Interim Management Statement

Interim Management Statement

Gresham House plc

GRESHAM HOUSE plc (“the Company”)

Interim Management Statement (Unaudited)

Introduction

This Interim Management Statement (the “Statement”) has been prepared in order to provide information to meet the requirements of the UK Listing Authority’s Disclosure and Transparency Rules. The Statement covers the three month period to 31 March 2013 together with relevant information up to the date of publication.

Investment Objective

Gresham House plc is an authorised investment trust listed on the London Stock Exchange. Following the passing of an ordinary resolution at the Company’s 2011 annual general meeting, its investment objective and policy is the orderly realisation of the Group’s assets over a period of approximately two years with a view to returning capital to shareholders thereafter. This period of time however is likely to be longer than originally anticipated given, in particular, the continuing fragile state of the commercial property market.

Material Events and Transactions

The Company’s final results for the year ended 31 December 2012 were announced on 18 April 2013 and are available on the Company’s website www.greshamhouse.com.

The Directors are aware of the following events or transactions which have occurred in the period from 1 January 2013 to the date of this Statement:-

(i) the sale of 1.2 acres at Vincent Lane, Dorking to T E Beteillgungs GmbH (trading as Lidl) was completed in January 2013 and Lidl has commenced the development of its store. Also in January 2013 Persimmon Homes Limited were successful in its planning appeal for a residential development on the remainder of the site. It is anticipated that the sale of the site will be completed by end July 2013;

(ii) terms have been agreed for the letting of Northern Gateway, Knowsley. Once the lease has been completed, contracts can be entered into for the sale of this investment;

(iii) disposals within the securities portfolio amounted to an aggregate of £1,136,000 at slightly above values as at 31 December 2012;

(iv) net cash/borrowings has decreased by £1,867,000 from £(12,110,000) at year end to £(10,243,000) as at 31 March 2013;

(v) a decrease of 0.4% in the IPD UK Quarterly Property Index for Capital Growth for the three months ended 31 March 2013; and

(vi) as at 31 March 2013 the value of the securities portfolio had increased by approximately 10.6% since 31 December 2012 compared with an increase in the FTSE All Share Index of 9.3%.

The Company has one class of share capital: ordinary shares of 25p each. There have been no changes in the issued share capital of the Company since 31 December 2012, which at today’s date, remains at 5,369,880 shares.

Financial Information

Investments - Properties

Investment properties are shown at fair value based on current use. All property investments were valued by Jones Lang LaSalle Limited, Chartered Surveyors, as at 31 December 2012 at a combined total of £28,896,000. These external valuations were carried out on the basis of market value in accordance with the latest edition of the Valuation Standards published by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. The directors do not consider that there has been any material change in the value of these properties since year end.

Rental income on the property portfolio for the three months ended 31 March 2013 was £212,000 compared with £1,038,000 for the year ended 31 December 2012. As stated in the Report of the Directors contained within the financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2012, the amount of vacant space as at 31 December 2012 was 137,496 sq. ft. representing 23% of the total available. There has been no significant change to these numbers since the year end.

Investments - Securities

  As at 31.03.2013

Unaudited

  As at 31.12.2012

Audited

£’000 £’000
Listed securities – on the London Stock Exchange 100 1,149
Securities dealt in under AIM 2,259 1,782
Securities dealt in under ISDX 46 64
Unlisted securities 4,104 4,059
   
TOTAL 6,509 7,054

Top Ten Investments at 31 March 2013

 

Market Value

  % of portfolio
£’000s
Memorial Holdings Limited # 2,151 33.0
SpaceandPeople plc*

Attila (BR) Ltd Loan notes#

2,001

915

30.7

14.1

AudioGravity Holdings Limited # 590 9.1
Kemnal Investments Ltd Loan notes# 399 6.1
Avesco Group plc* 259 4.0
Royal & Sun Alliance plc preference shares‡ 100 1.5
Wheelsure Holdings plc † 46 0.7
Lancashire Tea Limited Loan# 25 0.4
Northgate plc preference shares# 12 0.2
   
6,498 99.8
‡ UK Listed
* AIM traded securities

† ISDX traded securities

# Unlisted securities

Securities have been valued on the same basis as that adopted in the Group’s Consolidated Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2012.

Sector analysis as at 31 March 2013

  % of securities portfolio
Property investment 53.4
Media & photography 34.7
Engineering

Financial

9.8

1.5

Others 0.6
 
100

Comparative movements

  31.03.2013

Unaudited

  31.12.2012

Audited

  % change

Basic net asset value per ordinary share

N/A

472.5p

N/A

Share price (pence) 312.50 322.50 (3.1)
FTSE All Share index 3380.64 3,093.41 9.3

Further information on the Company and Group, including a copy of this Statement, can be found at www.greshamhouse.com.

D Lucie-Smith

Chief Executive Officer

10 May 2013

UK 100

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