AGM Statement

RNS Number : 0131G

Harworth Group PLC

24 May 2017

 

24^th May 2017

Harworth Group plc

AGM Statement

Harworth Group plc ("Harworth" or the "Company"), the brownfield land regeneration and investment specialist, will hold its Annual General Meeting at 11am today, when the following statement will be made:

"The Company continued to make strong progress in the first five months of 2017, enhancing both its Capital Growth and Income Generation portfolios, and completing a successful equity placing to accelerate its acquisitions' strategy.  The anticipated full year results continue to be in line with the Board's expectations.

CAPITAL GROWTH

The Capital Growth team has continued to deliver value growth, principally through planning success, sales realisations and new deal structures.  In April 2017, we secured a resolution to grant planning consent for 1.45m sq. ft of employment space at Kellingley in North Yorkshire.  In the same month, consent was also secured for 0.019m sq. ft of employment space at Swadlincote in Derbyshire for a new leisure scheme.

This progress has been matched by the team selectively disposing of investment properties to maximise returns from our portfolio, with land sold to housebuilders for a total of 218 housing plots so far this year.

As announced on 4 May 2017, Harworth has entered into an 80/20 joint venture with Lancashire County Pension Fund ("LCPF") to develop the next phase of the Company's Logistics North development in Bolton.  Ten commercial units totalling approximately 564,000 sq. ft across 31.2 acres are planned to be delivered during 2017 and 2018.  Harworth will realise income from development and asset management in addition to receipts from the sale of land.  Management are increasingly using joint ventures to improve risk-weighted returns and widen the Company's base of customers and partners.

Sales in the first half of the year have been completed above 2016 year-end book values.

INCOME GENERATION

The Income Generation team has maintained its push for increasingly resilient recurring income.  This has included actively exploring transactions on the Company's most valuable sites to capture development management, asset management and promotion fees from third parties.  In addition to the LCPF deal, Whistl took a ten-year lease in January 2017 of Logistics 225 at Logistics North - the unit forward funded by M&G Real Estate, triggering a promote fee from them for letting the building within six weeks of practical completion.

ACQUISITIONS

The Acquisitions team continues to identify and negotiate on key land and property opportunities within the Company's core regions.  To accelerate the acquisitions strategy, an equity placing was undertaken in March 2017, raising £27.1m (net of expenses) through the placing of 29,226,974 new Ordinary Shares representing 9.99% of the Company's share capital prior to the placing.

Good progress continues to be made in performing the necessary due diligence on exercising the land options in place and in negotiations on the remainder of our pipeline of acquisition targets at the time of the placing.  Several of these options are expected to be exercised in the second half of the current financial year.

LOOKING AHEAD

As detailed in a separate announcement released today, Jonson Cox, Chairman, has confirmed his intention not to seek re-election next year.  Consequently, the process to identify his successor has been initiated and the Company will make a further announcement on this as appropriate.

Harworth moves into the final seven months of the year with confidence.  Demand for new housing and commercial space, particularly for units under 100,000 sq. ft, remains strong within the Company's core regions.  As in previous years, residential and commercial sales are expected to be weighted towards the second half of the current financial year.

Overall, trading is in line with management's expectations and the Board remains confident in the Company's ability to deliver and grow shareholder value through the property cycle."

-ENDS-

Enquiries

Harworth Group plc		Tel: [phone]
Owen Michaelson, Chief Executive
Andrew Kirkman, Finance Director
Cardew Group		Tel: [phone]
Emma Crawshaw / Shan Shan Willenbrock

Notes to Editors

Listed on the main market, Harworth Group plc (LSE: HWG) is a leading brownfield regeneration and property investment specialist which owns and manages a portfolio of approximately 22,000 acres of land over 140 sites located throughout the Midlands and North of England. The Company specialises in the regeneration of former coalfield sites and other brownfield land into employment areas, new residential developments and low carbon energy projects.

http://www.harworthgroup.com/ 

 

END

 

 

AGMUOSSRBRAVUAR