The Accounts · daily brief
8 September 2026
Nationalised rail, doubled profits, and a break-up basis
The takeaways
- Ageas Insurance doubled operating profit to £74.6m after sealing a 20-year affinity partnership with Saga
- South Western Railway booked £1.07bn in turnover in its first accounts as a publicly owned train operator
- LiveArea Global Services filed on a break-up basis as parent Dentsu absorbs its remaining clients and assets
Hiring signals · who grew, who shrank
Hiring
- Jfc Tech Services Limited 71 → 95 staff ▲ +34% staff cost +29%
- Parkway Interiors Limited 41 → 53 staff ▲ +29%
Cutting
- Suffolk Life Pensions Limited 131 → 67 staff ▼ −49% staff cost −51%
- Netcom Training Ltd 86 → 57 staff ▼ −34% staff cost −31%
Average headcount from the accounts filed yesterday — a look back at last year's payroll, not a live hiring tracker.
Filing of note
Livearea Global Services Uk Limited
Operating as part of the Dentsu network under its Merkle division, the company provides digital commerce, marketing, and customer experience consultancy services to corporate clients.
Filed on a break-up basis — the business is being wound up.
| Line | FY25 | FY24 | YoY |
|---|---|---|---|
| Profit & loss | |||
| Turnover | £623k | £555k | ▲ +12% |
| Gross profit | £623k | £555k | ▲ +12% |
| Admin expenses | £280k | £202k | ▲ +38% |
| Operating profit | £344k | £353k | ▼ −3% |
| Profit before tax | £761k | £874k | ▼ −13% |
| Net profit | £561k | £765k | ▼ −27% |
| Cash & balance sheet | |||
| Net assets | £6.9m | £6.3m | ▲ +9% |
As flagged by the desk, these accounts are filed on a break-up basis. The Dentsu-owned digital consultancy is being wound down, with clients being migrated over to the wider group network. A formal transfer of the remaining trade and assets to Dentsu UK took place shortly after the year-end.
Essar Energy Transition Fuels Limited [1]
Trading as EET Fuels, this privately held downstream energy company operates the Stanlow refinery and a network of retail sites as the UK arm of the Cayman-domiciled Essar Global Fund.
Massive finance drag
| Line | FY26 | FY25 | YoY |
|---|---|---|---|
| Profit & loss | |||
| Turnover | £8.9bn | £7.5bn | ▲ +18% |
| Gross profit | £308m | −£3.4m | ▲ +9163% |
| Admin expenses | −£53.4m | −£43.7m | ▼ −22% |
| Operating profit | £187.7m | −£14.6m | ▲ +1390% |
| Finance costs | −£193.2m | −£167.8m | ▼ −15% |
| Profit before tax | £17.1m | −£240.8m | ▲ +107% |
| Net profit | £15.9m | −£178.3m | ▲ +109% |
| Cash & balance sheet | |||
| Cash | £100.1m | £52.8m | ▲ +90% |
| Net assets | £547.8m | £435.3m | ▲ +26% |
| People & pay | |||
| Avg. headcount | 1,277 | 828 | ▲ +54% |
| Staff cost | £108.5m | £93.7m | ▲ +16% |
The Stanlow refinery operator swung to a £187.7m operating profit as turnover climbed 17% to £8.8bn. But the operating result is offset below the line by a substantial £193.2m finance cost, bringing pre-tax profit down to £17.1m. The period also saw an expanded payroll, adding roughly 450 heads to the average headcount.
Mott Macdonald Group Limited [2]
Operating globally as Mott MacDonald, the business is an independent, employee-owned multidisciplinary engineering, management, and development consultancy headquartered in the UK.
