Telford Homes Regulatory News (TEF)

5 Jul 2007 12:45

Telford Homes PLC05 July 2007 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 5 JULY 2007 TELFORD HOMES PLC ('Telford Homes' or 'the Company') AGM STATEMENT At the Annual General Meeting of the Company held earlier today, all resolutionswere duly approved by shareholders. Andrew Wiseman, Chief Executive, made the following comments: "I am pleased to report that Telford Homes has made an excellent start to thefinancial year to 31 March 2008. We recently held the sales launch of Merchants'Quarter on the British Estate E3, the first of our estate regeneration projectsin partnership with Eastend Homes. A total of 105 of the 161 private homes onthe estate were released for sale and all of them were sold at the launch. Theprices achieved were in excess of our original forecasts creating additionalvalue for Eastend Homes under the terms of our contract. This results inincreased funding for the regeneration of existing homes on the estate. The market in East London has remained strong and sales at our otherdevelopments are in line with our expectations. In particular, off plan sales toowner-occupiers at the first phase of Queen Mary's Gate in South Woodford havecontinued despite rising interest rates. In total to date, due to contractsexchanged and properties sold subject to contract, we have 310 private homes, 62affordable homes and six commercial properties contributing to our results forthe year to 31 March 2008. I can also report that the London Borough of Greenwich resolved to grantplanning permission at our Creekside Village West site for 371 homes pluscommercial space on 31 May 2007. This development is a joint venture with TheRoyal Bank of Scotland and we expect to commence work on site early in 2008. The directors have recently reviewed the strategy of the Company and concludedthat we can continue to achieve success and high rates of growth whileconcentrating on East London and surrounding areas. In order to effectivelymanage this growth it will be necessary to keep the structure of the board andthe Company under constant review. As a result of this I am delighted toannounce that both John Fitzgerald and Mark Parker are to be appointed to theboard of Telford Homes from 1 August 2007. John and Mark have been extremelysuccessful in growing the operational divisions since they were formed and theirappointment as Divisional Managing Directors will enable us to set up moreoperating units beneath them in future years. They will jointly take on the roleand responsibilities of the Group Managing Director. David Durant has been Group Managing Director since the start of the Company'soperations in 2001. Increasingly his role in the last two years has changed tofocus more on major planning consents, product design and maintaining keypartnerships. This has been the result of John and Mark growing successfullyinto their roles. David will remain on the board as Planning and DesignDirector. I would like to wish John, Mark and David every success in theirrevised roles. We believe that East London, undergoing dramatic improvement in the builtenvironment, is the best region in which to be developing and yet the supply ofnew homes is still not meeting demand. While higher interest rates may have animpact on the market we do not see this as a long term threat. Our performance to date and our expectations for the rest of the year lead us tobelieve that we will meet market expectations for the year to 31 March 2008 andwe expect to achieve continued growth in the following years." Note - Full details of the new directors will be announced on 1 August 2007 inaccordance with the AIM rules. For further information please contact: Telford Homes PlcAndrew Wiseman, Chief Executive 01992 809800Jon Di-Stefano, Financial Director Shore CapitalGraham Shore 020 7408 4090Alex Borrelli This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange