrictions, over a 12-month period, extendable to 24 months at the Investor's discretion. Under the EPSA the Investor and its affiliates are prohibited from holding any short position in or to forward or short sell Westminster shares. The Investor may elect to convert the balance, if any, of the remaining Mezzanine Loan into ordinary shares of 14.54p once all the Subscription Shares have been sold. The Investor has also agreed that Subscription Shares may be sold to any third party introduced by Westminster, individually or as part of a future fundraising.

The Company has also agreed to issue to the Investor 3,499,222 warrants at 14.54p, being a premium of 34% to the closing price of 10.85p on 21 January 2020, that can be exercised between 6 and 48 months from issue. 

On 22 January 2020 the Group announced that it had commenced a staged redemption programme of the Company's existing £2.245m Convertible Secured Loan Notes ("CSLNs"). The CLSNs, initially issued on 19 June 2013, were amended as outlined in our announcement on 22 May 2019 and carry a 15% coupon and from 31 December 2019 holders may elect to convert their CSLNs at 10p per share in place of cash redemption. The May 2019 amendments also allow the Company to redeem the CSLNs in whole or in part at any time before the maturity date without restriction or penalty. 

On 22 February 2020 the Group reduced in its debt position and reduction in financing costs by repaying or converting £561,250 worth of its Convertible Secured Loan Notes ("CSLN").  The Convertible Loan Notes holders to the value of £6,250 elected to convert into 62,500 shares, £555,000 were redeemed for cash.

In February 2020 the Group shipped the Sierra Queen and was able to recognise the sale under IFRS 15 in that month.

On 30 March 2020 the Group extended the maturity date for the Convertible Secured Loan Notes, noted above, to 1 May 2021.  The Company may redeem the whole or any part of the CLN holding at any time without restriction or penalty.

As detailed in the Chief Executive Officer's Report, the Group has been affected the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The duration of the outbreak and its impact to global trade cannot be accurately determined at the current date. COVID-19 may impact the Group in varying ways and could lead to downward pressure on the level of revenues recognised. The Group has implemented logistical and organisational changes to consolidate the Group's resilience to COVID-19, with the key focus on product sales, which have seen a marked increase since the outbreak of the pandemic.

As at the Balance Sheet date of 31 December 2019, the enacted corporation tax rate to apply from 1 April 2020 was 17%, so that rate has been applied to the deferred tax asset on losses. On 17 March 2020, the change to 17% was reversed, such that the 19% was substantively enacted to continue to apply from 1 April 2020.

^ This is an Alternative Performance Measure refer to Note 2 for further details

 

END

 

 

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