The Accounts · daily brief
29 October 2026
A £1.5bn commodity trader winds down
The takeaways
- Holbud ceased trading in July, filing on a break-up basis with a qualified audit and an 80% revenue drop
- Argos swung to a £217m operating loss alongside a £150m exceptional charge, with average headcount falling by 2,200
- Big Motoring World grew sales 23% to £859m but swung to a loss as expansion and financing costs rose
Hiring signals · who grew, who shrank
Hiring
- Itm Power Plc 194 → 374 staff ▲ +93% staff cost +11%
- Bapchild Motoring World (Kent) Limited 881 → 1,293 staff ▲ +47% staff cost +44%
Cutting
- Fibrus Networks Ltd 405 → 65 staff ▼ −84% staff cost −83%
- Jonas Computing (Uk) Limited 1,005 → 574 staff ▼ −43% staff cost +15%
Average headcount from the accounts filed yesterday — a look back at last year's payroll, not a live hiring tracker.
Filing of note
Holbud Limited
Operating via holbud.co.uk, the company is a London-based international commodity trader supplying agricultural products and fertilisers to African, Middle Eastern, and South-East Asian markets, acting as a subsidiary of Holbud Group Limited.
Accounts prepared on a break-up (non-going-concern) basis after the company ceased trading.
| Line | FY25 | FY24 | YoY |
|---|---|---|---|
| Profit & loss | |||
| Turnover | £294.9m | £1.5bn | ▼ −80% |
| Gross profit | −£45.2m | £14.9m | ▼ −404% |
| Admin expenses | £3.8m | £5.8m | ▼ −35% |
| Operating profit | −£49m | £9.1m | ▼ −641% |
| Finance costs | £671k | £2.8m | ▼ −76% |
| Profit before tax | −£49.3m | £6.7m | ▼ −832% |
| Net profit | −£40.5m | £5.2m | ▼ −875% |
| Cash & balance sheet | |||
| Cash | £28m | £89.1m | ▼ −69% |
| Net assets | £82.1m | £169.7m | ▼ −52% |
| Dividends paid | −£43.5m | £0 | |
| People & pay | |||
| Avg. headcount | 26 | 31 | ▼ −16% |
| Staff cost | £1.9m | £2.1m | ▼ −10% |
| Director pay | £279k | £587k | ▼ −53% |
| Highest-paid director | £216k | £476k | ▼ −55% |
Accounts for the period ended 31 Oct 2025; prior column to 31 Oct 2024.
Accounts prepared on a break-up (non-going-concern) basis. The London-based commodity trader ceased operations in July 2025. Turnover fell by 80% to £294.9m, and the company booked a £45.2m gross loss after provisioning for irrecoverable debtors. The auditor qualified their opinion. The accounts for the year to October 2025 record a £43.5m dividend paid, and report net assets of £82.1m at the year end.
Correction, 30 October 2026: an earlier version of this post said Holbud Limited is being wound up. That was wrong. Holbud Limited is an active company and is not in liquidation or any other insolvency process. We apologise for the error.
Argos Limited [1]
Argos Limited is a British general merchandise and catalogue retailer trading as Argos, operating as an unlisted subsidiary of the supermarket group Sainsbury's following the 2016 acquisition of its former parent, Home Retail Group.
Exceptional charge
| Line | FY25 | FY24 | YoY |
|---|---|---|---|
| Profit & loss | |||
| Turnover | £4.1bn | £4.2bn | ▼ −2% |
| Gross profit | £29.7m | £169.8m | ▼ −83% |
| Admin expenses | £255.1m | £247.6m | ▲ +3% |
| Operating profit | −£217.1m | £38.6m | ▼ −662% |
| Finance costs | £12.6m | £9.8m | ▲ +29% |
| Profit before tax | −£223.2m | £37.3m | ▼ −698% |
| Net profit | −£197.4m | £29m | ▼ −781% |
| Cash & balance sheet | |||
| Cash | £83.5m | £128.6m | ▼ −35% |
| Net assets | £265.1m | £453.7m | ▼ −42% |
| People & pay | |||
| Avg. headcount | 9,800 | 12,000 | ▼ −18% |
| Staff cost | £484.9m | £490.6m | ▼ −1% |
Accounts for the period ended 1 Mar 2025; prior column to 2 Mar 2024.
Argos swung to a £217.1m operating loss on slightly softer sales of £4.1bn. The deficit sits below the trading line, coinciding with a £150m exceptional charge and a subdued general merchandise market. Average headcount fell by 2,200 across the year, an 18% reduction, and the entity now draws on a letter of support from parent Sainsbury's to sign off as a going concern.
Ove Arup & Partners International Limited [2]
Operating under the widely known Arup brand, the company provides engineering, design, and technical consulting services as a key subsidiary of the global Arup group, controlled by Ove Arup Holdings Limited (arup.com).
Margin expansion
| Line | FY25 | FY24 | YoY |
|---|---|---|---|
| Profit & loss | |||
| Turnover | £975.5m | £988.1m | ▼ −1% |
| Gross profit | £743.8m | £771.9m | ▼ −4% |
| Admin expenses | £184.2m | £210.8m | ▼ −13% |
| Operating profit | £62.9m | £52m | ▲ +21% |
| Finance costs | £17m | £15.3m | ▲ +11% |
| Profit before tax | £54m | £42.9m | ▲ +26% |
| Net profit | £36.4m | £36.8m | ▼ −1% |
| Cash & balance sheet | |||
| Cash | £14.8m | £41.3m | ▼ −64% |
| Net assets | £321.4m | £280.8m | ▲ +14% |
| People & pay | |||
| Avg. headcount | 6,615 | 6,962 | ▼ −5% |
| Staff cost | £505.3m | £516.5m | ▼ −2% |
| Director pay | £3m | £2.7m | ▲ +11% |
| Highest-paid director | £500k | £600k | ▼ −17% |
Accounts for the period ended 31 Mar 2025; prior column to 31 Mar 2024.
