Panther Securities Regulatory News (PNS)

3 Dec 2012 14:18

3 December 2012 Panther Securities PLC ("Panther" or "Group") Trading update

Panther is pleased to announce the further trading update following on from details provided in its Interim Management Statement for the three month period ended 30 September 2012.

Purchases

The Group has now completed the following purchases:

* Long leasehold retail investment 14-26 Williamson Street, Liverpool. * Feuhold (Scottish equivalent of freehold) office and industrial investment in Ruchill Street, Glasgow. * Long leasehold interest of the retail and office investment 18-80 & 84-106 Main Street, Coatbridge, near Glasgow.

These will produce total net income of £1,215,000 on the combined investment of £7,045,000 (excluding stamp duty).

Panther had also previously announced that it had agreed terms and instructed solicitors for the freehold property purchase of a multi-let high street retail parade investment for circa £4 million with rental income of £770,000 per annum. However due to the LPA receiver having the wrong information on a significant tenancy and a further tenant exercising a break clause the Group is now reconsidering the purchase of this property.

As previously announced, the Group is still seeing significant value in properties currently on the market and we are considering raising new finance via bank loans or possibly issue of bonds, or disposing of some of our properties where we can obtain good prices from special purchasers.

As ever we remain upbeat about Panther's future prospects.

Chairman's Mini Ramblings

At the moment there are probably over 100,000 empty shops in the UK and we probably have our fair share. This morning during breakfast I nearly choked on my kippers when I heard the Radio 4 newsreader and both a male and female MP castigating Starbucks for not paying enough corporation tax.

No-one said Starbucks:-

* Have opened about 750 shops in the UK and probably pay over £10,000,000 per year commercial rates. * Employ about 15,000 people on whose salary the company pays a huge amount of National Insurance tax. * Probably spend over £150,000 per shop in the UK fitting out these shops on which 20% VAT is levied. * Collect and pay a large amount of VAT on sales. * Insure all their properties and have to pay tax on the premiums. * Use a large amount of electricity, gas and water paid for plus VAT and almost certainly a climate change levy.

All of the tens of millions of pounds they contribute to the UK economy is paid whether they make a "profit" or not. Their corporation tax payment/non-payment is legal and probably negligible compared to the enormous overall contribution to the Treasury and the benefits they provide in filling our High Streets with bright, pleasant, desirable units, used by hundreds of thousands of people every week is unmentioned.

Unfortunately we do not have one single Starbuck tenancy in our portfolio. They would be a good tenant for us, for a pension fund, for an institutional or private investor. We need many more foreign companies to come and invest in the UK not to frighten them away with a McCarthy style witch-hunt.

What really caused my blood pressure to rise as I drove to work was the fact that the lady MP was notorious for overseeing the complete failure of a London Council's child protection system and the male MP had previously resigned for an expense irregularity by taking advantage of a loophole available to MPs to avoid Capital Gains tax on a second home. It almost goes without saying that neither has had any business experience.

However, as I parked, a song from 1966 by The Kinks came on the radio which started with "The taxman's taken all my dough" which put me back into good humour as I realised nothing has changed, we still have vindictive idiots in charge, just different ones!

Andrew PerloffChairman

For further information contact:

Panther Securities PLC 01707 667 300

Andrew Perloff - Chairman

Simon Peters - Finance Director