Corporate governance - BTG Investor Relations

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Chairman’s statement

The board is committed to maintaining high standards of corporate governance. As chairman, it is my role to ensure that these standards are promoted by the board and to ensure that the group is managed in the best interests of shareholders and our broader stakeholder group.

We recognise that a positive culture, together with a robust approach to governance, is key to the success of the organisation. As a professional services consultancy the group’s services are regulated by externally governed codes of practice and ethical behaviour. These regulatory professional standards are reinforced by the board which sets the culture of the group in promoting entrepreneurial growth against the background of sound regulatory compliance and ethical standards and a measured approach to risk taking.

We seek to be a trusted advisor to all of our clients, to act with integrity at all times and to take pride in the advice and solutions we provide.

We have a clear approach to governance and risk management with a highly experienced leadership team in executive and senior management positions together with robust compliance and governance procedures.

We are committed to a culture which ensures that our people enjoy working for the group, can develop their talents and fulfil their potential with us.

The 2023 annual report provides details on our approach to governance and application of the QCA Code, including reports from the audit and remuneration committees. I believe that the framework provided by the QCA Code contributes to our ability to deliver long-term shareholder value and assists the board in managing the business for all of its stakeholders, whilst maintaining a flexible, efficient and effective management framework within an entrepreneurial environment.

Further detail on our compliance with the ten principles of the QCA Code can be accessed by the download below.

Ric Traynor
Executive chairman
10 July 2023

Corporate governance files

Download your files below:

Compliance with QCA Principles

113.81 KB

Remuneration Committee - Terms of reference

211.29 KB

Audit Committee - Terms of reference

231.62 KB

Board of directors

Ric Traynor

Executive Chairman

Appointment date: May 2004

Experience

Ric has been an insolvency practitioner since qualifying as a chartered accountant with Arthur Andersen in 1984. He established Traynor & Co. in 1989 which, following the acquisition of Begbies London in 1997, became Begbies Traynor.

Ric has focused on the development of the business, including the Group’s successful introduction to the AIM in 2004, and on practice management. He continues to lead the business and remains a major shareholder.

Nick Taylor

Group Finance Director

Appointment date: December 2010

Experience

Nick was appointed as group finance director in 2010, having joined the group as financial controller in 2007. He is a chartered accountant who qualified with KPMG and has previously held senior finance roles in United Utilities PLC and Vertex Data Science Limited, the business process outsourcer.

Mark Fry

Head of Business Recovery and Advisory

Appointment date: July 2011

Experience

Mark was appointed to the board in 2011, having joined the group in 2005 following an acquisition and he led our London and South East region prior to his board appointment.

He is the national head of our business recovery and advisory services, is an experienced insolvency practitioner and has been appointed on numerous complex and high-profile assignments. Mark is also a former president of the Insolvency Practitioners Association.

Graham McInnes

Non-Executive Director

Appointment date: September 2004

Experience

Graham was appointed to the board in 2004, initially as group finance director and subsequently as corporate development director. In 2012, Graham became a non-executive director. He has held a number of senior finance positions including corporate finance partner at Spicer and Oppenheim (now part of Deloitte) and finance director of Enterprise plc, in addition to developing his own corporate finance boutique in the 1990s. Graham is also a director of Newton Technology Group plc, a group specialising in the engineering technology sector.

John May

Non-Executive Director

Appointment date: October 2007

Experience

John was appointed to the board in 2007 as a non-executive director. He was previously an executive director of Caledonia Investments plc from 2003-2011 prior to which he worked for the Hambros Group for over 20 years, where he was an executive director of Hambros Bank and joint managing director of Hambro Countrywide. John also has extensive non-executive experience having been a director of more than 40 listed and private companies operating.

Mark Stupples

Non-Executive Director

Appointment date: July 2017

Experience

Mark was appointed to the board in 2017 as a non-executive director. He has significant property services experience as a result of his senior roles in major firms, including King Sturge as UK managing partner, and JLL as UK chief operating officer until leaving the business in December 2016. During this time, Mark had responsibility for the operation of the business working closely with finance, HR, and IT, and was responsible for the UK sustainability strategy. Mark now runs his own consultancy business focussing on strategy and change. Mark is an experienced Trustec, chairing both the JLL UK- Foundation. In this latter role, the Foundation is focused on social, mobility in the real estate sector. This has strengthened Mark's belief in the need for inclusion along side diversity.

Peter Wallqvist

Non-Executive Director

Appointment date: December 2019

Experience

Peter was appointed to the board in December 2019 as a non-executive director. Peter has spent his career in information technology. In 2010, he co-founded and became chief executive officer at the AI company RAVN Systems which delivered digital transformation initiatives in the professional services industry. RAVN Systems was acquired by iManage, a leading vendor of document and email management systems for the legal and professional services industries in 2017. Following the acquisition, Peter served as VP of strategy and global practice director for iManage, until he left the business in October 2019.

Mandy Donald

Non-Executive Director

Appointment date: February 2023

Experience

Mandy was appointed to the board in February 2023 as a non-executive director. Mandy is a chartered accountant and experienced non-executive director. She joined EY in 1992 and spent 10 years working in professional roles in the firm. In 2002 she was appointed as EY's UK director of finance and operations and from 2007-2012 was the global director of finance and operations for EY's transaction advisory services and EY assurance services. Since 2012, Mandy has held a number of non-executive director positions in the financial and professional services sectors including at Punter Southall Group, Liontrust Asset Management plc, JP Morgan Investment Trust plc and Gowling WLG LLP, as well as in the not for profit sector at the Institute of Cancer Research; these roles included acting as chair of several audit committee and risk committees.

Modern slavery and human trafficking statement

Begbies Traynor Group plc (the “plc”) and its corporate group (“Group”) is a business recovery, financial advisory and property services consultancy. This statement is published by the plc and by Begbies Traynor (Central) LLP (a member of the Group) pursuant to Section 54 (1) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 for the financial year ending 30 April 2022.

Slavery and human trafficking remains a menace to society. Everyone has a responsibility to be alert to the risks of this, particularly in a business and its supply chain. Staff are expected to report concerns and management are expected to act on such concerns as well as taking steps to minimise the risks of slavery and human trafficking when engaging with suppliers.

We are committed to ensuring that there is no modern slavery or human trafficking in our supply chains or in any part of our business. Our anti-slavery policy reflects our commitment to acting ethically and with integrity in all our business relationships and to implementing and enforcing effective systems and controls to ensure slavery and human trafficking is not taking place anywhere in our supply chain.

Due Diligence Processes for Slavery and Human Trafficking

As part of our initiative to identify and mitigate risk we contract with UK companies or UK branches of companies/businesses and through our approved supplier process we risk assess these suppliers and obtain assurances through our pre-contract supplier questionnaire.
Our approved supplier regime ensures that we obtain evidence that our approved suppliers have suitable anti-slavery and human trafficking policies and processes in place and that they, at least, adopt one up due diligence of the next link in the chain. It is not practical for us (and every other participant in the chain) to have a direct relationship with all links in the supply chain.
Our supplier diligence is reinforced through binding contractual obligations and where possible indemnities. Where suppliers do not satisfy us of compliance through the pre-contract diligence process then they do not become approved suppliers and as such they are not used by the group within its supply chain.
We monitor potential risk areas in our supply chain by looking to refresh and update the answers to our approved supplier questionnaire where possible on an annual basis.
We have a system in place to protect whistle-blowers who report any concerns regarding anti-slavery and human trafficking through our whistle-blowing policy.

Supplier Adherence to Our Values

We have a zero tolerance to slavery and human trafficking. To ensure all those in our supply chain and contractors comply with our values, compliance with such values is enforced through our approved supplier contract management process and relationships which relevant commercial departments have with suppliers.

Training

To ensure a high level of understanding of the risks of modern slavery and human trafficking in our supply chains in our business our group legal team educate and advise our group procurement managers who negotiate and contract with suppliers who provide services to the group as part of our approved supplier process. In addition to this all directors of the Group have been briefed on the subject and are updated annually on compliance. Over the course of the next twelve months mandatory online video training on modern slavery and human trafficking will be made available to staff at all levels within our business.

Our Effectiveness in Combating Slavery in Human Trafficking

We have risk assessed key suppliers in our relevant supply chains to identify the risk of any slavery and human trafficking occurring and where these risks exist we have supplied specific diligence questionnaires for completion by the supplier, which request specific evidence supporting relevant answers, as part of our approved supplier process to ensure that no slavery or human trafficking is taking place in its supply chain. This is something which is kept under review on an annual basis.

The Begbies Traynor Group plc board of directors and the Begbies Traynor (Central) LLP designated members approved this statement on Wednesday 5 July 2023.

Signed by: Ric Traynor, Group Executive Chairman

Carbon Reduction Plan

As a professional services business, we believe that the group has a low environmental impact when compared to many other industries. However, we are conscious of the impact we do have on the environment and are committed to making positive changes to minimise this where possible.

We believe the measures required to limit the effects of climate change, including meeting the Net Zero Carbon challenge, are fundamental to our long-term business interests and entirely consistent with our vision and values.

Sustainability Group

We have a sustainability group made up of employees from across the business who look to develop and manage our plans to reduce emissions and waste across our office network.

Greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) statement

Scope 1 are direct emissions from fuel consumption in either buildings or from company leased or owned vehicles.

Scope 2 are indirect emissions from purchase of electricity in our offices.

Scope 3 are emissions from the use of personal or privately-hired vehicles used for company business where employees are reimbursed based on claims for business mileage.

Emissions which result from train travel, flights and taxi journeys are not included in the emissions table.

The carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions data for 2022 and 2021 has been calculated using the emission factors from the UK Government’s GHG Conversion Factors for Company Reporting 2021 published on 2 June 2021 (2020 using 2019 conversion factors).

During the year, the group’s emissions have increased in absolute terms, reflecting the increase in scale of the group and its operations, but remain below the pre-pandemic year of 2020. The emissions per FTE have remained at 2021 levels reflecting a 33% decrease on pre-pandemic levels in 2020