AGM Statement

Gleeson(M J)Group PLC 08 January 2003 MJ GLEESON GROUP plc CHAIRMAN'S AGM STATEMENT At the AGM at 12:00 noon today of MJ Gleeson, the construction services, homes and property group, Dermot Gleeson, Executive Chairman, will say: 2001/02 'A detailed review of the Group's financial performance in the year ended 30 June 2002 appears in the Financial Review on page 21 of the Annual Report. However, there are a few points I would like to highlight and I will also comment briefly on our prospects for the current year and beyond. In 2001/02, turnover increased by 35.6% to £572.8m - a figure 131% higher than the Group's turnover just five years ago. However, despite record operating profits from both our construction operations and Gleeson Properties, pre-tax profits fell by 20.1% to £15.1m, mainly as a result of the extremely disappointing performance of Gleeson Homes, to which I first alluded here a year ago and which has since been addressed by a very strong new management team. At the year end, net assets had increased to £150.0m - equivalent to £14.43 per share - providing substantial backing to the recent share price. Subject to shareholders' approval at this meeting, total dividends for the year will be raised by 4.8% to 32.5p per share, which is covered 3.1 times by earnings per share. It is perhaps worth mentioning that the Company has thus maintained its record of never having reduced its dividend in 42 years as a listed company. 2002/03 Turning to the current year, prospects are substantially as indicated in my Statement in the Report and Accounts: a much improved performance by Gleeson Homes and buoyant trading by the Building Divisions are likely to be significantly offset by the softening of the commercial property market, by temporary difficulties in the Engineering Division and by the impact of higher insurance costs. Construction Services In the building sector, both the Southern and the Northern Construction Divisions are expected to increase their turnover substantially in the current year and have excellent order books in terms of length and quality. A downturn in enquiries from the private commercial market - particularly in the South - has been more than counterbalanced by strong growth in demand from the public sector, especially for hospitals, schools and prisons, many of which are being procured through the Private Finance Initiative. The Engineering Division maintains its leading presence in the water industry and has recently won the first phase, worth £10m, of a new partnering scheme for Yorkshire Water. This brings the divisional order book at 1 January 2003 to £430m. However, the slower than anticipated release of projects by some of our partnering clients in the water sector, to which I referred in my Statement, has depressed the Division's short term profit prospects. Amongst our specialist construction subsidiaries, Gleeson MCL, the railway contractor, has a record level of work in hand, including a seven year partnering agreement, worth over £100m, with the Tubelines Consortium for the modernisation of 36 stations on London Underground's Piccadilly Line. The combined construction business' forward order book at 1 January 2003 exceeds £700m, of which £440m relates to relatively low risk partnering agreements. Gleeson Homes The management problems which blighted Gleeson Homes' performance last year have now been addressed and the new management team headed by Terry Massingham is confident that the Division's budgeted profit will be achieved in the current year. The Division has no significant exposure to central London and is experiencing price rises for new homes in the range of 5% to 10% per annum. Unit sales are expected to increase from 477 to more than 500 in the current year, with average selling prices in excess of £200,000 compared with £181,000 in 2001/02. Gleeson Properties Following the completion and sale of four developments in 2001/02, a relatively quiet year is in prospect for Gleeson Properties. As I stressed at the time of the Preliminary Announcement, the short term outlook for speculative commercial property developments is not encouraging and it has been decided to progress such schemes only on a very selective basis pending an upturn in the market. As is indicated in the Financial Review, income from the Group's investment property portfolio in 2001/02 was enhanced by the 'one off' receipt of a £2m premium on the surrender of a commercial lease. This apart, net rental income is likely to remain broadly unchanged in the current year. The Board is currently at an early stage of examining the possibility of transferring the Group's property investment portfolio, together with the related debt, into a non-recourse vehicle, in conjunction with a financial partner. The new entity, which would be managed by Gleeson Properties, would raise additional funding in order to take advantage of the attractive long term investment opportunities that are likely to become available as a result of changed conditions in the property market. Gleeson Regeneration A new Division - Gleeson Regeneration - was formed in February 2002 to enable the Group to focus more closely on social housing and urban regeneration. Good progress is being made in identifying and securing opportunities which will come on stream in 2003/04. Share buy-back Finally, I should mention that on 17 December 2002, the Board decided to purchase for cancellation 200,000 of the Company's shares at a price of £7.80 each - a discount to historic net asset value of nearly 46%. The acquisition represented 1.92% of the allotted shares and the effect of this action is to increase both net assets per share and prospective earnings per share, while having an only marginally adverse effect on the Group's gearing. Subject to the renewal of the appropriate authority by today's meeting, further buy-backs during the next 12 months remain a possibility'. Enquiries: M J Gleeson Group plc 020-8644 4321 Dermot Gleeson (Executive Chairman) David Eyre (Group Managing Director) Colin McLellan (Finance Director) Bankside Consultants Limited Charles Ponsonby 020-7444 4166 / 07789-202 312 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

Companies

MJ Gleeson (GLE)
UK 100

Latest directors dealings