Thg Regulatory News (THG)

21 Jul 2005 07:00

Terrace Hill Group PLC21 July 2005 Terrace Hill Group PLC ("Terrace Hill" or "the Company") Trading Update - Busy Third Quarter Terrace Hill has made significant progress in its third quarter of its financialyear, with a flurry of activity in July. On 19 July 2005 Terrace Hill sold the high quality new office development 16Berkeley Street, Mayfair, London developed in joint venture to private investorsat a price of £39.4 million. Terrace Hill's share exceeds its recently revaluedcarrying value by £1.9 million. The proceeds, due in cash on completion on 25August 2005, will be used to repay project specific borrowings and as workingcapital as Terrace Hill continues to expand its development programme. Havingbeen held as an investment, the sale of Terrace Hill's interest is a substantialtransaction in terms of the AIM Rules. The nine storey development, managed byTerrace Hill since completion in 2003, has been fully let to nine tenants,mostly in the financial sector, to provide a gross rental of £1.9 million. Terrace Hill sold its 156,000 sq. ft. mixed industrial property at PowerhubBusiness Centre, Maidstone, Kent on 13 July 2005 to private investors for £6.4million. This was its recently revalued carrying value. Acquired as part ofGrosvenor Land Holdings PLC ('Grosvenor') last year, the discount to the valueat which it was acquired has been carried as negative goodwill and is nowreleased to the benefit of Terrace Hill's profit and loss account. Terrace Hill's expanding interests, partly direct, and partly in joint venture,in an increasing land bank with residential development prospects in CentralScotland has also been increased this month. The Company has agreed to acquire22 acres of brownfield site, nearly all already vacant, in a location which isbeing increasingly developed for Edinburgh commuters. The quarter had begun with the sale of another, smaller, Grosvenor property,Powerhub Business Centre in Manchester for £4 million. Furthermore, TerraceHill has been included in a short list of four developers for Tees ValleyRegeneration's £300 million North Shore development on Teeside. Managing Director Philip Leech said "The investment market has been particularlystrong recently; hence our decision to sell 16 Berkeley Street, which we hadpreviously held as an investment and managed most satisfactorily. At the sametime we have made a profit on the resale of the Grosvenor property in Maidstone." "While it is encouraging to see developments in which we have put much workbrought to fruition profitably, it is also good to increase our scope forfurther expansion. The brownfield site in West Lothian offers considerablepotential and we continue to explore other possible acquisitions." * * ENDS * * For further information please contact: Philip Leech, Group Managing Director, 01642 243 444Ross Macdonald, Deputy Chairman, 0141 332 2014Alasdair Robinson, Noble & Company Limited, 0131 225 9677Isabel Crossley, St Brides Media & Finance Ltd, 020 7242 4477 Notes to editors: Terrace Hill Group PLC is an AIM traded Property Group with NAV £74 million. Ithas two divisions, Commercial Development throughout the UK and ResidentialInvestment and Development in Scotland and the North of England, with adevelopment programme of almost £600 million with approaching £200 millionunderway. Terrace Hill reported an increase of over 25% in both NAV andpro-forma Triple NAV to 38.12p per share and 39.99p respectively in the year to31 October 2004, and an increase in final dividend from 0.15p per share to 0.50pper share. Further increases are 39.66p per share and 44.02p per sharerespectively together with an interim dividend of 0.5p per share (previousinterims 0.3p) were announced with the Group's half yearly report to 30 April2005. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange