11th Sep 2007 15:54
Wichford plc11 September 2007 Wichford plc ("Wichford" or the "Company") Disposal of properties in Croydon and Taunton 11 September 2007 Wichford plc, the property investment company, today announces the disposal oftwo UK properties which no longer fit its investment criteria for a totalconsideration of £19,050,000. The book cost of the two properties at the time ofpurchase was £18,160,000 and, as at the interim results in March 2007, thevaluation of the two buildings was £18,150,000. Quest House, Croydon The property was sold for £5,650,000 to a housebuilder. The UK Government hadalready vacated the property and so at the time of sale the income was nil. Theindependent valuation at March was £4,850,000 which reflected the vacancy. Woodfield House and Riverside Chambers, Taunton The property was sold in the sum of £13,400,000 which reflected a net initialyield of 5.75%. The buyer was a south-west orientated property opportunity fundmanaged by Colliers Capital UK Limited. The independent valuation as at 31stMarch was £13,300,000. Michael Sheehan, Chairman of Wichford plc, commented; "The sale of these UK properties is in line with our stated strategy ofre-balancing the portfolio towards index linked rentals and focussing onContinental Europe". Wichford PLCJamie Hambro Tel: 020 7747 5656Richard Britten-Long Tel: 020 7016 6150Philip Cooper Tel: 020 7495 7111 Citigate Dewe Rogerson Tel: 020 7638 9571George CazenoveHannah Seward Evolution Securities LimitedTim Worlledge Tel: 020 7071 4300 Notes to Editors Wichford PLC (AIM:WICH) is a property investment company, with a portfoliofocused on UK investment property outside Central London occupied exclusively byUK Central Government bodies. Recent purchases in Germany have begun the processof re-balancing the portfolio as the company begins to take advantage ofopportunities in continental Europe. As stated above, the Company currently owns 77 properties with a gross assetvalue of circa £40 million generating a rental income of circa £645.3million perannum. The company's portfolio of properties has unit values usually between £2million and £25 million. The Company's current core portfolio has a weightedaverage unexpired lease term of circa 11 years. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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