Margin squeeze
| Line | FY25 | FY24 | YoY |
|---|---|---|---|
| Profit & loss | |||
| Turnover | £2.5bn | £2.5bn | ▼ −1% |
| Gross profit | £967.5m | £972m | ▼ −0% |
| Admin expenses | £877.9m | £871.3m | ▲ +1% |
| Operating profit | £89.7m | £100.7m | ▼ −11% |
| Finance costs | £813k | £1.4m | ▼ −40% |
| Profit before tax | £107.8m | £123.3m | ▼ −13% |
| Net profit | £68.8m | £88.6m | ▼ −22% |
| Cash & balance sheet | |||
| Cash | £344m | £253.9m | ▲ +35% |
| Net assets | £523.3m | £490.2m | ▲ +7% |
| Dividends paid | £6.3m | £6.3m | ▼ −0% |
| People & pay | |||
| Avg. headcount | 18,765 | 18,778 | ▼ −0% |
| Staff cost | £1.4bn | £1.4bn | ▲ +0% |
A broadly flat top line for the global engineering consultancy, with turnover dipping just 1% to £2.48bn. Margins contracted slightly, however, as operating profit fell 11% to £89.7m. The employee-owned group's global workforce remained steady at just under 18,800 heads.
Ageas Insurance Limited [3]
The company is a major UK provider of personal lines motor and home insurance, operating under its own name alongside brands such as Rias, and sits as a subsidiary of the Euronext Brussels-listed Belgian multinational Ageas.
Doubled profit
| Line | FY24 | FY23 | YoY |
|---|---|---|---|
| Profit & loss | |||
| Turnover | £1.5bn | £1.1bn | ▲ +36% |
| Operating profit | £74.6m | £36.1m | ▲ +107% |
| Profit before tax | £93.7m | £48.1m | ▲ +95% |
| Net profit | £74.6m | £36.1m | ▲ +107% |
| Cash & balance sheet | |||
| Cash | £166m | £129.8m | ▲ +28% |
| Net assets | £554.5m | £432.4m | ▲ +28% |
| People & pay | |||
| Avg. headcount | 1,950 | 1,830 | ▲ +7% |
| Director pay | £700k | £600k | ▲ +17% |
A period of expansion for the UK insurance arm, which saw turnover rise 36% past £1.5bn. The filing attributes the growth to a new 20-year affinity partnership with Saga and the acquisition of its underwriting business. That top-line increase flowed down the P&L, bringing operating profit up to £74.6m.
South Western Railway Limited [4]
Trading as SWR, the company is a state-owned train operator under the government's DfT Operator group, providing commuter and regional passenger rail services from London Waterloo across south-west England and the Isle of Wight.
State control
| Line | FY26 | FY25 | YoY |
|---|---|---|---|
| Profit & loss | |||
| Turnover | £1.1bn | — | |
| Operating profit | £26.3m | — | |
| Finance costs | £17m | — | |
| Profit before tax | £10.4m | — | |
| Net profit | £8.3m | — | |
| Cash & balance sheet | |||
| Cash | £94m | £1,000 | ▲ +9395700% |
| Net assets | £2.5m | −£1,000 | ▲ +254900% |
| Dividends paid | −£5.8m | — | |
| People & pay | |||
| Avg. headcount | 4,856 | — | |
| Staff cost | £337.3m | — | |
| Director pay | £487k | — | |
| Highest-paid director | £299k | — | |
These are the first accounts filed since the network transitioned to a publicly owned operator under the Department for Transport, succeeding First Group. The state-run entity booked £1.07bn in turnover and recorded a £26.3m operating profit in its maiden year. The filing notes a fares freeze was introduced late in the period to support passengers through the cost of living squeeze.
Brck Group Plc [5]
Formerly known as Brickability Group, London-listed BRCK Group plc is a major distributor of specialist building materials and a provider of design and installation services to the UK construction industry.
Halved profit
| Line | FY26 | FY25 | YoY |
|---|---|---|---|
| Profit & loss | |||
| Turnover | £645m | £637.1m | ▲ +1% |
| Gross profit | £121.7m | — | |
| Profit before tax | £6.3m | £11.7m | ▼ −46% |
| Net profit | £3.6m | £6.5m | ▼ −45% |
| Cash & balance sheet | |||
| Cash | £33.2m | £23.1m | ▲ +44% |
The listed building materials distributor saw turnover remain broadly flat at £645m. But underlying costs contracted the margins, leaving pre-tax profit nearly halved at £6.3m.
It takes a certain kind of corporate efficiency to shutter a subsidiary precisely because the parent company has successfully absorbed all of its clients.
Sources
- Essar Energy Transition Fuels Limited
- Mott Macdonald Group Limited
- Ageas Insurance Limited
- South Western Railway Limited
- Brck Group Plc