Report of the Independent Auditors
For the year ended 31 March 2009
To the Members of DCC plc
We have audited the Group and Parent Company financial statements (the
‘financial statements’) of DCC plc for the year ended 31 March 2009
which comprise the Group Income Statement, the Group and Parent Company
Balance Sheets, the Group and Parent Company Cash Flow Statements, the
Group and Parent Company Statement of Recognised Income and Expense
and the related notes. These financial statements have been prepared
under the accounting policies set out therein.
Respective Responsibilities of Directors and Auditors
The Directors’ responsibilities for preparing the Annual Report and
the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and International
Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs) as adopted by the European Union,
are set out in the Statement of Directors’ Responsibilities.
Our responsibility is to audit the financial statements in accordance with relevant legal and regulatory requirements and International Standards on Auditing (UK and Ireland). This report, including the opinion, has been prepared for and only for the Company’s members as a body in accordance with Section 193 of the Companies Act, 1990 and for no other purpose. We do not, in giving this opinion, accept or assume responsibility for any other purpose or to any other person to whom this report is shown or into whose hands it may come save where expressly agreed by our prior consent in writing.
We report to you our opinion as to whether the Group financial statements
give a true and fair view, in accordance with IFRSs as adopted by the
European Union. We report to you our opinion as to whether the Parent
Company financial statements give a true and fair view, in accordance
with IFRSs as adopted by the European Union, as applied in accordance
with the provisions of the Companies Acts, 1963 to 2006. We also report
to you whether the financial statements have been properly prepared in
accordance with Irish statute comprising the Companies Acts, 1963 to 2006
and Article 4 of the IAS Regulation. We state whether we have obtained
all the information and explanations we consider necessary for the purposes
of our audit, and whether the Parent Company Balance Sheet is in agreement
with the books of account. We also report to you our opinion as to:
| • | whether the Company has kept proper books of account; |
| • | whether the Directors’ Report is consistent with the financial statements; and |
| • | whether at the balance sheet date there existed a financial situation which may require the Company to convene an extraordinary general meeting of the Company; such a financial situation may exist if the net assets of the Company, as stated in the Company Balance Sheet, are not more than half of its called-up share capital. |
We also report to you if, in our opinion, any information specified by law or the Listing Rules of the Irish Stock Exchange regarding Directors’ remuneration and Directors’ transactions is not disclosed and, where practicable, include such information in our report.
We review whether the Corporate Governance statement reflects the Company’s compliance with the nine provisions of the Financial Reporting Council’s 2006 Combined Code specified for our review by the Listing Rules of the Irish Stock Exchange, and we report if it does not. We are not required to consider whether the Board’s statements on internal control cover all risks and controls, or form an opinion on the effectiveness of the Group’s corporate governance procedures or its risk and control procedures.
We read the other information contained in the Annual Report and consider whether it is consistent with the audited financial statements. The other information comprises only the Chairman’s Statement, the Chief Executive’s Review, the Operating and Financial Review, the Sustainability Report, the Corporate Governance Statement, the Report on Directors’ Remuneration and Interests and the Directors’ Report. We consider the implications for our report if we become aware of any apparent misstatements or material inconsistencies with the financial statements. Our responsibilities do not extend to any other information.
Basis of Audit Opinion
We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on
Auditing (UK and Ireland) issued by the Auditing Practices Board.
An audit includes examination, on a test basis, of evidence relevant
to the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. It also
includes an assessment of the significant estimates and judgments made
by the Directors in the preparation of the financial statements, and
of whether the accounting policies are appropriate to the Group’s and
Company’s circumstances, consistently applied and adequately disclosed.
We planned and performed our audit so as to obtain all the information and explanations which we considered necessary in order to provide us with sufficient evidence to give reasonable assurance that the financial statements are free from material misstatement, whether caused by fraud or other irregularity or error. In forming our opinion we also evaluated the overall adequacy of the presentation of information in the financial statements.
Opinion
In our opinion:
| • | the Group financial statements give a true and fair view, in accordance with IFRSs as adopted by the European Union, of the state of the Group’s affairs as at 31 March 2009 and of its profit and cash flows for the year then ended; |
| • | the Parent Company financial statements give a true and fair view, in accordance with IFRSs as adopted by the European Union as applied in accordance with the provisions of the Companies Acts, 1963 to 2006, of the state of the Parent Company’s affairs as at 31 March 2009 and cash flows for the year then ended; and |
| • | the financial statements have been properly prepared in accordance with the Companies Acts, 1963 to 2006 and Article 4 of the IAS Regulation. |
We have obtained all the information and explanations which we consider necessary for the purposes of our audit. In our opinion proper books of account have been kept by the Company. The Company Balance Sheet is in agreement with the books of account.
In our opinion the information given in the Directors’ Report is consistent with the financial statements.
The net assets of the Company, as stated in the Company Balance Sheet are more than half of the amount of its called-up share capital and, in our opinion, on that basis there did not exist at 31 March 2009 a financial situation which under Section 40 (1) of the Companies (Amendment) Act, 1983 would require the convening of an extraordinary general meeting of the Company.
PricewaterhouseCoopers
Chartered Accountants
and Registered Auditors
Dublin
18 May 2009
