18th Nov 2013 15:52
LONDON AND ASSOCIATED PROPERTIES PLC - Interim Management StatementLONDON AND ASSOCIATED PROPERTIES PLC - Interim Management Statement
PR Newswire
London, November 18
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 18 November 2013 LONDON & ASSOCIATED PROPERTIES PLC: INTERIM MANAGEMENT STATEMENT London & Associated Properties PLC ("LAP" or "the Company"), the specialistretail focused property investor, today releases its Interim ManagementStatement for the period from 18 May 2013 to 18 November 2013. We released our half yearly report to shareholders on 29 August. Since thattime, trading conditions are showing some tentative signs of improvement. Thereappears to be some thawing in the credit markets, and this is leading toincreased demand for real estate assets, with a particular improvement insentiment towards good secondary assets. However, throughout the recession there has always been demand for the verybest assets, and King Edward Court in Windsor, our largest asset, has been noexception. Following a number of unsolicited approaches, we took the decisionto dispose of it and brought it to the market in September. We recentlyresponded to press speculation and confirmed that it is under offer to a UKbased institution. This continues to be the case, and I look forward toupdating shareholders on progress during the coming weeks. Tenant demand throughout the UK remains patchy. However, our occupancy levelsare still high, which reflects the quality of our directly owned portfolio. We are now reaching the final stages of our negotiation with The Royal Bank ofScotland to refinance our revolving credit facility. The Bank has beensupportive throughout our discussions, and again I look forward to updatingshareholders on progress in the coming weeks. Following initial discussions, we are now setting up a joint venture with alarge American private equity fund to acquire and for London & AssociatedManagement Services ("LAMS") to manage three shopping centres. The identity ofthe other parties and the assets involved is confidential at present. We arenearing the conclusion of this process, and will release details of the projectas soon as we are in a position to do so. LAMS, our asset management subsidiary, continues to work closely with LloydsBank to maximise the Bank's returns on the Agora portfolio. To date we havedisposed of one of the assets, exchanged contracts on the disposal of a secondand have the two remaining assets under offer. The prices achieved or to beachieved are pleasing, and further reflect the improvement in sentimentreferred to above. Since our last statement, we have concluded the disposal of our asset heldjointly with Lloyds Bank in Halifax. Our share of the net proceeds was £0.5million which has been added to our cash reserves. Ends. Contact: London & Associated Properties PLC Tel: 020 7415 5000 John Heller, Chief Executive Robert Corry, Finance Director Baron Phillips Associates Tel: 020 7920 3161 Baron Phillips
Related Shares:
London & Associated Properties