The Shareholder Committee meeting on 19 December 2024 was the sixth biannual meeting of the committee since its inception in November 2023. It was scheduled to receive a report on the performance of the wholly-owned companies of Hounslow Council at the end of the last financial year, and at the end of Quarter 2 of the 2024/25 financial year. It was also scheduled to be asked to approve new appointments to the board of Lampton 360, the holding company for Hounslow's companies, as well as the re-appointment of its external auditors.

Performance of Hounslow's companies

The committee was scheduled to review the performance of the Lampton Group at the end of the last financial year (2023/24), and at the end of Quarter 2 (September 2024) of the current financial year (2024/25).

The report pack for the meeting contains forecasts for the likely year-end financial position of the Lampton Group. It forecasts a loss of £6m, which it says is £4.9m behind budget.

Lampton Group need to generate future profits to cover those historic losses, this report includes the growth strategy [which] aims to demonstrate how that will be achieved through delivering sustainable growth. They recognise their position and they are putting plans in place to stabilise their financial position before returning to profit in the future. ¹ The report also notes that Lampton Leisure became an agent of Hounslow Council on 1 May 2024 and will therefore no longer be reporting a separate profit or loss.

Appointment of directors and auditors

The Shareholder Committee was scheduled to be asked to approve the re-appointment of Mazars as the external auditors of the Lampton Group for one year.

Lampton Group has initiated a procurement process to select new external and internal auditors. The appointment of external auditors by Lampton group has to be approved in advance by the Shareholder Committee according to the Shareholder Agreement agreed by Cabinet in November 2023. ² The committee was also scheduled to be asked to approve Lampton's updated policies on directors' conflicts of interest and gifts and hospitality.

The meeting was also scheduled to be asked to approve the appointment of Robert Overall as Interim Chair of the Lampton Group Board, and Simone Russell as a Non-Executive Director.

Lampton Growth Strategy

The Shareholder Committee was scheduled to receive an update on Lampton's Growth Strategy, which was approved by the Lampton Group Board on 9 September 2024.

The Growth Strategy ... focuses on organic growth associated with services provided to the Council and the commercial cleaning and waste offer alongside the exploration of three specific opportunities: the mobilisation of a Retrofit service to support delivery of the decarbonisation of homes (for the council and external customers); a Commercial Heating service to deliver heating solutions to registered providers and private domestic customers, and to become an appointed contractor on the Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) framework. ³