REG - Hargreaves Servs PLC - AGM Statement

Hargreaves ServicesAnnouncement

25/10/2023 07:00

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RNS Number : 1322R  Hargreaves Services PLC  25 October 2023

Hargreaves Services plc

("Hargreaves" or the "Group")

 

AGM Statement

 

Hargreaves Services plc (AIM: HSP), a diversified group delivering services to
the industrial and property sectors, will hold its Annual General Meeting
("AGM") today at 11am. Ahead of the meeting, the Group's Chair, Roger
McDowell, has issued the following statement:

 

"Having resumed the Chair, I am pleased to confirm that all three business
sectors, Services, Hargreaves Land and HRMS, are trading in line with the
Board's expectations.

 

The Services business has had a strong start to the year, demonstrating the
recurrent and reliable nature of our operations in this area. The Group has
over 60 term and framework contracts with blue chip clients providing
excellent revenue visibility. Regarding the recent announcement by the Prime
Minister to cancel the northern section of HS2, I can confirm that this has no
impact on our UK Services business. The Group's existing contract on HS2 Phase
1 (London to Birmingham) is performing in line with our plan and is expected
to generate revenue for the Group for the next two years at least. No revenue
was built into our forecasts in respect of HS2 Phase 2 as the timing and
certainty of the northern section (Birmingham to Manchester) had been unclear
for some time. The business remains focused on securing works at other major
earthmoving sites as well as continuing to grow our portfolio of term and
framework contracts.

 

Hargreaves Land remains focused on realising value from its portfolio of
renewable energy land assets, with the first four months of the year seeing
continued developments in this sector. The business unit remains well placed
to deliver its full year results with a previously announced contracted sale
of 20 acres of serviced residential land which is expected to complete in
January 2024 for a total consideration of £18.5m payable in four instalments
over three years.

 

As expected, the slowdown in trading activity and softening of commodity
prices observed in the second half of last financial year has continued into
the first half of the current year. This has meant that results within HRMS
are expected to be lower in the first half of the financial year compared to
the equivalent period in the previous year.

 

The project to buy out the Group's defined benefit pension scheme is
progressing well and I expect to be able to announce that the liability has
been bought out within calendar year 2024.

 

The Group held £16m of cash at 30 September 2023 and had outstanding leasing
debt of £31m at that date. The balance sheet remains free from all bank debt
and third party security.

 

The Board remains confident in delivering full year results in line with
market expectations."

 

A brief presentation will be delivered at the AGM by CEO Gordon Banham, no new
information will be disclosed and a copy of the presentation will be made
available on the Company's website later today -

https://www.hsgplc.co.uk/investors/news-reports-and-presentations/
(https://www.hsgplc.co.uk/investors/news-reports-and-presentations/)

 

The Board expects to provide a further trading update in early December 2023
prior to the announcement of the Group's interim results for the six months
ending 30 November 2023 on Wednesday 31 January 2024.

 

For further details:

 

 Hargreaves Services                                                www.hsgplc.co.uk (http://www.hsgplc.co.uk)

 Gordon Banham, Chief Executive Officer                             Tel: 0191 373 4485

 Stephen Craigen, Group Finance Director

 Walbrook PR (Financial PR & IR)      Tel: 020 7933 8780 or hargreavesservices@walbrookpr.com

                                    (mailto:hargreavesservices@walbrookpr.com)
 Paul McManus / Louis Ashe-Jepson

                                    Mob: 07980 541 893 / 07747 515 393

 Singer Capital Markets (Nomad and Corporate Broker)                Tel: 020 7496 3000

 Sandy Fraser / Justin McKeegan

About Hargreaves Services plc (www.hsgplc.co.uk (http://www.hsgplc.co.uk) )

Hargreaves Services plc is a diversified group delivering services to the
industrial and property sectors, supporting key industries within the UK and
South East Asia. The Company's three business segments are Services,
Hargreaves Land and an investment in a German joint venture, Hargreaves Raw
Materials Services GmbH (HRMS). Services provides critical support to many
core industries including Energy, Environmental, UK Infrastructure and certain
manufacturing industries through the provision of materials handling,
mechanical and electrical contracting services, logistics and major
earthworks. Hargreaves Land is focused on the sustainable development of
brownfield sites for both residential and commercial purposes. HRMS trades in
specialist commodity markets and owns DK Recycling, a specialist recycler of
steel waste material. Hargreaves is headquartered in County Durham and has
operational centres across the UK, as well as in Hong Kong and a joint venture
in Duisburg, Germany.

 

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