16. Intangible assets and goodwill

The Group capitalized £15.8 million of employee and contractor development expenditure in the year ended December 31, 2022 (2021: £11.1 million).

Impairment testing

For the purposes of impairment testing, intangible assets and goodwill have been allocated to the Group’s CGUs as below.

The Group performed its annual impairment test in December 2022 which considered both qualitative and quantitative factors.

UK

The recoverable amount of the UK CGU of £491.2 million as at December 31, 2022 (2021: £1,658.6 million) has been determined based on a value in use calculation using cash flow projections covering a seven-year period. This was extrapolated from the 2023 budget which was approved by the Board of Directors. The pre-tax discount rate applied to cash flow projections is 21.3% (2021: 15.7%) and cash flows beyond the seven-year period are extrapolated using a 2.0% growth rate (2021: 2.0%). As a result of the analysis, there is an impairment charge of £136.7 million (2021: headroom of £1,004.7 million).

For value in use calculations, cash flows are typically forecast for a five-year period. Management has used a longer period of seven years for the UK CGU to better reflect the medium-term growth expectations for this CGU and the stage of growth of the Company.

Cazana

The recoverable amount of the Cazana CGU of £2.7 million as at December 31, 2022 (2021: £4.6 million) has been determined based on a value in use calculation using cash flow projections covering a five-year period. This was extrapolated from the 2023 budget which was approved by the Board of Directors. The pre-tax discount rate applied to cash flow projections is 18.1% (2021: 23.3%) and cash flows beyond the five-year period are extrapolated using a 2.0% growth rate (2021: 2.0%). As a result of the analysis, there is headroom of £1.0 million (2021: impairment charge of £5.5 million) and management did not identify an impairment for this CGU.

Key assumptions and sensitivity analysis

The key assumptions used in the estimation of the recoverable amount are set out below.

Discount rates

The discount rate calculation is based on the specific circumstances of the Group and its CGUs and is derived from its weighted average cost of capital (WACC). An increase in the pre-tax discount rate to 22.3% (i.e. +1.0%) in the UK CGU would result in an additional impairment charge of £54.6 million. An increase in the pre-tax discount rate above 28.9% (i.e. +10.8%) in the Cazana CGU would result in impairment.

Gross margins

Gross margins increase over the budget period to reflect the Group’s focus on unit economics through higher margin and faster moving inventory, with a long-term retail GPU target of approximately £2,000. A decrease in the gross margin by 1.0% in the UK CGU would result in further impairment of £157.8 million. A decrease in the gross margin by 1.0% in the Cazana CGU would reduce the headroom but not result in impairment.

Terminal growth rate

The terminal growth rate is used to extrapolate cash flows beyond the forecast period. A decrease in the terminal growth rate by 1.0% in the UK CGU would result in further impairment of £26.9 million. A decrease in the terminal growth rate by 1.0% in the Cazana CGU would reduce the headroom but not result in impairment.