Disposal

4 Apr 2006 07:00

Latham(James) PLC04 April 2006 The Directors of James Latham plc are pleased to announce the sale of NevillLong Limited, its suspended ceilings, dry lining and partition systemsdistribution business, to Wolseley UK Limited. The cash consideration is £10.32m with an adjustment on agreement of theCompletion Accounts. The net assets of Nevill Long at 30th September 2005 were£3.5m and sales for the half year totalled £12.8m. The reason for the sale is that Nevill Long is not core to the Group's timberbusinesses and the Directors believe Wolseley, with their resources, willestablish Nevill Long as a major player in the interior building productsmarket. The proceeds of the sale will be used to strengthen and develop JamesLatham's timber business. Although trading conditions for timber in the current year have become morechallenging, results to 31st March 2006 are likely to meet market expectations. RJ LathamChairman This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange