Disposal of Garden Centre
April 01 2003 - 8:21AM
UK Regulatory
RNS Number:4875J
Blooms of Bressingham Holdings plc
01 April 2003
BLOOMS OF BRESSINGHAM HOLDINGS plc
Disposal of Garden Centre
The Board of Blooms of Bressingham Holdings plc announces that, yesterday, it
sold its freehold garden centre at Betchworth for a consideration of #875,000
plus stock at valuation, some #27,000 below its tangible book value. Including
attributable goodwill, the garden centre is currently held at a value of
approximately #1,134,000. Consequently the disposal will give rise to a
non-recurring loss of approximately #27,000, and a goodwill impairment charge of
#232,000, which will be reflected in the Company's balance sheet as at 26th
January 2003.
Despite detailed negotiations with the local planning department over the last
year, the site still had a very restrictive planning permit and management has
therefore concluded that the centre did not fit into Blooms' longer term plans.
No decision has yet been taken on whether to try to negotiate an exit from the
lease of the development site at Rugby. The management team is looking at ways
to establish a very low cost 'shed style' of operation on the site and further
information on the viability of this will be given at the time of our results in
May.
Following the sale of the centres at Betchworth and Clandon, together with
other non-recurring items, it is expected that there will be a modest
non-recurring net loss for the year just ended of around #100,000. This
excludes any possible additional provisions which may be required against Rugby.
Preliminary results for the year ended 26th January 2003 will be announced in
mid-May. The operating result, before the exceptional items mentioned above, is
expected to be in line with current market expectations.
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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