Interim Management Statement

RNS Number : 2451R

Assura Group Limited

18 August 2010

Assura Group Limited ("Assura" or the "Company")

Assura, one of the leading providers of NHS Property and Pharmacy Services, today publishes the following Interim Management Statement covering the period from 1 April 2010 to date.

The Assura Board is pleased to report a strong start to the new financial year. On a consolidated basis, trading for the first quarter was ahead of the Company's expectations. The Company has benefitted from higher than expected increases in rental income from rent reviews conducted to date and the pharmacy division continues to deliver a strong performance. In addition, the Company's LIFT division has benefitted from reaching financial close on two LIFT schemes and is seeing increased levels of interest in Health Planning services.

There have been no significant changes to the financial position of the Company since the publication of the Final Results on 29 June 2010.

Highlights:

· Q1 Group revenues from continuing operations were up 17% compared to the same quarter last year.

· Rental growth in the property portfolio has continued with 13 rent reviews conducted to date producing an average of 5.0% annualised increase in rent equivalent to £122,000 per annum

· Of the six developments on-site at the date of our preliminary results announcement, two have completed with the remaining four continuing as planned. A further scheme is due to start on site in September 2010.

· Q1 pharmacy revenues were ahead of budget in both our wholly-owned and joint venture pharmacies. Like-for-like prescription item numbers were up 10 per cent compared with the same period last year (includes both wholly-owned and joint venture pharmacies)

· New Chesterfield Health Centre Pharmacy opened on 9 August 2010.

· Two LIFT schemes reached financial close: April 2010 - £25m City Centre Health Facility in Coventry; July 2010 - £8.6m Childwall Partnership Project in Liverpool.

· New £10m loan completed on 12 August 2010 with Santander fixed for 5 years at an all-in rate including margin of 3.95%.

· Since the end of Q1, trading has been in line with the performance seen in the first quarter.

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