Statement of Directors’ responsibility
The Directors are responsible for preparing the Annual Report and the Group and Parent Company accounts in accordance with applicable law and regulations.
Company law requires the Directors to prepare Group and Parent Company accounts for each financial year. Under that law they are required to prepare the Group accounts in accordance with IFRSs as adopted by the EU and applicable law and have elected to prepare the Parent Company accounts in accordance with UK Accounting Standards and applicable law (UK Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).
The Group accounts are required by law and IFRSs as adopted by the EU to present fairly the financial position and the performance of the Group; the Companies Act 1985 provides in relation to such accounts that references in the relevant part of that Act to accounts giving a true and fair view are references to their achieving a fair presentation.
The Parent Company accounts are required by law to give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the Parent Company.
In preparing each of the Group and Parent Company accounts, the Directors are required to:
- Select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;
- Make judgments and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
- For the Group accounts, state whether they have been prepared in accordance with IFRSs as adopted by the EU;
- For the Parent Company accounts, state whether applicable UK Accounting Standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the Parent Company financial statements; and
- Prepare the accounts on a going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the Group and the Parent Company will continue in business.
The Directors are responsible for keeping proper accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the Parent Company and enable them to ensure that its accounts comply with the Companies Act 1985. They have general responsibility for taking such steps as are reasonably open to them to safeguard the assets of the Group and to prevent and detect fraud and other irregularities.
Under applicable law and regulations, the Directors are also responsible for preparing a Directors’ Report, Directors’ Remuneration Report and Corporate Governance Statement that comply with that law and those regulations.
The Directors are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the corporate and financial information included on the Company’s website. Legislation in the UK governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.
Responsibility Statement of the Directors in respect of the Annual Report and Accounts
We confirm that to the best of our knowledge:
- The accounts, prepared in accordance with the applicable set of accounting standards, give a true and fair view of the assets, liabilities, financial position and profit or loss of the company and the undertakings included in the consolidation taken as a whole; and
- The Directors’ report includes a fair review of the development and performance of the business and the position of the company and the undertakings included in the consolidation taken as a whole, together with a description of the principal risks and uncertainties that they face.
Ian Mason,
Group Chief Executive
29 May 2009
Simon Boddie,
Group Finance Director
The report and accounts contain certain statements, statistics and projections that are or may be forward‑looking. The accuracy and completeness of all such statements including, without limitation, statements regarding the future financial positions, strategy, projected costs, plans and objectives for the managements of future operations of Electrocomponents plc and its subsidiaries is not warranted or guaranteed. These statements typically contain words such as ‘intends’, ‘expects’, ‘anticipates’, ‘estimates’ and words of similar import. By their nature, forward‑looking statements involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that will occur in the future. Although Electrocomponents plc believes that the expectations reflected in such statements are reasonable, no assurance can be given that such expectations will prove to be correct. There are a number of factors, which may be beyond the control of Electrocomponents plc, which could cause actual results and developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward‑looking statements. Other than as required by applicable law or the applicable rules of any exchange on which our securities may be listed, Electrocomponents plc has no intentions or obligations to update forward‑looking statements contained herein.