ASH.L Regulatory News (ASH)

Ashley House plc

Schemes Update

Ashley House plc ("Ashley House" the "Company" or "Group") the health and community care property partner confirms it has signed contracts to start works on a further two community care schemes and has been awarded further schemes.

The Company is pleased to announce that financial close has been achieved on two Morgan Ashley schemes, being a 75 apartment extra care scheme in Freshwater, Isle of Wight and an 80 bed care home in Burnholme, York.

The Freshwater development is being delivered by the same team as Morgan Ashley's Ryde scheme, namely Funding Affordable Homes, Southern Housing as Registered Provider and Stoneham Construction.

City of York Council appointed Morgan Ashley as the developer of the Burnholme scheme, working alongside HC-One who will operate the care home. The development is to be built by local contractor Pacy & Wheatley and is being funded by the USS Pension Fund.

Morgan Ashley therefore currently has four schemes contracted and on site being Ryde, Grimsby, Freshwater and Burnholme. Ashley House is on site with schemes in Scarborough and Peterborough, meaning the Group is currently building almost 400 affordable homes primarily for vulnerable older people. Additionally Morgan Ashley is working hard to achieve financial close in the current quarter on three more pipeline developments for a further 200 affordable homes.

For the future, the Company is pleased to advise that Morgan Ashley has recently been awarded new schemes in two locations that will provide a further 300 homes. These schemes are in addition to the six bid wins of 350 homes announced in January 2019.

All of the schemes are delivered in conjunction with a high quality Registered Provider or care home operator and are fully funded with no sales risk to Morgan Ashley.

Within F1 Modular Limited ("F1M"), the Company's offsite construction subsidiary, all 94 modules have now been delivered to F1M's 40 apartment extra care housing scheme in Aberdare. This scheme, for Linc Cymru Housing Association and Rhondda Cynon Taf Council, is the largest scheme to date undertaken by F1M and is expected to complete in late summer 2019. The team is proud to have been awarded a Certificate of Excellence from the Considerate Constructors Scheme for the Aberdare project.

Finally Ashley House plc, working with its subsidiary F1 Modular Limited, has been successful in securing a place on the NH2 Framework for Modular Housing development operated by the procurement body, LHC. This fully OJEU compliant framework provides local authorities, housing associations and other social landlords with easy access to pre-qualified offsite manufacturers for use of modular construction in new build housing projects. This is therefore an important procurement vehicle for F1M's current and potential clients.

Antony Walters, Chief Executive commented: "The Ashley House Group is delighted to have contracted a further two schemes as well as adding new schemes to its pipeline. However the Board continues to be frustrated at the length of time it takes to progress schemes to financial close. With a healthy pipeline, the Board is urgently seeking ways to improve this process and is continuing with careful diversification of the business. There is clearly a continuing and growing need for the Company's types of development due to the housing crisis, ageing population and the rise of modular construction. Securing a place on the LHC framework reflects the progress made within the Group and is an important route to secure new schemes for F1 Modular."

The Company will update further in early July following the end of its financial period.

More information on the various schemes can be found on the Group's three websites: www.ashleyhouseplc.com ; www.morganashley.com ; www.f1modular.co.uk.

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