The consolidated engineering group reported a wider margin on a broadly flat top line. Turnover held steady at £975.5m, while operating profit climbed 21% to £62.9m and average headcount fell by 5%. With staff costs decreasing alongside the headcount reduction, the period saw a leaner cost base accompany the expansion at the bottom line.
Bapchild Motoring World (Kent) Limited [3]
Trading as Big Motoring World, the company operates as a retailer of used cars and light motor vehicles in the UK, with its public inventory and services hosted at bigmotoringworld.co.uk.
Expansion costs
| Line | FY24 | FY23 | YoY |
|---|---|---|---|
| Profit & loss | |||
| Turnover | £859.1m | £697.4m | ▲ +23% |
| Gross profit | £48.2m | £38.1m | ▲ +26% |
| Admin expenses | £53.5m | £32.2m | ▲ +66% |
| Operating profit | −£4.2m | £6.2m | ▼ −168% |
| Finance costs | £7.7m | £3.9m | ▲ +96% |
| Profit before tax | −£11.8m | £2.2m | ▼ −627% |
| Net profit | −£10.7m | £1.1m | ▼ −1031% |
| Cash & balance sheet | |||
| Cash | £6.3m | £4.6m | ▲ +38% |
| Net assets | £21.6m | £32.3m | ▼ −33% |
| Dividends paid | — | −£3m | |
| People & pay | |||
| Avg. headcount | 1,293 | 881 | ▲ +47% |
| Staff cost | £38.8m | £27m | ▲ +44% |
| Director pay | £803k | £1.4m | ▼ −42% |
| Highest-paid director | £531k | £750k | ▼ −29% |
Accounts for the period ended 31 Dec 2024; prior column to 31 Dec 2023.
A period of structural expansion for the used car retailer. Revenue rose 23% to £859.1m as the group acquired three new sites and average headcount expanded by 47% to nearly 1,300. The growth was accompanied by higher overheads: administrative expenses increased by £21.3m and finance costs doubled, coinciding with a shift from a £6.2m operating profit into a £4.2m loss.
Ove Arup & Partners Limited [4]
Operating as the principal UK design and engineering consulting arm of the global professional services firm Arup Group Limited, the private company provides architectural and technical advisory services (arup.com).
Dividend distribution
| Line | FY25 | FY24 | YoY |
|---|---|---|---|
| Profit & loss | |||
| Turnover | £559.2m | £564.3m | ▼ −1% |
| Gross profit | £58.6m | £57.6m | ▲ +2% |
| Admin expenses | £804k | £626k | ▲ +28% |
| Operating profit | £58.6m | £57.1m | ▲ +3% |
| Finance costs | £139k | £37,000 | ▲ +276% |
| Profit before tax | £64.7m | £62.7m | ▲ +3% |
| Net profit | £62.6m | £59.4m | ▲ +5% |
| Cash & balance sheet | |||
| Cash | £1.3m | £1.2m | ▲ +12% |
| Net assets | £91.9m | £89.3m | ▲ +3% |
| Dividends paid | −£60m | −£52m | ▼ −15% |
Accounts for the period ended 31 Mar 2025; prior column to 31 Mar 2024.
The principal UK design arm of the Arup group functions as a capital-light passthrough. Operating profit nudged up slightly to £58.6m on £559.2m of turnover. The period saw the distribution of those returns, paying out a £60m dividend to the parent company.
Dunnhumby Limited [5]
Operating via dunnhumby.com, the company is a global customer data science and retail analytics consultancy that functions as a wholly owned subsidiary of the listed supermarket group Tesco plc.
Impairment drag
| Line | FY26 | FY25 | YoY |
|---|---|---|---|
| Profit & loss | |||
| Turnover | £443.6m | £392.2m | ▲ +13% |
| Operating profit | £11.7m | £23.3m | ▼ −50% |
| Finance costs | £2.2m | £2.3m | ▼ −5% |
| Profit before tax | £23.4m | £51.2m | ▼ −54% |
| Net profit | £18.1m | £43.7m | ▼ −59% |
| Cash & balance sheet | |||
| Cash | £77.3m | £82.5m | ▼ −6% |
| Net assets | £244.3m | £224.2m | ▲ +9% |
| People & pay | |||
| Avg. headcount | 1,083 | 911 | ▲ +19% |
| Staff cost | £108.5m | £92.1m | ▲ +18% |
| Director pay | £1.9m | £2.1m | ▼ −9% |
| Highest-paid director | £1.3m | £1.4m | ▼ −12% |
Accounts for the period ended 28 Feb 2026; prior column to 28 Feb 2025.
Tesco's data science consultancy recorded a 13% revenue increase to £443.6m and saw average headcount rise by nearly 200. However, operating profit halved to £11.7m. The filing attributes the contraction to a £14.1m negative swing in financial asset impairments, a reminder that data cannot entirely shield a balance sheet from bad debts.
Proof that whether you are trading used cars or global commodities, growth is optional but bad debts are mandatory.
Sources
- Argos Limited
- Ove Arup & Partners International Limited
- Bapchild Motoring World (Kent) Limited
- Ove Arup & Partners Limited
- Dunnhumby Limited