27th Oct 2008 07:05
Cosalt plc
("Cosalt" or "the Group")
Disposal of Holiday Homes
In line with its declared strategy of becoming a leading global player in the provision of personal safety and protection services and equipment for the Marine Safety and Offshore Oil and Gas industries, the Board of Cosalt is pleased to announce that it has disposed of its last legacy business, the discontinued Holiday Homes division.
The acquirers are entities within the Endless Group (see note below). They have purchased the entire share capital of Cosalt Holiday Homes Limited and the freehold properties it operates from for a nominal cash consideration on a cash and debt free basis, except for finance lease liabilities of £0.3 million.
The Holiday Homes division, which is based in Kingston-upon-Hull, comprises the caravan and Custom Homes lodge manufacturing businesses. The division has two factory premises which are also included in the transaction.
In its Interim Results for the six months ended 27 April 2008, the Group announced that the Holiday Homes division recorded turnover of £22.7 million (2007: interim £25.1 million, full year £49.7 million) and an operating loss of £0.5 million (2007: interim £0.5 million profit, full year £1.0 million profit). The value, at 27 April 2008, of the gross assets in the Holiday Homes division that have been disposed of were £22.1 million (after a provision in the Group balance sheet of £4.3 million) and the value of liabilities that have transferred at that date were £11.1 million (including a provision in the Group balance sheet of £2.0 million). In the Interim Management Statement dated 18 September 2008 the Board stated that trading conditions had continued to deteriorate due to the current economic climate. Trading conditions have remained extremely challenging since that date.
Following the disposal, the Group expects to take a write-off of approximately £8.0 million including post tax trading losses in the accounts for the year ended 26 October 2008 in addition to the loss of £7.1m reported in the interim accounts.
Commenting on the disposal, Mark Lejman, Chief Executive, said:
"The disposal of our last legacy non-core business is a major milestone in Cosalt's development.
The sale means we can now fully focus on growing our non-cyclical businesses and building Cosalt into one of the world's leading suppliers of services and products in the Marine and Offshore personal safety and protection industry."
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27 October 2008 |
Note:
Endless LLP manages two investment funds and this transaction has been made from its Non Core Assets Division which focuses on acquiring businesses from PLCs and large corporates. The acquiring entities are Inhoco 3485 Limited and Endless Fund II Investments LLP.
Enquiries:
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Cosalt |
01472 504504 |
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Mark Lejman, Chief Executive |
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Mike Reynolds, Financial Director |
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College Hill |
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Mark Garraway |
020 7457 2020 |
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Adam Aljewicz |
Related Shares:
CSLT.L