20th Mar 2020 14:48
(Alliance News) - U&I Group PLC said Friday the slowdown caused by the UK's exit from the EU has been "dramatically exacerbated" by the outbreak of Covid-19.
The political uncertainty caused by Brexit hurt the timing of some of the property developer's projects, which have now been thrown further into confusion due to the coronavirus outbreak.
"The rapidly accelerating impact of the Covid-19 crisis on transactional activity and Central and Local Government policy means that there is currently no reliable way to predict, with certainty, the timing or value of transactions," U&I said.
Adding: "However, it is now unlikely that sufficient of the projects set out in our guidance at our interim results will contract by March 31 to enable us to meet the lower end - GBP35 million - of our gains target for the year. In the normal course of events, we would expect some of the deferred projects to be realised in FY2021 and will provide further detail of these in our full year results."
U&I said its gains will be "materially" below the GBP35 million target.
"That said, we remain in advanced legal negotiations on several projects within our flexible and substantial development portfolio, including Harwell," the company added.
This could "materially" help its interim results, but it will still fall below the GBP35 million target gain.
"Given the confidential nature of these discussions, the company is not yet in a position to provide a more detailed review of target gains as it believes this could prejudice its commercial position," U&I said.
The company said it has been actively managing its cost base, and it expects to reduce its operating expenses and all non-essential capital expenditure.
Shares in U&I were 6.1% lower in London on Friday afternoon at 91.90 pence each.
By Paul McGowan; [email protected]
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