Financial Reporting

The Board seeks to present a fair, balanced and understandable assessment of the Group's position and prospects.

The responsibilities of the Directors and the external auditor in connection with the Financial Statements are explained in the Statement of Directors' Responsibilities and the Independent Auditor's Report respectively.

Preservation of Value

The basis on which the Group generates and preserves value over the longer term and the strategy for delivering the objectives of the Group can be found in the Strategic Report.

Going Concern

The Directors have a reasonable expectation that the Group has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. Accordingly, they continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing these annual financial statements.

In reaching this conclusion the Directors have given due regard to the following:

  • the Group's business activities together with factors likely to impact the future growth and operating performance;
  • the financial position of the Group, its cash flows, available debt facilities and compliance with the financial covenants associated with the Group's borrowings, which are described in the financial statements; and
  • the cash generated from operations, available cash resources and committed bank facilities and their maturities, which taken together provide confidence that the Group will be able to meet its obligations as they fall due.

As at 30 June 2019 the Group had cash balances of £80.3 million and net borrowings of £227.8 million (2018: cash balances of £79.7 million and net borrowings of £211.4 million). Further information on available resources and committed bank facilities is provided in note 18 and note 21 to the financial statements.

As reported in preceding Annual Reports, the Group completed a refinancing and entered into a facilities agreement in July 2017 (the Facility Agreement) with a group of banks comprising Bank of Ireland (UK) plc, BNP Paribas, Fifth Third Bank, HSBC Bank plc, Lloyds Bank plc, Raiffeisen Bank International AG and Santander UK plc (the Banks). The Facility Agreement includes a committed revolving credit facility of £235.0 million, together with an 'Accordion' facility of £125.0 million. The RCF is committed for five years until July 2022 with two optional one year extensions, both of which were exercised. The RCF is now committed until July 2024.

In January 2018, the Group entered into a £350.0 million multi-currency term loan facility (Term Loan) with BNP Paribas Fortis SA/NV, Fifth Third Bank, HSBC Bank plc, Santander UK plc and Lloyds Bank plc, with the loans made or to be made under the Term Loan to be applied towards the acquisition of AST Farma and Le Vet and any other permitted acquisitions. All parties terms and conditions are the same as the existing £235.0 million Facility Agreement. The maturity date on the Term Loan is 31 December 2020. The Term Loan had an initial drawdown period expiring on 30 June 2018; this has been subsequently extended to 31 December 2019.

Assessment of Prospects

Dechra has consistently delivered on its strategic objectives resulting in a strong track record of growth. The Group's strategy remains unchanged and is set out in the Strategic Report. The key factors supporting the Group's prospects are explained throughout the Annual Report and are summarised below:

  • a clear strategic focus;
  • a growing global animal health market;
  • a clear portfolio focus with strong market positions in a number of key therapeutic areas;
  • a strong development pipeline and a track record of pipeline delivery;
  • manufacturing flexibility, with a wide range of dosage forms, small and large scale production batches;
  • an entrepreneurial and experienced management team;
  • a recognised brand with a strong reputation for providing high quality products with technical support;
  • an expanding international focus;
  • talented people and expertise; and
  • a sound track record of successful acquisitions to expand our product portfolio and geographic reach.

The Board believes that the Group has adequate resilience due to its diversified product portfolio, its geographic footprint, a strong balance sheet, healthy cash generation and access to external financing, which includes committed facilities.

The Assessment Process and Key Assumptions

The Group's prospects are assessed primarily through its strategic and financial planning processes over a five year time period. The strategic plan is supported by a five year financial plan, both of which are updated annually by the SET and reviewed by the Board. The Board also reviews the Group's principal risks on a rolling basis throughout the year, based on updates from SET members.

The planning process considers risks to sales and cost forecasts for each part of the Group, the Group's consolidated income and cash flow forecasts, and includes key assumptions to support longer term projections. The financial plans are reviewed to confirm that adequate financing facilities are in place. This review is based on the reasonable assumption that the Group will be able to refinance its revolving credit facility and its term loan facility which are currently committed to 25 July 2024 and 31 December 2020 respectively.

Progress against financial budgets, forecasts and key business objectives are reviewed through monthly business performance reviews at both Group and business unit levels. Mitigating actions are taken to address under performance. The latest updates to the plans were reviewed in June 2019 and considered the Group's current position, its future prospects and reaffirmed the Group's stated strategy.

Assessment of Viability and Time Period

The Board has determined that a three year period to 30 June 2022 is an appropriate period over which to provide its viability statement. This time period is supported by the Group's budget process, which includes detailed projections for the next two financial years, and broader projections from the third year of the five year strategic planning process. The Board believes this provides a sound framework for providing reasonable assurance on the Group's viability given the inherent uncertainty associated with longer term forecasts.

The Board's assessment has considered the Group's current position, its future prospects, adequacy of financing facilities, the strategic plan and the management of the Group's principal risks. The viability assessment takes account of all the committed expenditure of the Group.

Although the output of the Group's strategic and financial planning processes reflects the Board's best estimate of the future prospects of the business, the Group has also conducted stress testing to assess the liquidity impact of a range of alternative scenarios.

These scenarios have been developed by considering those principal risks that could have a material impact on viability. The potential impact of each principal risk is described in Understanding Our Key Risks of the Strategic Report. A number of severe but plausible stress tests have been conducted on these areas including a significant pipeline delay; significant profit reduction on top ten products, and loss of key high margin products. A combination of the individual scenarios and an overall reverse stress test on the Group's borrowing facilities and covenant commitments have also been considered.

The Board believes the results of the stress testing demonstrate that the Group should be able to withstand the impact in each case due to its strong cash generation, strong balance sheet, and existing financing arrangements.

Viability Statement

Based on the results of this analysis and the assumptions used in the Group's planning process, the Board has a reasonable expectation that the Group will be able to continue in operation and meet its liabilities as they fall due over the three year period from 30 June 2019.

Internal Control and Risk Management

The Board retains overall responsibility for determining the nature and extent of the risks it is willing to take in achieving its strategic objectives.

In accordance with the Code, the Board is responsible for reviewing the effectiveness of the Group's risk management and internal control systems, and confirms that:

  • there is an ongoing process for identifying, assessing, managing and monitoring the Group's principal risks;
  • the SET's assessment of the principal risks is considered to be robust and those risks that have the potential to impact liquidity have been considered in the assessment of the Group's viability;
  • the principal risks and internal control processes have been monitored by the SET throughout the year and reviewed by the Board on a rolling programme throughout the year; and
  • no significant failings or weaknesses in internal control processes have been identified.

Based on its review throughout the year, the Board is satisfied that the risk management and internal control systems in place remain effective and provide reasonable but not absolute assurance that the Group will be successful in delivering its objectives.

Further information on how the business manages risk can be found in the Strategic Report.

How to Raise a Concern

The Board is committed to the highest possible standards of openness, integrity and accountability and encourages any individual who has genuine concerns about any form of malpractice, including any breaches of the Values, within Dechra (or in relation to its business) to raise those concerns at an early stage via its How to Raise a Concern procedure.

A summary of any reported concerns is provided to the Board.