Helical Bar Regulatory News (HLCL)

1 Aug 2007 07:02

Helical Bar PLC01 August 2007 1 August 2007 HELICAL BAR PLC ("Helical"/ "Company"/ "Group") Interim Management Statement Helical Bar announces a strong start to its financial year having continued tomake good progress across its broad spectrum of added value activities. Giles Weaver, Chairman, commented: "The Company has delivered good progress in the year to date by applying itsskills to a wide portfolio of activities. The Helical model of using specialistmanagement skills, often alongside specialist partners, on a wide diversity ofprojects across all sectors will enable us to continue to deliver outperformancefor shareholders." Key Activity The Company has received a number of planning consents in London: • At Mitre Square, EC3, planning consent has been granted for a scheme comprising 350,000 net sq ft. • At Battersea, SW8, planning consent has been obtained for a second phase 50,000 sq ft office development which will commence this autumn. • A planning consent has also been granted for our office/leisure scheme at Clareville House, Panton Street, SW1 and work on the refurbishment has already commenced. An encouraging level of letting activity has been seen in Company's projects atAldridge, Woolwich, Crawley and Battersea Studios, London SW8 (Phase 1). We have acquired a site in Telford where it is intended to gain change of use toresidential. Building work has begun on the retirement village project in Liphook. We have a growing pipeline of residential and retirement village projects wherevalue is to be unlocked through the planning process. The Government's recentlyannounced intention to accelerate housebuilding is a helpful backdrop to theseplanning negotiations. TK Maxx has opened its new 54,000 sq ft store in the Company's Morgan'sdevelopment in Cardiff and is trading well. Borders, Moss Bros and Rossitersare opening in August and September representing a further 50,000 sq ft ofspace. At Shirley, Birmingham detailed planning consent has been granted for 200,000 sqft retail and 200 residential units. At Wolverhampton, a gaming licence has beenreceived for the casino pre-let to BIL. At the end of the first quarter, 46% of Helical's investment portfolio wasconcentrated in the office sector in London which is experiencing strong rentalgrowth and where the Company believes it can continue to add value. Helical continues to make good progress with its retail joint venture in Poland.It has acquired a further retail site at Opole (260,000 sq ft) and is continuingto make progress on the other retail schemes at Gliwice (800,000 sq ft) andWroclaw (120,000 sq ft). Board Appointments As set out in a separate announcement today, we have made a number of changes tothe Board. Matthew Bonning-Snook and Jack Pitman have been appointed to the main board asExecutive Directors with immediate effect and, in addition, the board is pleasedto confirm that Michael Brown (46), currently the Company's Investment Directorand an Executive Director since 1998, has been appointed Deputy Chief Executivewith immediate effect. We refer shareholders to today's announcement of new Board appointments for fulldetails. Annual General Meeting All resolutions at the Annual General Meeting held on the 25 July 2007 wereapproved with substantial majorities. -ENDS- For further information, please contact: Helical Bar plc Tel: 020 7629 0113Michael Slade (Chief Executive)Nigel McNair Scott (Finance Director) Website: www.helical.co.uk Financial Dynamics Tel: 020 7831 3113Stephanie Highett /Dido Laurimore This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange