Artisanal Sp.co Regulatory News (ART)

6 Nov 2007 11:29

Artisan (UK) PLC06 November 2007 ARTISAN (UK) PLC AGM STATEMENT At the Annual General Meeting of Artisan (UK) plc, the business park developerand housebuilder, Chairman Michael Stevens made the following statement: "Since our June period end, the Group has made solid progress. In particular,our commercial developments company, Artisan (UK) Developments, is enjoying avery satisfactory level of interest in forward sale and let opportunities,particularly at its two new sites in Kings Lynn and Ipswich." "I am delighted to announce today that we have contracted the forward sale of aself store unit at our Ipswich site. This is a substantial 80,000 square feetbuilding on a 20,000 square feet floor plan which, subject to planningpermission, will commence construction in spring 2008." "Rippon Homes, the Group's East Midlands based house building subsidiary, isstill finding that each sale is hard won, in line with the experience ofhousebuilders in other parts of the UK. The number of potential purchasersvisiting our sites, and sales reservations made, has varied widely over theperiod. It is still too early to discern a clear pattern, since success for thecurrent year will depend on the key residential seasons - this Autumn and Spring2008 - generating sufficient sales." "The acquisition of new sites, both as replacement stock and new outlets, is keyto the Group's growth, and much effort is directed towards this by bothdivisions. Whilst land with a planning permission remains in short supply, wehave continued to purchase land successfully, and we are tendering for more landas sales income progresses." "We found sales of commercial units a little slow coming out of the summer, butthis is counterbalanced by very good progress on our forward commercial salesobjectives for the current year. Whilst we expect trading, particularlyresidential, to be weighted towards the latter part of the current year, yourBoard is confident that a good result can be achieved for the year as a whole.However these remarks are made with the caveat that the group cannot avoidgeneral market conditions, and I remain concerned that the financialconsequences of the difficulties in the sub prime sector could further impactthe wider economy." All the ordinary and special resolutions put to the AGM were duly passed. Artisan (UK) plc Chris Musselle Chief Executive 01480 436666 email@artisan-plc.co.uk Brewin Dolphin Securities Limited Nominated advisers 0845 270 8613 Andrew Kitchingman Bankside Consultants Financial PR advisers 020 7367 8888 Simon Rothschild 07703 167065 Louise Mason Company website: www.artisan-plc.co.uk This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange