Michelmersh Brick Holdings Regulatory News (MBH)

3 Jul 2007 14:55

Michelmersh Brick Holdings PLC03 July 2007 Michelmersh Brick Holdings plc ("Michelmersh" or "the Company") Increased stake in Baggeridge Brick Plc Trading Update The Board of Michelmersh announces that it has today acquired 809,000 ordinaryshares in Baggeridge Brick PLC ("Baggeridge"). Following this transactionMichelmersh holds 10,356,869 ordinary shares in Baggeridge representing 25.1 percent of the issued share capital of Baggeridge. This will strengthen theCompany's options with regard to this strategic stake. Consideration for the Baggeridge shares is to be satisfied by way of the issueof 1,998,230 Michelmersh new ordinary shares (the "New Shares") to the vendors.The New Shares are expected to be admitted to trading on AIM on 6 July 2007. On 3 May 2007 Michelmersh reported that sales for the first four months of theyear were 17% ahead of the same period in 2006 and the Company was seeing strongdemand for its products across all the group companies. The Board is pleased toannounce that sales in the six months to 30 June 2007 continue to show similarimprovement over the first half of 2006. The Company has also enjoyed thebenefit of energy costs having stabilised at significantly lower levels thanlast year and from improved production efficiencies, particularly at theBlockleys and Michelmersh works. The Board anticipates that underlyingoperating profit for the six months to 30 June 2007 will be significantly higherthan the comparable period in 2006 and will be ahead of budget for the period. The Company is also pleased to announce that planning consent was granted lastweek for the application to extract clay on the eight acres of land held underoption at the Company's Michelmersh plant. This will secure the clay necessaryfor production at this plant for the foreseeable future. Enquiries: Michelmersh Brick Holdings plcEric Gadsden 01494 758 055Martin Warner 01442 870 227 Charles Stanley Securities 020 7149 6000Russell CookAnthony Noakes Tavistock Communications 020 7920 3150Jeremy CareyRichard Sunderland This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange