INL.L Regulatory News (INL)

17 June 2014

Inland Homes PLC

('Inland Homes', 'Inland' or the 'Group')

Land Update

Four further site acquisitions with total GDV of £73 million; planning permission granted at five sites and 48 plots sold at Drayton Garden Village for £7.6 million

Inland Homes, the specialist housebuilder and brownfield land developer, today announces that it has acquired two sites, in Acton, West London and High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, and entered into options over a further two sites in Frating and Boreham, both in Essex. The combined gross development value of the four sites totals £73 million.

In addition, the Group has successfully obtained planning consent for a total of 101 units across five existing sites and 48 residential plots have also been sold at Drayton Garden Village for £7.6 million.

Inland's new 1 acre site in Acton, West London is in close proximity to Shepherd's Bush and has been acquired from Saint-Gobain. A planning application for a 100 unit apartment led residential scheme is expected to be submitted by Autumn this year. The site is income producing with a commercial tenant in situ with nine months left on its lease producing rental income of £22,000 to Inland. This is the second acquisition the Group has made of a site situated on the fringes of central London, following the acquisition of a 1 acre site in Woolwich, London in May 2013.

The High Wycombe site is an income producing Headquarters office building set in 5 acres with significant residential development potential. Inland is promoting the site for residential development and believe it could ultimately deliver 50 residential units. This is a strategically important site providing the opportunity to assemble adjacent land to deliver up to a further 500 much needed new homes. The tenant is in place until 2017 paying annual rent of £77,000, which increases Inland's total annual rental income from its commercial property portfolio to approximately £610,000.

The Group intends to seek planning permission for up to 50 residential units at the 6.5 acre site in Frating and for 28 residential units at the 2.3 acre site in Boreham, on both of which it has taken an option.

Inland also announces that it has received planning consent for a total of 101 units at five sites: at Bushey, Hertfordshire (41 units); Chelmsford, Essex (14 units); High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire (14 units); Farnborough, Hampshire (26 units); and on behalf of Drayton Garden Village (6 units).

48 residential plots have also been sold at Drayton Garden Village, by Drayton Garden Village Limited ('DGVL'), to a major house builder for £7.6m. In March 2014, Inland Homes' share of profit for the provision of development services provided by the Group to DGVL increased to the maximum limit of 90 per cent and, as has been previously stated, Inland Homes' Board of Directors anticipates that, from 1 January 2014, the Group's share of future profits from DGV should be approximately £5.4 million, net of tax, which is equivalent to 2.66p per ordinary share.

Following the above transactions the Group's land bank is as follows:

Commenting, Stephen Wicks, CEO, Inland Homes, said:

"Inland's business has developed significant momentum in recent times. These latest transactions are a further sign of the Company delivering on its strategic intent to increase its land bank, which stands at record levels, through the acquisition of well located sites with strong development potential acquired, where possible, on attractive, deferred terms.

 "As conditions in the housing market remain buoyant, particularly in the South and South-East, where our sites are located, we have the option of developing sites ourselves or selling land parcels to volume housebuilders, from whom there remains strong demand.

"The key for us is to appropriately balance extracting the maximum value from our land bank with efficient capital recycling in order to continue to grow net assets and deliver maximum value for shareholders in the long-term.

"We are well positioned, and well funded, in a market that remains strong, and are confident of making further progress in the future." 

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

Inland Homes identifies brownfield land in the South and South-East of England principally for residentially led development schemes. The business then enhances the land value by obtaining planning permission, before building houses for private sale or selling consented land onto other developers.