Henry Boot Regulatory News (BOOT)

7 May 2008 13:03

Boot(Henry) PLC07 May 2008 Henry Boot PLC announces its first Interim Management Statement for the yearending 31 December 2008. The 2007 Annual Report issued to shareholders in April outlined the prospectsfor the Group which remains well placed to continue to capitalise on its broadlybased portfolio of assets and opportunities. The Group has made a strong start to the year, with trading for the firstquarter in line with management expectations. Gearing has been reduced to below10% from 39% at 31st December 2007. The period has been particularly productivefor the business and a number of matters have been progressed or brought to aconclusion as follows:- PROPERTY DEVELOPMENTS • At Bromborough, Wirral, we completed the 37,000 sq ft Tebay Retail Park fully let to Homebase and Magnet eight weeks ahead of schedule. • At Saltwood, Junction 11 on the M20, a 50,000 sq ft service station providing facilities for travellers to the Channel Tunnel and the ferry ports of Dover and Folkestone was completed and opened in January 2008. • At Longwell Park, Bristol, we are tendering the construction contract for the development of 25,000 sq ft of offices split into eight small units, aimed at the owner/occupier market. • At the Clifton Moor Retail Scheme, York, PC World has contracted to lease a 25,000 sq ft retail unit. Construction has commenced on site and we expect this development to complete later in 2008. • We acquired a 7.5 acre site in the Westfield Industrial Area of Cumbernauld which will be developed in the future for office and industrial accommodation. • Terms are being negotiated with a major retailer for a 186,000 sq ft distribution centre on our Meir Park site, just off the A50 in Stoke-on-Trent. If agreed, we expect construction to commence later in the year, with completion in 2009. • A planning application has been submitted for a 186,000 sq ft mixed use scheme in Malton, North Yorkshire, to provide 104,000 sq ft of industrial space, 42,000 sq ft of offices and 40,000 sq ft of bulky goods retail space. LAND PROMOTION AND DEVELOPMENT • At Milton Keynes the sale of a 355 acre site has been completed with our share of sale proceeds exceeding £50m. This major disposal underpins the financial performance of the Group for the current year. • We received Government approval and outline planning consent for the development of an 8 acre retirement community in St. Albans. The scheme will involve the creation of a 40 bed care home, 45 assisted living apartments and 65 age restricted homes with other facilities such as a swimming pool and gym. We have exchanged contracts with Blanchworth Care, who will develop the accommodation. • At Market Harborough we have sold our 50% interest in a 22 acre employment site to our joint development partner. CONSTRUCTION DIVISION • Our Construction business is holding a record, full order book for 2008 with high levels of repeat work scheduled for 2009 and beyond. • We won a £3.4m contract to refurbish two buildings for Sheffield Hallam University, providing computing facilities and design studios. • We continue to work with local authorities in Sheffield, Rotherham, Doncaster and Hull on Decent Homes initiatives and the Prison Service on prison refurbishments in the North of England. • Our plant hire business, Banner Plant, performed well in the first quarter as a result of healthy levels of construction activity. • The PFI project, Road Link, which maintains the A69 between Newcastle and Carlisle for the Highways Agency, has also performed in line with management expectations. OUTLOOK Market conditions in the property sector as a whole are challenging and arelikely to remain so for some time to come. However, the Group has made a verysatisfactory start to the financial year and we are finding that the toughermarkets are already beginning to provide competitively priced opportunities toreplenish our land and development portfolio for the future. On the basis of our performance to date, the developments that are scheduled tocomplete, the land transactions that we expect to bring to the market and ourrecurring construction division profits, we remain confident that the Group willperform in line with market expectations for the current year. Enquiries to: Henry Boot PLCJamie Boot, Group Managing DirectorJohn Sutcliffe, Group Finance Director & Company SecretaryTel: 0114 255 5444 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange