Financial statements
Strategic report
Governance
119 OCU Group Annual report and financial statements 2026
Notes to the consolidated financial statements continued for the year ended 30 April 2026
5. Employees and Directors continued Defined contribution schemes
Reconciliation of adjusted EBITDA 1 to loss before tax
2026 £000
2025 £000
A defined contribution pension scheme is operated for all qualifying employees. The assets of the scheme are held separately from those of the Group in an independently administered fund.
154,069
Adjusted EBITDA 1
110,960
The charge to the profit and loss in respect of defined contribution schemes was £6.4m (2025: £3.3m).
(19,583)
Depreciation of property, plant and equipment
(13,484)
At the year end, there was an outstanding creditor balance of £1.0m (2025: £0.8m).
1,649
Profit on disposal of fixed assets
1,378
Adjusted operating profit
136,135
98,854
6. Remuneration of key management personnel The total remuneration of the Board of Oat Bidco Limited (detailed on page 97), who are considered to be the key management personnel of the Group, was £3.1m (2025: £1.7m), including employer’s pension contributions of £0.1m (2025: £0.1m). Associated employer’s national insurance was £0.4m (2025: £0.2m).
(76,292)
Amortisation of intangible assets
(64,508)
(5,304)
Exceptional items
(6,260)
Operating profit
54,539
28,086
(73,192)
Net finance costs
(69,203)
(1,442)
Exceptional finance costs
(22,502)
Loss before tax (63,619) 1. Adjusted EBITDA: The Group calculates adjusted EBITDA as operating profit before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation and excludes exceptional items. The Directors believe that adjusted EBITDA is the most appropriate approach for ascertaining the underlying trading performance and trends as it reflects the measures used internally by senior management for all discussions of performance. Exceptional items (20,095)
7. Operating profit The operating profit is stated after charging/(crediting):
2026 £000
2025 £000
109,939
Hire of plant and machinery
78,649
12,597
Depreciation – owned assets
11,293
2026 £000
2025 £000
6,986
Depreciation – assets on finance leases
2,191
2,797
Acquisition and transactional-related costs
1,356
76,292
Amortisation
64,508
2,507 5,304 1,442 6,746
Restructuring
4,904
(1,649)
Profit on disposal of fixed assets
(1,378)
Exceptional items included in operating profit
6,260
4,984
Operating lease charges
4,151
Exceptional finance costs
22,502
Total exceptional items 28,762 Acquisition and transactional-related costs of £2.8m (2025: £1.4m) relate to professional fees associated with aborted deals and other acquisition-related costs which do not qualify for capital treatment and are not part of the Group’s ordinary operating costs. Restructuring costs of £2.5m (2025: £4.9m) were incurred as part of re-aligning people to the existing Group structure, systems implementation and other one-off costs. Exceptional finance costs of £1.4m (2025: £22.5m) are fees incurred for the re-balancing of the Group’s term loans and re-pricing of the associated interest rates.
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