Helical Bar Regulatory News (HLCL)

25 November 2010

H E L I C A L B A R P L C

("Helical"/"Company"/"Group")

H a l f Y e a r R e s u l t s

Financial Highlights:

§ Operating profit for the half year of £1.9m (2009: loss of £3.4m)

§ Diluted EPRA net assets per share of 261p (31 March 2010: 272p)

§ Gain on revaluation of investment portfolio £9.5m at the half year. After sales, purchases and capital expenditure - up 3.4%

§ Group's share of net rental income of £8.4m (2009: £8.6m)

§ Diluted EPRA loss per share of 9.1p (2009: loss of 6.4p)

§ Ratio of net borrowings to property portfolio of 47% (31 March 2010: 47%)

§ Cash and unused bank facilities of over £85m together with £39m of uncharged property on which funds could be borrowed ensure the Company is well positioned to capitalise on market opportunities

§ Reduced administration costs of £3.7m (2009: £4.0m)

§ Interim dividend maintained at 1.75p per share (2009: 1.75p)

Operational Highlights:

Active portfolio management to maximise income and preserve and enhance capital value growth potential:

§ Ongoing disposals programme, with £97m of sales of mainly non-income producing assets completed or in solicitors' hands in the year to date.

§ Successful letting programme, with over 40 new lettings or renewed leases increasing annualised income by £685,000, compared to £560,000 of rent lost through expiries or breaks.

Establishing a substantial platform for future value creation, with timing of delivery dependent on prevailing market conditions and the securing of appropriate funding structures:

§ Over 1m sq ft of office developments in Central London

§ 1.2m sq ft portfolio of out of town retail development assets in Poland

§ Engaged in the promotion of up to 3,000 residential units in London in existing joint venture partnerships and consortia

§ 606 retirement units with planning consent, of which 150 units are already built or under construction.

Commenting on the results, Michael Slade, Chief Executive, said:

"We believe that the investment and trading deals that we are now finding will provide income surpluses, capital gains and trading profits. As the cycle unfolds, the development opportunities we are now pursuing should produce substantial profits. Old fashioned property skills will be to the fore and we believe that the market today offers us the opportunity to produce the outperformance in the future that our shareholders have come to expect."

For further information, please contact:

Helical Bar plc 020 7629 0113

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

Financial Dynamics 020 7831 3113

Stephanie Highett

Dido Laurimore

Laurence Jones

FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS

Notes

1. Includes Group's share net rental income joint ventures of £1.9m (2009: £0.1m).

2. The Group's share of the results of entities controlled equally by the Group and its joint venture partners.

3. Calculated in accordance with IAS 33 and the best practice recommendations of the European Public Real Estate Association ("EPRA"). See note 8 of Half Year Statement.

4. Represents the impairment of the original cost of investment in Quotient Biosciences Group Limited, held as an available-for-sale investment. A further £8.3m (net of tax) write off has been taken through the Statement of Comprehensive Income in accordance with IAS 39, reducing diluted EPRA net assets per share by 10p. See note 11 of Half Year Statement.

5. Calculated in accordance with the best practice recommendations of EPRA. See note 20 of Half Year Statement.

6. Includes the trading and development stock surplus of £33.5m (31 March 2010: £33.0m). See note 10 of Half Year Statement.

7. Net gearing is the ratio of net borrowings to net assets excluding the surplus on fair value of trading and development properties.

C h a i r m a n ' s S t a t e m e n t

Introduction

Helical has enjoyed a good six months both in terms of acquisitions and disposals undertaken during the period. We have been very disciplined in converting non-performing and, in particular, non-income producing assets into cash. Our existing cash funds and bank relationships have enabled us to remain active in the investment and development markets in our chosen sectors. We now see a number of very interesting schemes and investment opportunities being sold by the banks, institutions and over-geared private property companies and we regard the coming year as a 'buying' opportunity.

