Acquisition of New Premises

27 May 2005 16:32

Slingsby(H.C.)Plc27 May 2005 H.C. Slingsby plc ("Slingsby") Acquisition of New Head Office Premises The Board is pleased to announce the completion of the acquisition of a new headoffice site (called Baildon Holmes). The premises are located 4 miles from theexisting head office on the edge of the town of Shipley, West Yorkshire. The Board has been heavily engaged in a significant project to review Slingsby'soperations with a view to taking greater control of the supply chain. Theultimate aim is to significantly enhance customer service levels. The nature of Slingsby's activities has gradually changed over the past 20years. Slingsby is no longer predominantly a manufacturing business and hasevolved into a marketing led distribution business with a small nichemanufacturing capability. The current site is largely inappropriate for ourcurrent business activities. It has limited access and is spread over severalbuildings separated by a busy road, leading to ineffective warehousing andlogistical operations, coupled with inefficient use of personnel. All possible options have been considered by the Board, including rebuildingpart of the existing site, but due to the topography this would be veryexpensive and largely impractical. The Baildon Holmes premises are approximately125,000 square feet, comprising five single storeyed interlinking warehousesfronted by two and three storeyed office accommodation. The site occupies anarea of 4.75 acres. An additional 0.88 of an acre of land adjacent to the sitehas also been acquired to allow for future expansion. The full consideration for the new premises (including the additional land, butexcluding stamp duty) is £4.25 million. This is being satisfied from our cashresources. The purchase of the Baildon Holmes property is not dependent on the sale of thecurrent Preston Street site. It is, however, the Board's intention to market forsale the existing premises in Bradford as soon as possible. The Board expectsSlingsby to move to the Baildon Holmes premises during the first quarter of 2006following completion of the refurbishment programme. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange