25th Jul 2008 07:00
Southern Cross Healthcare Group PLC
- Loan facilities extension and current trading -
Friday 25 July 2008 - Southern Cross Healthcare Group PLC (LSE: SCHE) ("Southern Cross" or the "Company") today announces an extension to its loan facilities and provides an update on current trading.
Loan Facilities Extension to 30 October 2008
Further to the announcement made on 30 June 2008, the Company has continued to work closely with its banking syndicate and is pleased to announce that it has agreed an extension of current loan facilities until 30 October 2008. The Company has been encouraged by the support it has received from its lenders.
This extension will allow the Group time to progress further the planned sale of certain of its property assets and to continue discussions with the syndicate regarding the Group's longer term financing.
Current Trading
Overall trading remains in line with the expectations set out in the announcement of 30 June 2008.
The Company will provide a further update on current trading in its Interim Management Statement for the period ending 6 July 2008, which is expected to be announced on 11 August 2008.
-ends-
For further information, please contact:
|
Southern Cross Healthcare Group PLC |
|
|
Bill Colvin, CEO |
Tel: +44 (0)1325 351100 |
|
Richard Midmer, FD |
|
|
Financial Dynamics |
Tel: +44 (0)20 7831 3113 |
|
David Yates |
|
|
Emma Thompson |
About Southern Cross
Southern Cross is, in terms of number of beds, the largest UK provider of care home services for the elderly and a major provider of specialist services for people with physical and/or learning disabilities. The Company's care homes for the elderly operate under two distinct brands: Southern Cross Healthcare and Ashbourne Senior Living. Both brands provide a range of social and personal care services and nursing care services for elderly people with physical frailties and differing forms of dementia. The Company's specialist services operate under the Active Care Partnerships brand and provide long-term care services for people with physical and/or learning disabilities and for younger people with complex forms of challenging behaviour.
Southern Cross is focused on providing high quality care in well invested facilities, seeking to be the home of choice in each local community in which it operates. The Company provides care services for most of the local authorities in the UK which, together with the NHS, represent over circa 70% of the Company's revenues. Its care home portfolio is largely purpose-built with a high percentage of single occupancy rooms and rooms with ensuite bathrooms. Occupancy levels in its core elderly segment are consistently in excess of 90%.
This announcement includes statements that are, or may deemed to be, "forward looking statements". These forward looking statements can be identified by the use of forward looking terminology, including the terms "believes", "estimates", "plans", "projects", "anticipates", "expects", "intends", "may", "will", or " should" or, in each case, their negative or other variations or comparable terminology. These forward looking statements include matters that are not historical facts and include statements regarding the Company's intentions, beliefs or current expectations concerning, among other things, the Company's results of operations, financial condition, liquidity, prospects, growth, strategies and the outlook on the care home industry. By their nature, forward looking statements involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to future events and circumstances.
Related Shares:
-3x Short China