ACHL.L Regulatory News (ACHL)

1 Sep 2006 07:01

Asian Citrus Holdings Ltd01 September 2006 For immediate release 1 September 2006 Asian Citrus Holdings Limited ("Asian Citrus" or "the Company") Development Project Asian Citrus, the largest orange plantation owner and operator in China,announces plans and a management contract with Nan Chen Ji Real EstateDevelopment Limited ("Nan Chen") for the development of two lots of landtotalling 0.2 sq.km in the Xinfeng County Zhongduan Industrial Park. The land was acquired in April 2003 (0.11 sq.km) and March 2004 (0.09 sq.km) foran aggregate consideration of RMB 57 million. As described in the Company'sAdmission Document of 28 July 2005, the Company intends to establish an orangeprocessing centre including warehouses, refrigerated storage and a centre forcleaning, grading, packaging and waxing oranges ("Orange Processing Centre").Land Use Rights Certificates are held over the entire area. It is expected thatthe Orange Processing Centre will be operational by December 2007. Under the agreement with Nan Chen, a real estate development company registeredin Xinfeng County of Jiangxi Province, a subsidiary of the Company has appointedNan Chen to be responsible for the design and development of the site includingthe Orange Processing Centre. In addition, the project has been expanded toinclude the development of an agricultural trade and wholesale market focused onfruits of approximately 150,000 sq. metres together with a car park, a block ofserviced apartments and other services. Around 650 units are expected to be soldto local producers who will use the market frontage to sell their produce. NanChen will also be responsible for the sale of these units. The Directors expect the Company to derive many long term benefits from thisproject as it seeks to become the major supplier of high grade oranges in China.It will have first-hand knowledge of some of the best orange growers in theregion which should lead to excellent sourcing opportunities as demand grows. Itwill also give the Company access to new customers throughout China who areexpected to use this new market facility. The project will be undertaken in three stages. The first phase, which theCompany has committed to fund under the contract, is expected to be completed bythe first quarter of 2007 for an investment of RMB 52 million (of whichapproximately RMB 28 million had been paid by 30 June 2006). The pre-sale of theunits in the first phase, numbering about 250, will commence in October 2006 andthe sale of these units is expected to mitigate the capital commitment of theCompany over time. It is intended that the Company's investment will be fundedby its existing financial resources and by new bank facilities to be put inplace. For undertaking the development and providing the necessary services to enablethe project to proceed, Nan Chen will receive a share of the development profit. Further information will be provided as the development proceeds. Tony Tong, Chairman and CEO, commented: "The expansion of the project to includean agricultural trade and wholesale market in Xinfeng will help the Group togather more up-to-date information about sources of high quality oranges whichshould lead to excellent sourcing opportunities as demand grows. In addition,this market will be one of the largest agricultural trade and wholesale marketin the southern part of China which represents a landmark to the Group's latestdevelopment. We expect that this project will bring to the Group long termbenefits as we proceed to become a major supplier of high quality oranges inChina" About Asian Citrus Holdings Limited Asian Citrus Holdings Limited is the largest orange plantation owner andoperator in China and has two plantations in the Hepu county of the GuangxiZhuang Autonomous Region and the Xinfeng county of the Jiangxi province ofChina. Its primary goal is to sell quality oranges at an affordable price and,in so doing, strengthen its position as a leading, mechanised and industrialisedorange grower and distributor in China. For Further Information Contact: Terry Garrett/ John Moriarty/Helen ThomasWeber Shandwick Square Mile 0207 067 0700 Michael Wentworth-Stanley/James MitfordJPMorgan Cazenove Limited 0207 588 2828 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange