Re Contract

19 Dec 2006 07:00

Worthington Nicholls Group plc19 December 2006 RNS Release 19 December 2006 Five new hotel group contracts secured worth c. £2,300,000 ("Worthington Nicholls" or "the Company") Worthington Nicholls Group plc (AIM:WNG), installers of air conditioning,heating, ventilation and chilled water systems, has secured contracts to provideinstallation and maintenance for new and replacement air conditioning systemswith five new hotel group clients, in line with the Group budget for newbusiness in the hotel sector in 2007. The largest contract is a full mechanical services installation at the 49bedroom Hotel du Vin in Cheltenham, and is valued at £860,000. Work has alreadycommenced and is expected to be completed at the end of May 2007. Hotel du Vinwas acquired by Marylebone Warwick Balfour ("MWB") in October 2005. MWB is apublic company quoted on the London Stock Exchange and also owns the MalmaisonGroup of hotels. The contract secured with Paramount Group (Dawnay Day Hotels) is valued at£530,000. Worthington Nicholls will install new air conditioning units at theWalton Hall Hotel, a prestigious business and leisure hotel located betweenStratford-upon-Avon and Warwick. Installation work commences in January 2007 andis expected to be completed by late Spring 2007. Dawnay Day currently has 20hotels in its estate. Worthington Nicholls has also been appointed by the Q Hotels Group to fit airconditioning units into their Ashford International Hotel in Kent. The contractis valued at approximately £440,000 and work is scheduled to start in the NewYear. The Q Hotels Group currently own eight hotels in England and one inScotland, and have recently acquired 12 sites from Marston Hotels Group,bringing their total number of hotels in the UK to 21. A fourth contract is with Oxford Hotels for the refurbishment of a Holiday InnExpress hotel in Bristol. The contract is worth approximately £250,000 with workstarting in January 2007. Worthington Nicholls' first major install for the Malmaison chain will takeplace in Reading, this is a hotel conversion which will feature 75 rooms andadditional public areas, supplied by 92 air conditioning units. Work hascommenced on site and is expected to be completed by summer 2007 at a value of£236,000. Following these new contract wins, Worthington Nicholls will be the retainedcontractor to 15 hotel groups, and 16 retail chains. Mark Worthington, Chief Executive of Worthington Nicholls, said: "Our goal is to win more work from each new hotel group based on providingexcellent service. What's particularly encouraging is that each new client winincreases both our market share and limits our dependence on any single client.We are delighted that Paramount, Q Hotels, Oxford Hotels, Malmaison and Hotel duVin have chosen Worthington Nicholls, and hopefully we can look forward tofurther contracts from these new clients in due course." Enquiries: Worthington Nicholls 0870 609 1829Mark Worthington, Chief ExecutiveDavid Levis, Corporate Director Gresham PR Ltd 020 7404 9000Neil Boom Corporate Synergy 020 7448 4400Rhod Cruwys/Romil Patel Information on Worthington Nicholls can be accessed via the Group's website:www.worthington-nicholls.co.uk About Worthington Nicholls Group plc Worthington Nicholls operates as principal contractor for delivery of end to endsolutions in the air conditioning market. Its blue-chip clients operate in a number of different market sectors andinclude Hilton Hotels, Holiday Inn Hotels, Debenhams, Boots the Chemist, Arcadiaand McDonald's. The business was established in 1973 by Peter Worthington and has grown to beone of the dominant players in the UK Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning("HVAC") market, which is currently estimated to be worth approximately £2billion per annum. Led by Mark Worthington, the Company repositioned itself in 2003 as a supportservices group, moving away from the subcontractor business model common acrossthe HVAC industry. The Company now offers a full project management capability, which includes survey, design and specification, throughinstallation, commissioning and ongoing service and maintenance. Worthington Nicholls operates from its head office in Manchester and regionaloffices in Bedford, Swindon and Edinburgh, and employs approximately 130people. In June 2006, the Company acquired the entire issued equity of Project AirLimited, a specialist installer of air conditioning systems to the retailsector. Its customers include well-known high street retailers, such as Phones 4U, Hamleys, The Bear Factory, and TM Lewin. Project Air is based in Rugeley,Staffordshire. The business was established in 1992 and today has a total of 23staff including 13 engineers. Worthington Nicholls floated on AIM on 12 June 2006 with a placing price of 50pence per share, at the time of writing the share price is 115 pence, with amarket capitalization of £83 million. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange