The Company is incorporated in the British Virgin Islands. The Company is not required to comply with the provisions of the UK Corporate Governance Code. The Directors have responsibility for the overall corporate governance of the Company and recognise the need for appropriate standards of behaviour and accountability.
The Directors are committed to the principles underlying best practice in corporate governance and have regard to certain principles outlined in the UK Corporate Governance Code to the extent they considered appropriate for the Company given its size, early stage of operations and complexities.
Internal Control:
The Directors acknowledge they are responsible for the Group’s system of internal control and for reviewing the effectiveness of these systems. The risk management process and systems of internal control are designed to manage rather than eliminate the risk of the Group failing to achieve its strategic objectives. It should be recognised that such systems can only provide reasonable and not absolute assurance against material misstatement or loss.
The Group has well established procedures which are considered adequate given the size, and stage, of the business.
The Group is at an early stage in its development and Directors and senior management are involved directly in approving all significant investment and expenditure decisions of the Company and its subsidiaries and associates.
Audit Committee:
The Audit Committee, which comprises two Non-Executive Directors, Jonathan Morley-Kirk and Clive Sinclair-Poulton, is responsible for ensuring that the financial performance of the Group is properly monitored and reported upon and that any such reports are understood by the Board. The Committee meets formally at least twice each year.
Health, Safety and Environment Committee:
The Group is committed to providing a safe, healthy and sustainable environment for all its employees, contractors, visitors and neighbours. The Group strives actively to identify and manage the potential direct and indirect effects of all its activities and reviews this at Board level through its HS&E Committee.
Remuneration Committee:
The remuneration of the Executive Directors is fixed by the Remuneration Committee, which comprises two Non-Executive Directors and is chaired by Clive Sinclair-Poulton. The Remuneration Committee is responsible for reviewing and determining the Company policy on executive remuneration and the allocation of long-term incentives to executives and employees. The remuneration of Non-Executive Directors is determined by the Board. In setting remuneration levels, the Group seeks to provide appropriate reward for the skill and time commitment required in order to retain the right calibre of Director at an appropriate cost to the Group.
Employees:
The Group has a policy of equal opportunities throughout the organisation and is proud of its culture of diversity and tolerance. Employees benefit from regular communication both informally and formally regarding Company issues.
Directors Indemnity Insurance:
The Company has purchased Directors and Officers insurance cover on behalf of the Directors indemnifying them against certain liabilities which may be incurred by them in relation to the Group.
Statement of Directors’ Responsibilities:
The Directors are responsible for preparing the Annual Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable laws and regulations. The Directors have prepared the financial statements for each financial period which present fairly the state of affairs of the Group and the profit or loss of the Group for that period.
The Directors have chosen to use the International Financial Reporting Standards (“IFRS”) as adopted by the European Union in preparing the Group’s financial statements.
International Accounting Standard 1 requires that financial statements present fairly for each financial period the company’s financial position, financial performance and cash flows. This requires the faithful presentation of the effects of transactions, other events and conditions in accordance with the definitions and recognition criteria for assets, liabilities, income and expenses set out in the International Accounting Standards Board’s “Framework for the preparation and presentation of financial statements”. In virtually all circumstances, a fair presentation will be achieved by compliance with all applicable International Financial Reporting Standards.
A fair presentation also requires the Directors to:
- select consistently and apply appropriate accounting policies;
- present information, including accounting policies, in a manner that provides relevant, reliable, comparable and understandable information;
- make judgements and accounting estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
- provide additional disclosures when compliance with the specific requirements in IFRS as adopted by the European Union is insufficient to enable users to understand the impact of particular transactions, other events and conditions on the entity’s financial position and financial performance;
- state that the Group has complied with IFRS as adopted by the European Union, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements; and
- prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the company will continue in business.
The Directors are also required to prepare financial statements in accordance with the rules of the London Stock Exchange for companies trading securities on the Stock Exchange.
The Directors are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the Group, for safeguarding the assets, for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities and for the preparation of financial statements.
Financial information is published on the Group’s website. The maintenance and integrity of this website is the responsibility of the Directors; the work carried out by the auditors does not involve consideration of these matters and, accordingly, the auditors accept no responsibility for any changes that may occur to the financial statements after they are presented initially on the website. Legislation in the British Virgin Islands governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.
Directors’ Responsibilities Pursuant to DTR4:
In compliance with the Listing Rules of the London Stock Exchange, the Directors confirm to the best of their knowledge:
- The group financial statements have been prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs) as adopted by the European Union and give a true and fair view of the assets, liabilities, financial position and profit and loss of the Group.
- The annual report includes a fair review of the development and performance of the business and the financial position of the group, together with a description of the principal risks and uncertainties that they face.