Result of AGM
Inspace Plc
17 May 2007
Press Release 17 May 2007
Inspace plc
('Inspace' or 'the Company')
Result of AGM
Inspace plc (AIM:INSP), one of the UK's leading specialist service providers to
the social housing market, confirms that all the resolutions put to shareholders
at the Company's Annual General Meeting held today were duly passed.
Executive Chairman, Colin Enticknap, made the following statement at the
meeting: 'My Executive Chairman's Statement in the Annual Report and Accounts
described 2006 as a 'strategically important year'. Whilst that was certainly
the case, it might be considered something of an understatement bearing in mind
the transformation our business went through.
'Through the Widacre acquisition, we grew our business substantially to more
than double its original size; we created a better structure and weighting to
our portfolio; we established a much stronger and broader presence in the social
housing market; and we improved earnings visibility through a workload platform
that trebled in size. Alongside all that, we delivered overall growth ahead of
expectation in most key areas.
'Looking forward, with the first quarter of this year now behind us, we are
pleased to report that we remain on track to deliver 2007 results in line with
market forecasts. We cannot, of course, be complacent; there is still more work
to be done to secure the results and particularly to shape the business for the
longer term.
'In Social Housing, our focus this year is upon migrating our pipeline of '
preconstruction orders', where we are going through the cost planning, design
development or mobilisation stage, into contracts on the ground to unlock the
balance of this year's turnover, and upon building the workload platform for
2008 ideally to include our first 'stand alone' Decent Homes contract. We are
equally focused upon converting those maintenance contracts still invoiced on a
'schedule of rates' basis to a 'cost plus' partnering arrangement, where we have
historically achieved an enviable track record, an important step both to
improve customer service levels and to lift project margins to a satisfactory
level.
'In Affordable Housing, our focus remains upon growing our portfolio of land for
regeneration, preferably in joint venture with RSLs and with only modest capital
outlay, and upon securing the planning consents needed to support our 2008 and
2009 targets.
'And in Corporate Assets, our focus is upon successfully implementing the final
phase of a comprehensive change programme aimed at increasing the quality and
visibility of workload and the efficiency of operational delivery, but without
being distracted from delivering day to day business.
'There is much to do, but we are making encouraging progress across all
divisions. Our markets remain robust and early signs from the Comprehensive
Spending Review suggest that this will continue to be the case; our sales
pipeline, which suffered a seasonal lull at the end of the local authority
calendar, remains substantial with tender opportunities once again flowing well;
and, most importantly, our management team, which is now even stronger with
greater experience, breadth and depth, remains confident in our ability to
deliver continued and sustained growth.'
- Ends -
For further information:
Inspace plc
Andrew Telfer, Chief Financial Officer Tel: +44 (0) 1462 678 910
andrew.telfer@inspace.co.uk www.inspace.co.uk
Seymour Pierce
Mark Percy, Corporate Finance Tel: +44 (0) 20 7107 8000
markpercy@seymourpierce.com www.seymourpierce.com
Media enquiries:
Abchurch
Henry Harrison-Topham Tel: +44 (0) 20 7398 7702
henry.ht@abchurch-group.com www.abchurch-group.com
Notes to editors
Inspace plc is a property based services group, and one of the UK's leading
specialist service providers to the social housing market. Inspace has three
complementary areas of activity: social housing, affordable housing and
corporate assets.
Social Housing - creating and maintaining sustainable homes
The division is one of the UK's leading specialist service providers to social
housing landlords through long term framework contracts. Its services comprise
major 'repair and maintenance', 'stock reinvestment' and new build programmes
for local authorities, Arms Length Management Organisations (ALMO) and
Registered Social Landlords (RSLs).
Total spending on social housing is currently around £14 billion per annum, of
which around £10.3 billion is spent on repair, maintenance and improvement. Of
this, £4 billion is spent on ongoing repair and maintenance, with the remaining
£6 billion being spent on capital projects such as major refurbishment and
improvement. This includes a contribution of between £1 billion and £2 billion
a year from the Decent Homes initiative. The provision of new housing, which is
currently running at around 35,000 units a year, adds a further £3.5 billion to
this sum.
Affordable Housing - developing integrated communities
The affordable housing division specialises in the provision of low cost homes
for sale in partnership with RSLs, usually alongside social housing built by the
Social Housing division, as part of more extensive mixed tenure schemes. It has
already established a number of joint venture companies with RSLs and through
its involvement in the Key London Alliance consortium, has been appointed to
provide mixed tenure developments under the Government's London Wide Initiative.
Corporate Assets - improving and maintaining public and private real estate
The corporate assets division provides a comprehensive repair, maintenance,
capital works and interior design service across public and private sector
non-residential real estate. It delivers 24/7 integrated maintenance services
across England, Scotland and Wales through its national network of branches and
'home based' mobile engineers. Its specialist design-led service offers
customers an integrated interior design, installation and furnishing 'one stop'
solution.
Further information on Inspace can be found at www.inspace.co.uk
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange