24 July 2024
Palace
Capital plc
("Palace
Capital" or the "Company")
DISPOSALS
AND CASH UPDATE
Palace Capital (LSE: PCA) announces
a disposals and cash update ahead of its Annual General Meeting
("AGM") being held later today and following the announcement of its FY24 preliminary results on 6 June
2024.
Disposals
· The
Company has unconditionally exchanged or completed on the sale of
two investment properties for £12.3 million which, after adjusting
for rent incentives and promoter costs, is 2.9% below the March
2024 valuation. The blended net running yield after deducting void
costs is 1.7%. The sales comprised:
o Boulton House, Manchester for £8.8 million, completed 22 July
2024
o Nicholson Gate, Fareham for £3.5 million, completion due mid
January 2025
· We
announced in the FY24 preliminary results that we had conditionally
exchanged on a self-contained office unit at 3B St
James' Gate, Newcastle to an owner occupier for £0.7 million, 69%
above the value as at 31 March 2024 and are under offer to sell
Copperfields, Dartford. Both of these sales are expected to
complete in the next few weeks.
· Sales
activity at Hudson Quarter continues with three apartments
completed for £1.6 million and one exchanged for £0.4 million,
leaving 13 units remaining. Upon completion the proceeds for the
four apartments sold will be 3.4% ahead of the March 2024
valuation.
· As
previously announced, an additional tender offer is likely to take
place later in the year as further property sales are completed.
The Company is also seeking authority at today's AGM to buy back up
to 5.6m shares which represents c.19.5% of the issued share capital
following the tender offer noted below.
Cash
· On 13
June 2024, the Company announced a tender offer to purchase
up to 8,667,760 shares at a price of 250 pence per
share for a maximum aggregate cash consideration of up to £21.67
million. On 11 July 2024 it was announced that the tender offer was
oversubscribed and therefore the Company would be returning the
maximum amount of £21.67 million cash to those shareholders who had
tendered their shares. This represented approximately 23% of the
Company's then issued share capital.
· Since
the change in strategy was announced in July 2022, cash returned to
shareholders from the tender offer and the share buyback programmes
totals over £43.5 million.
· The
Company has been in a net cash position since April 2024 and as at
22 July 2024, gross debt was £8.2 million
and proforma cash assuming all exchanged properties complete was
£20.5 million, resulting in net cash of £12.3 million. Subject to
shareholder approval at today's AGM of the final fourth quarter
dividend of 3.75 pence per share, payable on 23 August 2024,
proforma net cash is £11.2 million.
Commenting on today's update, Steven Owen, Executive Chairman
said:
"Since the announcement of our
annual results in June, we have continued to progress our disposal
and return of capital strategy and have recently delivered a
successful tender offer to support this process. Since July 2022,
we have returned over £43 million of cash to shareholders and
expect to announce a second tender offer later in the
year.
"At an operational level, the
Company continues to make good progress with its asset management
activities and will report further on these in due
course.
"Given its strong cash position, the
Company remains well placed in terms of flexibility and optionality
regarding the timing of its disposal programme and other strategic
initiatives."
Palace Capital plc
Steven
Owen, Executive Chairman
info@palacecapitalplc.com
Financial PR
FTI
Consulting
Dido Laurimore / Giles Barrie
Tel: +44 (0)20 3727 1000
palacecapital@fticonsulting.com