Basis of Preparation

In line with industry practice, Helical values its investment portfolio on a six monthly basis and, as part of the wider valuation process, the directors have also considered the current values of trading and development stock. In addition, and in accordance with IAS 39, the company values its available-for-sale investments on a fair value basis. This half year statement accounts for valuation movements in the investment portfolio and available-for-sale investments to 30 September 2010 and includes, in the diluted EPRA net asset value per share, unrealised surpluses on trading and development stock.

Results

In the six months to 30 September 2010, Helical incurred a loss before property write-downs, gain on sale and revaluation of investment properties and tax of £0.9m (2009: profit £1.8m). An impairment in the carrying value of its development sites of £10.2m (2009: £6.2m), a gain on the sale and revaluation of investment properties of £9.7m (2009: loss £4.4m) and an impairment of the Group's available-for-sale investments of £1.8m (2009: nil) increased this loss before tax to £3.2m (2009: £8.8m). A further write-down of the Group's available-for-sale investments of £8.3m (net of tax) has been recognised in the Statement of Comprehensive Income. The Group's share of net rental income was £8.4m, including properties held in joint ventures, (2009: £8.6m) and there was a trading property loss of £0.4m (2009: £nil). Administration costs reduced to £3.7m (2009: £4.0m) and the net financing charge was £3.5m (2009: £4.1m).

A corporation tax charge of £nil (2009: £0.7m) has been combined with a deferred tax charge of £0.7m (2009: credit of £1.6m) for a net tax charge of £0.7m (2009: credit £0.9m).

We are declaring a maintained Interim Dividend of 1.75p per share (2009: 1.75p), payable on 23 December 2010 to shareholders on the register on 3 December 2010.

Diluted loss per share, was 3.7p (2009: 7.5p) and diluted EPRA loss per share was 9.1p (2009: 6.4p).

Basic and diluted net assets per share fell to 217p per share (31 March 2010: 228p). The diluted EPRA net asset value per share, which includes the surplus on fair value of trading and development properties as at 30 September 2010 was 261p (31 March 2010: 272p).

Financing

Helical has repaid £30.2m of debt in the first half and a further £16.2m has been repaid since 30 September 2010 as a result of the sales of Fieldgate Street, Paignton, Watford, Crawley, Whitstable, Eastcheap and industrial units at Southampton, Southall and Kidlington.

At 30 September 2010 the Group had net borrowings of £209.0m (31 March 2010: £203.0m) and gross property values of £442.6m (31 March 2010: £435.5m). The ratio of net borrowings to the value of the property portfolio (including the directors valuation of stock) was 47.3% (31 March 2010: 46.6%). Net debt to equity gearing at 30 September 2010 was 91% (31 March 2010: 84%).

At 30 September 2010, the Group had £87m (31 March 2010 £93m) of fixed rate borrowings with an average effective interest rate of 6.6% (31 March 2010: 6.4%) and an average length of 1.75 years (31 March 2010: 2.25 years) and £34m of interest rate caps at 6% (31 March 2010: £34m at 6%). In addition the Company has a £30m floor at 4.5% until 2013. The Group has over £85m of cash and agreed, unutilised, bank facilities, as well as £39m of uncharged property (at fair value) on which it could borrow funds.

As at 24 November 2010, Helical's average interest rate was 4.6%.

Outlook

Despite the emergence from recession at the start of 2010, there remain a number of obstacles to continued economic growth, not least the potential impact of the Government's Comprehensive Spending Review and other actions needed to reduce the UK budget deficit. However, I am encouraged by the progress made by the Company in re-balancing its property portfolio and am optimistic that the many opportunities that Helical is pursuing will provide good growth in the coming years.

Giles Weaver

Chairman

25 November 2010

CHIEF EXECUTIVE'S STATEMENT

Over the last three years the downturn in the property market has presented many daunting obstacles. Throughout we have maintained the "Helical model" of a mix of investment, trading and development in a variety of sectors and we are beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel.

