AGM statement
28 October 2010
Cubus Lux plc
("Cubus Lux" or the "Company")
AGM Statement
At the AGM of Cubus Lux plc to be held today the following statement will be
made by the Chairman, Gerhard Huber:
"Progress towards our goal of establishing Cubus Lux as the leading tourism and
leisure-related property developer and operator in the northern Adriatic has
necessarily slowed over the past year, given the continued tighter credit
markets and the background of general recession across Europe. Indeed, as we
warned at last year's AGM, the knock-on effects of 2008's banking collapse has
lasted years rather than months.
However, credit conditions are now easing, albeit slowly, for long-term
development projects such as ours. In addition, your Board has made substantial
progress in relation to a number of the projects and is also in discussions
with third parties in relation to a variety of financing options for individual
developments.
Furthermore, the tourism market in the northern Adriatic has proved resilient
in the past year and in Croatia, in particular, where total visitor numbers and
nights spent in the country have risen by 4.1% and 1.5% respectively in the
year to July 2010 (source: Ministry of Tourism). Government statistics also
indicate that `sea-based' tourism now accounts for around 10% of all tourism
revenues in Croatia.
Alongside the improvement in general economic conditions, the Government of
Croatia also continues to progress its agenda for tourism and allied
development, with specific focus on marine facilities. In December 2009,
ministers agreed a strategy to add 15,000 new berths and "at least 15 new
priority excellent locations" by 2018; targeting a near trebling of revenues
from this segment of tourism.
This positive political background in Croatia is also apparent in neighbouring
countries, and as a result we are seeing several high quality development
opportunities arising along the Adriatic coast. Your Board's confidence in the
long-term attractions and potential of this part of southern Europe remains
intact.
The Company has identified, for example, seven new locations in Croatia and
Montenegro for marina developments and is working with local administrations
and finance sources to achieve its vision of a `String of Pearls' across the
Adriatic.
Other significant high quality leisure developments are also available to us
and, subject to financing, the Directors believe the Company will realise
substantial opportunities in the year ahead. Economies in this part of Europe
have proved generally more resilient than elsewhere, and your Board believes
the time is right to look beyond the recession and towards recovery, with a
focused strategy for the future.
This is likely to include the disposal of the casino operations and licences
which will allow the Directors' to concentrate all their energies on the
various real estate and tourism projects available to us across the region.
Positive progress has been made on the re-negotiation of the Erste Bank
construction loan for the marina in Plava Vala d.o.o , the Euro loan notes
issued for the acquisition of the Olive Island Project and the Hypo Alpe Adria
loan in Cubus Lux Projektiranje and we expect to be able to make further
announcements on these in the near future. We are also close to finalising the
funding for the Olive Island Resort and Molatska developments.
The marina developments - including the extension of the existing Olive Island
Marina - will be a major focus for the Board this year, as will be the
commencement of the Olive Island resort and completion of the mixed residential
and commercial `Molatska' site in Zadar . The 3.4 million sq metres `Valdanos'
project in Montenegro continues to make progress, with final contracts with the
Government of Montenegro near signing.
We are making progress on all fronts and with other significant projects also
available to the Company, I look forward to a busy and fruitful year."
Gerhard Huber
28 October 2010
For further information about the Company please see www.cubuslux.com or
contact:
Cubus Lux plc Steve McCann +44 (0) 7787 183 184
Astaire Securities Luke Cairns / Rod Venables +44 (0) 20 7492 4750
plc (Nomad)
Hybridan LLP Claire Louise Noyce +44 (0) 20 7947 4350
(Broker)
City Road Pam Spooner +44 (0) 20 7248 8010
Communications
*A Private Investor is a recipient of the information who meets all of the conditions set out below, the recipient:
Obtains access to the information in a personal capacity;
Is not required to be regulated or supervised by a body concerned with the regulation or supervision of investment or financial services;
Is not currently registered or qualified as a professional securities trader or investment adviser with any national or state exchange, regulatory authority, professional association or recognised professional body;
Does not currently act in any capacity as an investment adviser, whether or not they have at some time been qualified to do so;
Uses the information solely in relation to the management of their personal funds and not as a trader to the public or for the investment of corporate funds;
Does not distribute, republish or otherwise provide any information or derived works to any third party in any manner or use or process information or derived works for any commercial purposes.
Please note, this site uses cookies. Some of the cookies are essential for parts of the site to operate and have already been set. You may delete and block all cookies from this site, but if you do, parts of the site may not work. To find out more about the cookies used on Investegate and how you can manage them, see our Privacy and Cookie Policy
To continue using Investegate, please confirm that you are a private investor as well as agreeing to our Privacy and Cookie Policy & Terms.