Interim Management Statement

RNS Number : 3012B

Helical Bar PLC

16 February 2011

 



16 February 2011

Helical Bar plc ("Helical" or the "Company")

Interim Management Statement for the four months to 31 January 2011

Commenting on the Company's activity, Michael Slade, Chief Executive, said:

"We are pleased to report another active period for the business with considerable progress made across our sales, new lettings and acquisition activity. Life is far from dull at Helical and our continued focus is to dispose of the few remaining non-performing properties in our portfolio, enabling us to recycle this capital by investing in exciting new developments and good quality secondary investments that offer us the chance to create value.

"We are grateful to our shareholders for supporting our successful placing prior to Christmas. We have added the proceeds from this to the cash contributions from recent sales to increase our spending power in the market, at a time of considerable opportunity."

Investment Portfolio

Purchases

·     We completed the purchase of Newmarket Shopping Centre, Suffolk from the administrators acting 
 for Lloyds Banking Group, for £17.75m, representing a circa 8% initial yield.  This centre comprises 111,000 sq ft of retail space with tenants including Marks and Spencer, Peacocks and Argos.

·     We have exchanged contracts, with completion later this month, on the acquisition of Sutton-in-
Ashfield Shopping Centre, Nottinghamshire from LaSalle Investment Management for £16.10m, representing a circa 8.5% initial yield. This centre is a 140,000 sq ft freehold town centre scheme where tenants include New Look, Superdrug and Argos.

·     Both of these acquisitions provide good yields whilst offering opportunities to use our asset 
management skills to deliver income and capital appreciation. We are continuing to find good opportunities in a difficult investment market where stock picking is key.

Sales

·     We have sold 2-4 Eastcheap, London EC3 for £9.5m at a 6% net initial yield and Sawston Trade Park, 
Sawston for £5.4m at an 8% net initial yield. Both of these properties were part of the F3 Portfolio acquired in June 2010 and were sold at marginally above book value.

·     We continue to review our current portfolio to identify those properties that could sensibly be sold 
to recycle our equity and take advantage of greater yields available on other carefully selected assets.

Asset Management

·     During the four months to 31 January 2011 we completed 22 new lettings across the portfolio adding £660,000 p.a. of contracted rent and 11 lease renewals securing £400,000 p.a. of contracted rent. In the same period, 15 tenants vacated their properties at the end of their leases with a total annual loss of rent of £338,500.  In addition one tenant went into administration in respect of a lease with a passing rent of £5,200 p.a.

·     At Morgans, Cardiff our 270,000 sq ft retail investment continues to gain momentum with new lettings/store openings to Dr Martens, Scribbler, Urban Outfitters and Joules in particular, but also a growing trend for lease renewals of existing arcade tenants.

·     At our principal London offices at Shepherd's Building W14, Battersea SW8 and Southwark Street SE1, occupier demand remains relatively strong with tenants actively seeking lease renewals and new leases. 

Poland

·     At Opole, construction at our 41,000 sq m (440,000 sq ft) retail park, forward sold to Standard Life, will complete and open in March. This scheme is now 57% pre-let with a further 16% under offer.

·     At Europa Centralna, Gliwice, we have signed a €72m construction loan with a view to commencing work on a 67,000 sq m (720,000 sq ft) retail park in Summer 2011.  It is now nearly 50% pre-let with a further 20% under offer.  Discussions continue with potential partners to fund this development.

·     At Wroclaw, we are marketing for sale our 9,600 sq m (103,000 sq ft) retail park.

Retirement Villages

·     At Bramshott Place, Liphook we have now exchanged or completed the sale of 59 cottages and apartments in the village with a further 23 units in solicitors' hands out of a total of 151 units. We have recently started construction of the final phase.

·     We have obtained reserved matters planning approval for our retirement village at St Loye's College, Exeter.

·     With one village under construction, three with planning permission and one going through the planning process, we are now considering our options for taking these developments forward.

Development Programme

·     Our refurbishment of 200 Aldersgate, London EC1 is now complete and this 360,000 sq ft office, owned by Deutsche Pfandbriefbank, is being marketed to let. There is an encouraging level of early interest from potential tenants.

·     At Mitre Square, London EC3, a resolution to grant planning permission has been approved for a 275,000 net sq ft new Grade A office building.

·     We have made a strategic acquisition of Stadium House, Wood Lane, a 31,000 sq ft office building adjacent to our White City site, which is occupied by Siemens.

·     It is anticipated that planning applications for the major mixed use schemes at Fulham Wharf and King Street, Hammersmith will be heard in April/May.

·     We continue to make selective disposals from our development portfolio and have completed or exchanged on £16.5m of sales since September 2010 at a 5% discount to book value.

Placing

·     In December, Helical successfully placed 10,730,000 new ordinary shares, representing approximately 9.99% of the Company's share capital before the Placing, at 270 pence per share raising gross proceeds of £29.0m.

For further information, please contact:

Helical Bar plc Michael Slade (Chief Executive) Nigel McNair Scott (Finance Director) Address:    11 - 15 Farm Street, London, W1J 5RS Fax:            020 7408 1666 Website:   www.helical.co.uk	Tel: [phone]
Financial Dynamics Stephanie Highett / Dido Laurimore / Laurence Jones	Tel: [phone]

 

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