If there is a silver lining to these dark clouds it is that buying opportunities are starting to appear, both in Central London development plays and in the wider investment market. This is not surprising as many potential buyers are 'out on their feet', pre-occupied with sorting out legacy issues and unable to raise debt. The institutions and foreign investors are concentrating on the most secure, prime end of the market. By contrast real dangers still lurk for specific assets in the secondary/tertiary markets with rents still falling and voids getting worse.

Between these two extremes we are seeing opportunities for careful, disciplined stock picking of individual assets and development schemes, some of which are described in this announcement. Our existing cash resources, lenders willing to support our acquisitions and a hard won reputation for doing what we say we will do are leading to increasing deal flow and so we look forward to the next year or two with increasing excitement.

Aspects of our results for the last six months are disappointing, especially the continued write-downs in our trading and development portfolio. However, this is the inevitable result of our way of doing business - we have not sat and looked at those assets with limited potential, we have marked to market and thrown ourselves into selling them, placing a premium on recovering cash which we can recycle into new acquisitions with real potential upside. In total, we have sold circa £100m of trading and development stock since April 2009, and £61m since the year end in March. Of this latter sum, £45m is of non-income producing stock. I cannot guarantee that we will not suffer further losses as we continue to aggressively sell trading and development stock.

Equally, short term exceptional trading profits similar to our recent successes at Tideway, Battersea, and Riverbank House, Upper Thames Street have been hard to come by as a result of standing back from the development market since 2004/5. Moving forward we have planted many 'acorns' to build up an exciting and profitable development portfolio for this cycle including 200 Aldersgate, out of town retail in Poland, White City, Mitre Square and others, but we must wait for market forces, planners, funds and last but not least for our future tenants to perform on our stage before we receive the fruits of our labour.

In the shorter term, we believe that the investment and trading deals which we are now finding will provide income surpluses, capital gains and trading profits. As the cycle unfolds, the development opportunities we are now pursuing should produce substantial profits. Old fashioned property skills will be to the fore and we believe that the market today offers us the opportunity to produce the outperformance in the future that our shareholders have come to expect.

Michael Slade

Chief Executive

25 November 2010

PROPERTY PORTFOLIO

A complete list of the Group's ongoing projects is noted below but a summary of the more significant matters that have progressed since 31 March 2009 is as follows:

Trading and Development Stock

Our primary concern over the last 18 months has been to recover equity from those assets with limited potential (especially non-income producing) to re-invest in new opportunities. The only way to achieve sales in this market is to be competitive on pricing. This has involved write downs over the last two years, and even in the last six months. In effect we are putting a premium on having cash for new acquisitions and are accepting discounted prices on sales of certain properties to achieve this.

We have sold circa £100m of trading and development stock since April 2009 of which £80m has been non-income producing. Of this, £61m has been sold since the year end in March 2010, £45m of which was non-income producing. We have a further £6m in solicitors' hands or under offer to be sold and expect a further £44m will be sold by next March.

200 Aldersgate, London EC1

Helical has an Asset and Development Management Agreement with the owners of the building. Refurbishment works have been completed and the marketing of circa 360,000 sq ft NIA offices will commence in January at a time when the City is moving towards a shortage of quality office space.

Mitre Square, London EC3

A planning application for a new Grade A office building of 275,000 sq ft NIA was submitted in June and is expected to be decided by the planning committee shortly. Once planning consent is granted we will have a deliverable scheme able to commence with a pre-let or with a partner.

Hammersmith, London W6

A planning application was submitted in November for circa 100,000 sq ft of new Council offices, 320 new private homes, a food store together with retail/restaurants around a new public square, and a bridge linking Hammersmith Town Centre with Furnival Gardens and the River Thames. Our joint venture company (which is 50/50 owned with Grainger plc) King Street Developments Limited, was selected as part of an OJEU process competition in 2007.

Fulham Wharf, London SW6

Helical Bar was appointed as development managers by J. Sainsbury plc to procure a planning consent for this site at Sands End in Fulham. An application was submitted in August for a 100,000 sq ft supermarket together with 472 residential units and associated car parking. Helical will benefit from a fee once planning permission is secured together with a profit share.

White City, London W12

The White City Opportunity Area Planning Framework is due out for public consultation in early 2011. The intention is therefore to work up a planning application during next year for submission at the end of 2011.

Poland

Helical currently hold three assets in Poland, a market with strong potential for growth.

Wroclaw - this scheme was completed in December 2008 and was fully let at completion. Since then it has been trading well, yielding over 8% on cost. Halfords is withdrawing from Eastern Europe to concentrate on the UK market so we are in the process of agreeing a surrender of its lease and a re-let to TK Maxx at a slightly higher rent. We are planning to market the property once the TK Maxx letting is completed.

Turawa - construction is well under way on this scheme of circa 40,000 sq m. It is fully forward funded with Standard Life who will buy out the income at 6.4% when fully let post completion. Reasonable progress is being made on lettings and we anticipate being fully let by summer 2011 following its opening next March.

Europa Centralna, Gliwice - The new motorway road network has been completed around the site and most of the enabling works have also been undertaken. The main construction work is due to commence in Q2 2011 and to enable this to happen, a €72m construction loan has been signed. Tenant interest is strong: nearly 50% of area is pre-leased and a number of tenants are due to sign before the end of the year.

Investment Portfolio

There was a valuation increase of 3.4% in six months to September including capex, sales and purchases which compares to the IPD monthly index of 2.4% over the same period.

The breakdown of the investment portfolio is as follows:

We hold 50% of our investment portfolio (£139m, our share) in three assets.

The Morgans, Cardiff

A prime retail asset on the Hayes opposite St David's 2, let to White Stuff, Moss Bros, Schoon and TK Maxx. New lettings to Urban Outfitters, Joules and Dr Martens in the last six months have increased rental values from £135 psf to £171 psf. With current contracted rent of £3.1m versus ERV of £4.1m, we see many opportunities for asset management initiatives and further rental growth over the medium term.

Clydebank Shopping Centre, Clyde

In January 2010, we completed the acquisition of Clydebank Shopping Centre, North West of Glasgow for £68m (8.3% net yield) from AXA/CIS (£72.1m gross cost) in a joint venture with Prime Commercial Properties, with Helical taking a 60% equity stake. Value has increased 11% since acquisition. The current rent is £7.875m pa and there is a vacant ERV of £1.4m pa. There is considerable upside potential both by way of yield shift and letting vacant units.

Shepherds Building, London W14

151,000 sq ft refurbished office just south of Shepherds Bush Green and Westfield shopping centre. Following recent lettings the building is now 100% let, mainly to media related tenants, on an average rent of £22.70 psf. Ongoing tenant demand is strong with recent lettings at £25 to £30 psf depending on size, giving good prospects for rental growth over the next three to five years.

Acquisitions

We acquired a mainly industrial portfolio for £46.5m in June 2010 (£48.6m gross cost). The portfolio comprised nine assets, of which six are multi-let industrial units, one single let industrial and two offices (one of which is in Eastcheap in the City). Two of these assets were sold for £15.8m pre completion, leaving seven assets yielding 10.5% net. Following asset management initiatives, two further assets have been sold since completion for a profit of £2.7m and there are valuation gains on the retained assets of £4.2m. The remaining portfolio yields 11% on cost. One further asset is currently under offer for sale at above its book value.

Sales

Since the year end we have completed three sales in Witham (from the industrial portfolio), Crawley and Paignton for a total of £9.9m, 2% above the March 2010 valuation. Since the half year end we have sold a fourth property for £9.5m, 32% above the acquisition price in June.

Future Investment Acquisitions

We are currently seeing a three tier market in the UK, namely:

1. Prime / trophy 'institutional' assets which have limited opportunities to add value, characterised by competitive bidding and, especially, by significant money flows from foreign investors.

