GIBRALTAR Law and Practice Contributed by: Adrian Pilcher, Stuart Dalmedo and Louise Anne Turnock, ISOLAS LLP
ments, redemptions and purchase of own shares nor to inform Companies House of every occa - sion where it allots or redeems shares. It should be noted that these exemptions only apply to collective investment schemes that avail themselves of the voluntary notification process to Companies House of their specific status. A collective investment scheme may choose not to make such a disclosure, and therefore to forfeit the rights to the exemptions afforded under the Companies Act. Directors’ Report and Accounts The directors of a company are required to pre - pare an annual report for each financial year. Generally, this report should include the follow - ing details of the company: • details of the company’s likely future develop - ments; • what dividend (if any) is recommended for payment; • a fair review of the development and perfor - mance of the business of the company (and its subsidiary undertakings, if applicable) dur - ing the financial year, as well as its position at the end of the year; and • a description of the principal risks and uncer - tainties facing the company. The Companies Act also prescribes the account - ing principles to be observed in preparing the annual accounts, the layout of the balance sheet and profit and loss account, and the content of the notes to the accounts. Companies are classified as micro, small, medi - um or large, and the documents to be filed at Companies House vary according to their clas - sification, as set out below.
• Net turnover (pro-rated if more than or less than a year): micro – up to GBP632,000; small – up to GBP10.2 million; medium – up to GBP36 million; and large – over GBP36 million. • Balance sheet total (total assets): micro – up to GBP316,000; small – up to GBP5.1 million; medium – up to GBP18 million; and large – over GBP18 million. • Average number of persons employed: micro – up to ten; small – up to 50; medium – up to 250; and large – over 250. A company must fall within two of the three parameters (set out above) in the financial year in question and the preceding year, in order to be classified as small, medium or large. If a com - pany exceeds or ceases to exceed the limits of more than one of the parameters, it will continue to qualify for the relevant year unless that con - tinues to be the case in two consecutive years. If the financial year is the company’s first, the conditions only need to be met in its first finan - cial year: • large companies are required to file full accounts, including the balance sheet, profit and loss account, notes, directors’ report and auditors’ report; • medium companies are required to file the same accounts as for large companies, except that the profit and loss account may be in an abridged format; and • micro and small companies are required to file an abridged balance sheet only. Accounts may be filed in a number of primary currencies (such as British pound, US dollar, euro, Japanese yen and Swiss franc). The relevant documents must be filed within 12 months of the financial year end. Special rules
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