AGM Trading Update

RNS Number : 8891Z

Boot(Henry) PLC

23 May 2019

 

                                                                                                                        23 May 2019

HENRY BOOT PLC

('Henry Boot', 'the Company' or 'the Group')

AGM TRADING UPDATE

Henry Boot PLC, a company engaged in land promotion, property investment and development, and construction, will hold its Annual General Meeting at 12.30 p.m. today at which the Chairman will make the following statement regarding current trading and the outlook for the current financial year.

Trading and outlook

The Group's land promotion and its property investment and development business segments traded well during the first five months of this year. The financial performance of the three businesses within our construction segment together remain in-line with our expectations. Hallam Land has a strong pipeline of sales opportunities which are expected to conclude in the remainder of 2019, although, and as is always the case, there is some uncertainty with regard to the timing of these deals within a particular financial period. Within Henry Boot Developments, we expect to conclude and hand over The Event Complex Aberdeen ('TECA') to Aberdeen City Council on time and in-line with the cost plan.

Given the good start we have made in 2019, and anticipating no major changes to the underlying UK economic conditions arising from both BREXIT and wider global political uncertainties, we expect the Group's performance for the current financial year ending 31 December 2019 to be in-line with the Board's existing expectations.

KEY EVENTS IN THE PERIOD

LAND PROMOTION

Hallam Land Management, our strategic land business, has once again made a solid start to the year, as highlighted below, and has a strong pipeline of sale transactions working towards a conclusion during the remainder of the year.

During the period:

·	We have concluded land sales totalling over 1,094 plots on nine sites. In addition, we have exchanged contracts on a further two sites and are in detailed discussions regarding the sales of a further twelve schemes which are expected to complete later in 2019 and 2020.
·	We have recently obtained planning permission on two sites for 1,100 units and now have 45 sites working through the sale process comprising 16,481 units. We also have 10,730 units on 25 sites which are currently subject to undetermined planning applications or are at appeal.
·	The total portfolio of land promotion sites is now 186 covering over 14,000 acres with a further 46 sites, across nearly 4,000 acres, much of which we expect to be brought into the portfolio subject to the completion of due diligence and legal agreement.

PROPERTY INVESTMENT AND DEVELOPMENT

Henry Boot Developments continues to successfully deliver a number of schemes, whilst acquiring new opportunities for the future. Schemes we are working on at present include:

·	TECA is now almost through the development programme and is on course to be completed in August 2019 and handed over to Aberdeen City Council.
·	The Company has further strengthened its development pipeline of employment land, following acquisitions at Preston and Wakefield, taking the total amount of employment land across the country under our control to over 900 acres.
·	In addition to the 539 unit build to rent scheme in Manchester City Centre, which is still on track to complete in Summer 2020, we have a total of 248 private for sale units over four separate development sites and at various stages of planning which we are targeting to be under construction from 2020.

Our jointly-owned house builder, Stonebridge Homes, is trading well and is targeting sales of over 150 units in 2019. Reservations and sales to date are consistent with achieving this goal, and we expect the average selling price per unit to be slightly higher in 2019 than in 2018.

CONSTRUCTION AND PLANT HIRE

Our construction business continues to work across a wide range of sectors, including industrial, residential, custodial, health, commercial, education, leisure and civil engineering. We have made a strong start to the year and in 2019 we expect to achieve a higher level of activity than in 2018. We are currently bidding for some larger contracts which, if successful, will begin to underpin the 2020/2021 order books.

Our plant hire business, Banner Plant, was slightly down on a like-for-like basis through the first quarter, reflecting slower construction activity across the UK market. While improved weather conditions have seen levels of activity improve slightly, we continue to expect the business to achieve a marginally quieter year than 2018.

Road Link (A69) Limited, our PFI contract, is trading in-line with management expectations and we expect this to continue through the remainder of the year.

For further information, please contact:

Henry Boot PLC

John Sutcliffe, Chief Executive Officer

Darren Littlewood, Group Finance Director

Tel: [phone]

www.henryboot.co.uk

Investec Bank plc

Corporate Broker

Carlton Nelson/David Anderson

Tel: [phone]

Hudson Sandler LLP

Financial PR

Nick Lyon/Wendy Baker

Tel: [phone]

About Henry Boot PLC

Henry Boot PLC (BOOT.L) was established over 130 years ago and is one of the UK's leading and long-standing land promotion, property investment and development, and construction Group of Companies. Based in Sheffield, the Group comprises the following three segments:

Land Promotion:

Hallam Land Management Limited

Property Investment & Development:

Henry Boot Developments Limited, Stonebridge Homes Limited

Construction:

Henry Boot Construction Limited, Banner Plant Limited, Road Link (A69) Limited

The Group possesses a high-quality strategic land portfolio, an enviable reputation in the property development market backed by a substantial investment property portfolio and an expanding, jointly owned, housebuilding business. It has a construction specialism in both the public and private sectors, a growing plant hire business, and generates strong cash flows from its PFI contract, Road Link (A69) Limited.

www.henryboot.co.uk

 

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