2. Well located 'institutional' assets, which would benefit from capex and value added initiatives.

3. Weak secondary / tertiary assets, which will in many cases show dramatic falls in rents and increasing voids, a market which Helical is avoiding.

We believe that there is now is a rare opportunity to buy assets with substantial surplus rental income over the cost of debt and that historically these market windows do not last long. We are looking at multi-let properties in the "second tier", including good quality shopping centres, retail parks, industrial estates and inner-London offices, at yields of between 7.5% and 10.0% as well as portfolios offering opportunities for medium term trading profits (e.g. as with our recent industrial portfolio purchase), mainly higher yielding retail and industrial assets.

We continue to focus on careful, disciplined stock picking of active management opportunities which are temporarily below the institutional radar but out of reach of buyers who are unable to raise debt. Whilst some of these opportunities will come from banks selling distressed assets, we believe they are more likely to come from over-geared private property companies and from institutions and larger REITs looking to rebalance their portfolios.

Introduction

We have been engaged by the Company to review the condensed set of financial statements in the half-yearly financial report for the six months ended 30 September 2010 which comprises the consolidated income statement, the consolidated statement of comprehensive income, the consolidated balance sheet, the consolidated cash flow statement, the consolidated statement of changes in equity, and the related notes. We have read the other information contained within the half year statement: Chairman's Statement, Chief Executive's Statement, Financial Highlights and Property Portfolio and have considered whether it contains any apparent misstatements or material inconsistencies with the information in the condensed set of financial statements.

This report is made solely to the Company in accordance with guidance contained in ISRE (UK and Ireland) 2410 "Review of Interim Financial Information performed by the Independent Auditor of the Entity." Our review work has been undertaken so that we might state to the Company those matters we are required to state to them in a review report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the Company, for our review work, for this report, or for the conclusion we have formed.

Directors' Responsibilities

The half-yearly financial report is the responsibility of, and has been approved by, the directors. The directors are responsible for preparing the half-yearly financial report in accordance with the Disclosure and Transparency Rules of the United Kingdom's Financial Services Authority.

As disclosed in note 1, the annual financial statements of the group are prepared in accordance with IFRSs as adopted by the European Union. The condensed set of financial statements included in this half-yearly financial report has been prepared in accordance with International Accounting Standard 34, ''Interim Financial Reporting,'' as adopted by the European Union.

Our Responsibility

Our responsibility is to express to the Company a conclusion on the condensed set of financial statements in the half-yearly financial report based on our review.

Scope of Review

We conducted our review in accordance with International Standard on Review Engagements (UK and Ireland) 2410, ''Review of Interim Financial Information Performed by the Independent Auditor of the Entity'' issued by the Auditing Practices Board for use in the United Kingdom. A review of interim financial information consists of making enquiries, primarily of persons responsible for financial and accounting matters, and applying analytical and other review procedures. A review is substantially less in scope than an audit conducted in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK and Ireland) and consequently does not enable us to obtain assurance that we would become aware of all significant matters that might be identified in an audit. Accordingly, we do not express an audit opinion.

Conclusion

Based on our review, nothing has come to our attention that causes us to believe that the condensed set of financial statements in the half-yearly financial report for the six months ended 30 September 2010 is not prepared, in all material respects, in accordance with International Accounting Standard 34 as adopted by the European Union and the Disclosure and Transparency Rules of the United Kingdom's Financial Services Authority.

Grant Thornton UK LLP

Chartered accountants

London

25 November 2010

Consolidated Income Statement

For the Half Year to 30 September 2010

Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income

For the Half Year to 30 September 2010

Consolidated Balance Sheet

At 30 September 2010

Consolidated Balance Sheet (continued)

At 30 September 2010

Consolidated Cash Flow Statement

For the Half Year to 30 September 2010

Consolidated statement of changes in equity

At 30 September 2010