Interim Management Statement

RNS Number : 0282L

Helical Bar PLC

26 July 2011

 



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

Interim Management Statement for the first quarter to 30 June 2011

26 July 2011

"MOMENTUM BUILDING AT HELICAL "

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

"Since reporting to shareholders in the preliminary announcement of 26 May 2011, we have continued to realise cash from sales of properties offering limited future potential, and have already reinvested part of that cash in growth assets. This rotation of the portfolio will be ongoing as we continue to seek assets which offer opportunities for capital and income growth and to drive our development programme."

Key activity:

Acquisitions and disposals

Purchases totalling circa £17m completed:

·     In July we completed the purchase of 80-104 Town Square, Basildon for £11.1m, reflecting an 8% net initial yield. Since acquisition, we have agreed terms to regear three of the retail leases and completed new leases on two office suites. Tenants include JD Sports, Nationwide and T Mobile.

·     In May we completed the acquisition of Langlands Industrial Estate, East Kilbride for c. £6m, representing a 10% initial yield.

Successful disposals programme continues, with approximately £42m of sales completed during the period:

·     In May we completed the sale of 61 Southwark Street, London SE1 for £19.5m, marginally above the 31 March 2011 book value.

·     In June we completed the sale of a portfolio of four industrial estates for £12.1m in Fleet (Hampshire), Glasgow, Hailsham (East Sussex) and Blackwood (South Wales) at book value.

·     In June we completed the sale of a retail property in the centre of East Grinstead for £5.85m, at book value.

·     Since 31 March 2011 we have completed the sales of 10 units at our retirement village at Bramshott Place, Liphook for £4.7m. We have now completed or exchanged contracts on 74 units with a further 17 reserved out of a total of 151 units.

Development Programme

Planning Consents

·     At Mitre Square, London EC3 planning consent for a new building of 273,000 sq ft NIA of offices and 3,000 sq ft of retail / restaurant was formally granted in June 2011. Demolition of the existing buildings is expected to start shortly and will be completed by early 2012 enabling construction of a new building to commence.

·     At Fulham Wharf, London SW6 we have secured planning consent for a 100,000 sq ft supermarket and 463 residential units on behalf of Sainsbury's and are now engaged in bringing forward the development.

·     At Parkgate, Shirley, West Midlands we have secured, with our 50:50 partners, Coltham Developments, an amended planning consent for an 85,000 sq ft Asda supermarket, 72,000 sq ft of retail and circa 120 residential apartments and townhouses and anticipate commencing building work in early 2012.

·     At Maudsley Park, Great Alne we achieved planning consent for a 132 unit retirement village.

·     At Barts, London EC1 good progress is being made towards submitting a detailed planning application by the end of the year for a major mixed use development.

Other

·     At 200 Aldersgate Street London EC1 we continue to receive an encouraging level of interest from potential tenants in this newly refurbished 370,000 sq ft building.

·     At Wood Lane, White City, we have agreed to transfer our interest in Stadium House, an office property adjacent to our development site, into our joint venture with Aviva. Eric Parry Architects have been appointed to lead the overall master planning exercise and we intend to submit a planning application for a circa 2 million sq ft residential led mixed use scheme by May 2012. 

Poland

·     At Europa Centralna, Gliwice (720,000 sq ft) we are preparing the site for the start of construction in September 2011. Financing for this construction is in place and we continue discussions with funds to forward sell or partner the company in this 50% pre-let retail development.

Asset Management

·     We completed 31 new lettings, increasing our contracted income by £815,000, and have completed five lease renewals, securing a further £295,340 of annual rent. However, this was offset by the loss of 19 tenants during the quarter due to lease expiry, breaks or tenants falling into administration resulting in a total reduction of £1,473,000 to our annualized income. The largest of these, which was fully anticipated, was the expiry of the lease to Conoco Phillips at 200 Great Dover Street, London SE1 which accounted for £725,000 of the above, and where we now have a scheme which presents a potentially accretive refurbishment/redevelopment opportunity of 43,000sq ft/60,000 sq ft respectively.

·     Also included in the above was the loss of Aspect Education at Shepherds Building (£335,590). The majority of this space was re-let immediately to Escape Studios & Endemol adding £297,500 with a further three small studios to let with an ERV of £64,000.

Bank Facilities

·     Since 31 March 2011 we have repaid £36.2m of bank borrowings on properties sold and drawn down a further £11.6m on new acquisitions.

·     We have extended by two years the term of a facility on £16.3m of bank debt which was due to expire in April 2011 and have increased our protection against interest rate rises by purchasing a further £75m of interest rate caps at 4% until 2016.

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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