BRIGGS OF BURTON LIMITED (02077847): Corporate Intelligence Profile
Executive Summary
Briggs of Burton Limited (company number 02077847) is an active Burton-on-Trent engineering and process equipment manufacturer incorporated on 27 November 1986. Operating under SIC code 28930 (manufacture of machinery for food, beverage, and tobacco processing), the company specializes in long-term engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) turnkey projects for the brewing, distilling, pharmaceutical, and biofuel sectors.
After achieving peak turnover of £75.50m in 2023, the statutory accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024 show a 31.9% contraction in revenue to £51.44m, alongside an operating loss of £8.62m and an operating cash outflow of £11.93m. This severe downturn was driven principally by project execution execution challenges in Mexico, which generated 20% of 2024 revenue but accounted for 75% of the annual loss, combined with a broader post-COVID capex deceleration across the global alcoholic beverage sector. Net assets decreased to £4.48m from £7.96m in 2023, down from £11.24m in 2022.
Despite operational headwinds, auditor Grant Thornton UK LLP issued an unqualified audit opinion for 2024 without a material uncertainty regarding going concern. Solvency relies heavily on cash reserves, group banking facilities, and working capital support provided by ultimate parent entity CIMC Enric Holdings Limited.
What the Numbers Show
Analyzing five consecutive financial periods reveals how project concentration and sector demand shifts have impacted profitability and cash flows at Briggs of Burton Limited.
| Financial Metric | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
| :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- |
| Turnover (£k) | £27,341 | £43,889 | £74,521 | £75,501 | £51,436 |
| Gross Profit (£k) | £8,185 | £8,841 | £17,552 | Not Disclosed | Not Disclosed |
| Operating Profit / (Loss) (£k) | £2,450 | £2,746 | £5,350 | £(1,609) | £(8,623) |
| Profit / (Loss) After Tax (£k) | £2,021 | £2,125 | £4,677 | £(1,509) | £(3,296) |
| Net Assets (£k) | £9,880 | £12,012 | £11,243 | £7,962 | £4,480 |
| Cash at Bank (£k) | £1,888 | £10,101 | £2,203 | Not Disclosed | £7,264* |
| Employee Count | 164 | 179 | 216 | Not Disclosed | Not Disclosed |
Note: In the 2024 filing, raw ledger extractions aggregate consolidated group cash items; statutory standalone disclosures reflect operating cash outflows of £11.93m and contract assets of £18.35m.
Revenue Breakdown and Segmental Performance
Statutory revenue for 2024 fell to £51,436,000, down from £75,501,000 in 2023. Contracting activities represented the vast majority of income:
- Long-term contracting activity: £49,183,000 (2023: £74,062,000)
- Point-in-time sales (spares and services): £2,253,000 (2023: £1,439,000)
Geographic destination shifted dramatically during 2024. United Kingdom turnover expanded to £33,022,000 (up from £9,708,000 in 2023), whereas international revenue plummeted from £65,793,000 in 2023 to £18,414,000 in 2024. This international retrenchment reflected canceled or deferred projects in North America and contract cost overruns in Mexico.
Margin Erosion and Contract Liabilities
Operating performance deteriorated from a positive operating profit of £5.35m in 2022 to an operating loss of £1.61m in 2023, expanding to an operating loss of £8.62m in 2024. Financial note disclosures reveal significant contract balance movements:
- Current contract assets: £18,350,000 (2023: £30,930,000)
- Contract liabilities and provisions: £9,920,000 (2023: £26,205,000)
- Contract loss provisions: £325,000 held at 31 December 2024 (down from £905,000 at 1 January 2024, following £1,110,000 in additions and £1,690,000 in utilization/releases).
Gearing, Lease Obligations, and Contingencies
Balance sheet gearing is heavily influenced by group financing arrangements and lease commitments under FRS 101:
- Lease liabilities: £6,143,000 total balance at 31 December 2024 (£381,000 due within one year; £5,762,000 due after more than one year). Total gross lease commitments stand at £7,784,000, with £5,523,000 due beyond five years following property lease extensions.
- Intercompany debt: Unsecured Euro-denominated loans owed to group undertakings bear interest at the Euro Short Term Rate plus 2.75%, repayable by 31 December 2025. Intercompany receivables bear interest at 3-month UK LIBOR plus 2.00%, also due by 31 December 2025.
- Contingent guarantees: Under Section 476 of the Companies Act 2006, Briggs of Burton Limited provided an explicit guarantee to settle the liabilities of its 100% owned subsidiary, McMillan (Coppersmiths & Fabricators) Limited. Outstanding liabilities guaranteed at the signature date equaled £188,000.
Directors and Ownership
Briggs of Burton Limited is a directly held operating subsidiary within an international corporate structure.
Ownership Chain
- Immediate Ownership: Held via ordinary share capital comprising 500,000 fully paid ordinary shares of 10p each (£50,000 total share capital).
- Ultimate Parent Entity: CIMC Enric Holdings Limited, an investment holding company listed in Hong Kong operating clean energy, chemical, environmental, and liquid food segments.
- Group Integration: Briggs of Burton Limited serves as a core vehicle for CIMC Enric's Liquid Food division, coordinating engineering contracts across Europe, the Americas, and Asia.
Board Structure and Governance
Historical filings confirm directorship appointments including RJ Buxton, GM Crombie, N Beddoe, and K Leach. Governance disclosures show close coordination with group executive structures in Hong Kong and mainland China.
Key management personnel transactions remained modest, with total emoluments paid to related individuals amounting to £46,000 in 2024 (down from £122,000 across two individuals in 2023). Dividend distributions were fully halted in 2024 (£nil declared), following £2.50m paid in 2023, £4.87m paid in 2022, and £1.30m in 2020.
Recent Activity and Corporate Filings
Corporate registry checks confirm that Briggs of Burton Limited remains fully active and up to date with statutory reporting mandates at Companies House.
Auditor Transitions and Audit Opinion
- Current Auditor: Grant Thornton UK LLP audited the 2022 and 2024 accounts, delivering unqualified opinions in both periods.
- Prior Auditor: PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP audited the 2021 financial accounts, also delivering an unqualified opinion.
- Going Concern Rationale: In the 2024 financial statement signed in March 2026, Grant Thornton UK LLP verified that directors possessed a reasonable expectation of operational continuity through at least June 2026. This assessment relies on available cash, bank facilities, and short-term liquidity provided by fellow CIMC Enric group entities.
Statutory Notices
Public searches in The Gazette yield no open compulsory insolvency petitions or winding up notices against the company. Lenders and counterparties can verify real-time court cause lists using a winding up petition search.
To inspect security registrations, charges, and debentures over the company's real estate or asset base, professionals can execute a company charge check.
Operational Risk Indicators and Key Vulnerabilities
For credit managers, corporate finance advisers, and prospective joint-venture partners, the 2024 filing highlights four distinct operational and financial vulnerabilities:
1. Contract Concentration and Execution Volatility: The Mexico project failure demonstrates the vulnerability inherent in large EPC turnkey contracts. With a single contract region accounting for 75% of an £8.62m operating loss, project management execution remains a pivotal operational risk.
2. Working Capital Drain: Operating cash outflow reached £11.93m in 2024, compared to an outflow of £786k in 2023. Sustaining operational liquidity requires careful management of contract milestone billing.
3. Diversification Dependency: The business is attempting a multi-pillar restructuring strategy, expanding into pharmaceutical processing, expanding customer engineering repair services, rolling out decarbonization technology (ThermoDrive), and implementing a new enterprise resource planning (ERP) platform. Concurrent execution of these initiatives places significant administrative demand on management.
4. Intercompany Liquidity Reliance: Both Euro-denominated intercompany borrowings and liquidity guarantees depend upon parent company backing. Credit assessment must monitor the solvency and regional stability of CIMC Enric Holdings Limited.
Step-by-Step Counterparty Risk Verification Framework
When evaluating high-value contract exposure with an engineering contractor exhibiting financial volatility, legal and credit professionals should execute the following checklist:
1. Verify Live Corporate Status: Confirm active status and filing timelines directly on the Companies House register.
2. Review Encumbrances: Execute a comprehensive mortgage search to verify whether floating charges or debentures cover project assets or IP.
3. Analyze Subsidiary Guarantees: Review s.476 cross-guarantee commitments to subsidiary entities (such as McMillan Coppersmiths & Fabricators Limited) to quantify contingent liability drag.
4. Assess Group Support Commitment: Request formal parent letter of comfort or bank guarantee documentation where project contract exposure exceeds standalone net asset reserves (£4.48m).
5. Monitor Court Petitions: Implement continuous automated tracking to detect any unpaid supplier disputes before formal petition publication.
How a Professional Validates This Manually vs Corp Intel
Conducting complete due diligence on an active engineering contractor with global parent support requires integrating data across disparate sources. Executing this process manually involves separate manual steps:
- Manual Retrieval: An analyst must download statutory accounts from Companies House, search court cause lists manually, perform cross-checks on the Gazette registry, inspect FCA registers for derivative counterparty disclosures, and translate group financial reports from overseas exchanges (such as the Hong Kong Stock Exchange for CIMC Enric).
- Manual Financial Adjustment: Reconciling standalone statutory UK accounting notes (FRS 101) against aggregated raw multi-currency parent ledgers requires manual extraction and adjustment.
- Automated Corp Intel Workflow: Corp Intel unifies UK registry records, financial statement note extractions, real-time insolvency cause lists, and corporate link graphs into a single analytical view. Analysts receive structured breakdowns of contract assets, lease commitments, and intercompany debt instantly, alongside continuous monitoring alerts.
To maintain ongoing surveillance over filing changes, director resignations, or statutory filings without manual checking, professionals can activate free company monitoring.
Frequently Asked Questions
What caused the significant drop in profitability for Briggs of Burton Limited in 2024?
Briggs of Burton Limited reported an operating loss of £8.62m in 2024 (down from an operating loss of £1.61m in 2023). This loss was primarily caused by severe project challenges in Mexico, which generated 20% of annual turnover but 75% of the operating loss. Profitability was further affected by a post-COVID slowdown in capital expenditure across the global brewing and distilling sectors.
Is there a going concern risk for Briggs of Burton Limited?
Independent auditor Grant Thornton UK LLP issued an unqualified audit opinion for the year ended 31 December 2024, confirming that the use of the going concern basis remains appropriate. The assessment notes that while trading conditions present demand uncertainty, cash reserves, available banking facilities, and intercompany liquidity support from parent group CIMC Enric Holdings Limited provide sufficient operating headroom through at least mid-2026.
What is the ultimate parent company of Briggs of Burton Limited?
The ultimate parent company is CIMC Enric Holdings Limited, an investment holding entity listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. CIMC Enric operates worldwide across clean energy, chemical equipment, and liquid food technology sectors.
Does Briggs of Burton Limited have outstanding parent or subsidiary guarantees?
Yes. Briggs of Burton Limited provided an explicit statutory guarantee under Section 476 of the Companies Act 2006 to its 100% owned subsidiary, McMillan (Coppersmiths & Fabricators) Limited. At the balance sheet approval date, the outstanding liability guaranteed under this agreement was £188,000.
What are the main growth strategies outlined by management to restore profitability?
Management has established four diversification pillars supported by parent company investment: expanding process engineering capabilities into the pharmaceutical market, deploying sustainable industrial distillation technologies (such as ThermoDrive), expanding customer aftermarket repair services, and investing in new group ERP and project management software systems.
How can credit managers monitor financial changes at Briggs of Burton Limited in real time?
Credit managers can set up automated email notifications to track fresh filings, auditor notices, and statutory registry changes instantly by setting up free company monitoring.
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