Care 1st Limited
Registered name: CARE 1ST LIMITED
Part of Cera Care Limited groupCare 1st Limited made £5.9m revenue and £1.2m profit in the year to 31 Dec 2024.
Care 1st Limited’s revenue grew 20% to £5.9m in the year to 31 Dec 2024, with £1.2m profit and 94 employees. The company is classified under “other human health activities” and is based in Colchester; we hold 4 years of its filed accounts.
- Status
- Active
- Location
- Colchester, East of England
- Age
- 21 yrs · since 2005
- Type
- Private Limited Company
Part of a group. The filing indicates this company sits within a group structure, so its results may depend on intra-group trading and it may be hard to replicate independently.
Key figures
Badges are automated estimates derived from the filed figures — not statements of fact about the company.
Financial history
| Year to | 31 Jan 2022 | 31 Jan 2023 | 31 Dec 2023 | 31 Dec 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Disclosure | No P&L | No P&L | Full P&L | Full P&L |
| Profit & loss | ||||
| Revenue (turnover) | — | — | £4.9m | £5.9m |
| Cost of sales | — | — | £2.9m | £3.7m |
| Gross profit | — | — | £2.1m | £2.2m |
| Operating profit | — | — | −£556k | £1.2m |
| Profit before tax | — | — | −£556k | £1.2m |
| Profit after tax | — | — | −£579k | £1.2m |
| Profit (best available) | — | — | −£579k | £1.2m |
| Employees (average) | 197 | 114 | 128 | 94 |
| Ratios | ||||
| Profit margin | — | — | −11.7% | 20.1% |
| Gross margin | — | — | 41.5% | 37.3% |
| Revenue per employee | — | — | £38.6k | £62.9k |
| Profit per employee | — | — | −£4.5k | £12.7k |
| Growth (year on year) | ||||
| Revenue growth | — | — | — | ▲19.7% |
| Headcount growth | — | ▼42.1% | ▲12.3% | ▼26.6% |
| Balance sheet — indirect signals, not revenue | ||||
| Cash at bank | £638k | £240k | £1.1m | £2.1m |
| Net assets | £4.5m | £4.7m | £1.6m | £2.8m |
| Fixed assets | £40.8k | £25.3k | £44k | — |
| Current assets | £5.1m | £5.1m | £2m | £3.1m |
| Debtors | £4.4m | £4.8m | £740k | £732k |
| Deferred income | — | — | £183k | £204k |
| Source | AbridgedAccounts · bulk data Jan 2024 | AbridgedAccounts · bulk data Jan 2024 | FullAccounts · bulk data Jul 2026 | FullAccounts · bulk data Jul 2026 |
How the business works
- Profit margin
- 20.1%
- Profit ÷ revenue.
- Gross margin
- 37.3%
- Gross profit ÷ revenue. High for software and services.
- Revenue per employee
- £62.9k
- Revenue ÷ average employees.
- Profit per employee
- £12.7k
- Profit ÷ average employees.
- Cash conversion
- —
- Cash generated from operations ÷ operating profit. Needs a cash-flow statement.
- Fixed assets ÷ revenue
- —
- Capital intensity. Low = capital-light, cheaper to start.
- Deferred income ÷ revenue
- 3.4%
- Customers paying upfront (subscriptions, deposits). Approximate when combined with accruals.
- Debtors ÷ revenue
- 12.4%
- Money owed by customers. Low = customers pay quickly.
Balance-sheet signals
Year-on-year changes in filed balance-sheet items. They can hint at momentum (or investment) but are not revenue or profit and must not be read as such.
- Net assets
- ▲76%
- Now £2.8m
- Cash at bank
- ▲101%
- Now £2.1m
- Headcount
- ▼27%
- Now 94
- Deferred income
- ▲11%
- Now £204k
- Fixed assets
- —
- Now —
Deferred income is reported together with accruals in this filing (“accruals and deferred income”), so it is an approximate signal only.
Group structure
Ownership chain
- Cera Care Limitedultimate parent75–100%
- Cera Care Operations Holdings Limited75–100%
- Care 1st Limitedthis company
Bands show the share of ownership each company holds in the one below it.
Sister companies (21)
- Apex Prime Care Holdings LtdRev. £38.9m · Profit £1.5m
- First City Nursing Services LimitedRev. £25.8m · Profit £1.3m
- Alpenbest LimitedRev. £13.8m · Profit £417k
- Homecare4u LimitedRev. £8.9m · Profit £653k
- Apex Prime Care Group LtdRev. £136k · Profit −£1.3m
- Cera Care Central LimitedRev. £85.7k · Profit −£11.7m
- A1 Quality Home Care LimitedFigures not disclosed
- Allied Health Support LimitedFigures not disclosed
- Care at Home Services (South East) LimitedRev. — · Profit −£374k
- Care Quality Services LimitedFigures not disclosed
- Cera Care Carers LtdFigures not disclosed
- Cera Care Operations (Scotland) LimitedFigures not disclosed
- Cera Care Technology LimitedFigures not disclosed
- Cera Homecare LimitedFigures not disclosed
- Cera Housing C.I.C.Figures not disclosed
- Cera Virtual Care LimitedFigures not disclosed
- Gemcare South West LimitedFigures not disclosed
- Home Healthcare Operations LimitedFigures not disclosed
- My Care (Holdings) LimitedRev. — · Profit £294k
- Premier Care LimitedFigures not disclosed
- Sugarman Health and Wellbeing LimitedFigures not disclosed
From the Persons with Significant Control register (corporate controllers only).
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Sources
Latest figures from FullAccounts for the year to 31 Dec 2024 (profit £1.2m), from the Companies House accounts bulk data published Jul 2026. Spotted an error? Request a correction.
Contains public sector information from Companies House licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Data from Companies House, © Crown copyright. View the licence.