28 December 2011 – sale of freehold property
The company has sold its freehold head office premises in Drake Road, Mitcham, Surrey to Byrne Group plc for cash consideration of £2.35m. Following the disposal of the legacy distribution businesses at the end of 2009, the head office site has been significantly underutilised and the property has been marketed for sale since that time. The company has said that it intends to move to more suitable leasehold premises in the Croydon area but in the meantime has agreed a short term leaseback of the Drake Road premises.
The company’s cash balance was £2.70m as at 30 November, so is now likely to have net cash of broadly £5m, representing over 5p per share. A special dividend is being considered and news on that front is likely to accompany final results, due for release on 28 March. The shares are a BUY.