21st Apr 2006 12:00
St. Modwen Properties PLC21 April 2006 St. Modwen Properties PLC AGM Statement At its Annual General Meeting today, Anthony Glossop, Chairman of St. ModwenProperties PLC said: "In my statement within the 2005 Annual Report, I said that the currentfinancial year had started well. I am pleased to be able to confirm that sinceI made that statement in February, the company has continued to make goodprogress. We continue to secure the development sales required to meet our annual profitplan. The investment market continues to strengthen with good competition forall our pre-let industrial and office projects. Similarly the market for the "oven-ready" residential land product we offer remains strong. We have had a particularly successful period in the marshalling of opportunitiesfor future development. We have obtained planning consent for residential-ledmixed use schemes at Guiseley (16 acres) and at Taunton (64 acres), the latterin conjunction with AXA. The road closures required for KPI's Farnborough scheme have been approved, andagreements exchanged with a hotel and a cinema operator. Development agreements have been signed with the London Borough of Newham for amixed use scheme at Queen's Market, Upton Park, and with Knowsley Council for a12 acre business park at Prescot. In addition, through our Norton and Proffitt joint venture, work has started onthe first phase of the Shannon's Mill development, Walsall. We have also enjoyed a good period for acquisitions for "the hopper". The mostsignificant has been our selection, with Vinci plc, as preferred developers forProject MoDEL (MoD Estate in London). Project MoDEL will initially invest over £150 million in the re- development ofRAF Northolt. Consolidation of the London estate will then lead to the releaseof over 250 acres of land for redevelopment, on six sites, including Eastcote,Mill Hill, Stanmore, Uxbridge and West Ruislip. In addition we have been appointed preferred developer by Blackburn with DarwenCouncil for a 15 acre business park, and by Jaguar together with the City ofCoventry for a 58 acre business park at Whitley. Other smaller acquisitions have included eight former KwikSave properties,largely in the North West. On a less positive note, it would appear that it is unlikely that we will beprogressing anything at Silverstone, at least in the short term. It has becomeapparent that the British Racing Drivers' Club needs more time to reach aconsensus on what is the correct way forward for that circuit. It was also a disappointment that the Budget continued to propose the idea of aPlanning Gain Supplement. As a major regeneration specialist, working inpartnership with all tiers of government, and who strongly believe in the needfor and integration of wider community benefits in major developments, we arenot convinced that the proposals will be an improvement over the presentarrangements or who will gain from them. We should like to see more dialoguewith companies like ours on the practical implications before any proposals areimplemented and we would hope that the benefits of reusing brownfield land wouldbe fully recognised in the structure of the final proposals. The progress announced in the Budget on the creation of REIT's, however, waswelcome. As a development -led company, any step that widens the market for ourproducts is beneficial. Whether there is anything more directly applicable tothe company remains to be seen, as the final proposals emerge, and in particularthe constraints on non-investment companies. In the light of the progress already made, I continue to look forward withconfidence to another year of progress for your company." 21 April 2006 ENQUIRIES: St. Modwen Properties PLC 0121 222 9400Anthony Glossop, ChairmanBill Oliver, Chief ExecutiveTim Haywood, Finance Director College Hill 020 7457 2020Matthew Gregorowski 07748 183 834 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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