REG - Town Centre Secs. - Year End Trading Update and Sale of Investment

Town Centre SecuritiesAnnouncement

14/07/2022 07:00

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RNS Number : 4085S  Town Centre Securities PLC  14 July 2022

This announcement contains inside information as defined in Article 7 of the
EU Market Abuse Regulation No 596/2014 (as it forms part of UK domestic law by
virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018) and has been announced in
accordance with the Company's obligations under Article 17 of that Regulation.
This announcement has been authorised for release by the Board.

 

 

14 July 2022

Town Centre Securities PLC

(The 'Company' or 'Group' or 'TCS')

 

Year End Trading Update

 

Sale of Investment in YourParkingSpace Limited ('YPS')

 

Town Centre Securities PLC, the Leeds, Manchester, Glasgow and London property
investment, development, car park and hotel operator, today provides a trading
update for its financial year ended 30 June 2022, and announces the sale of
its equity investment in YourParkingSpace Limited, the parking space platform.

 

Year End Trading Update

 

·    Robust rent collections for the 24 March 2022 and 1 April 2022
quarter dates:

o  99.5% collected

o  0.1% agreed to be deferred and still outstanding

o  0.4% outstanding with no agreement with the tenant

·    Car Park revenue back to 89.1% of pre-Covid 19 levels

·    ibis Styles hotel occupancy levels remain significantly better than
during the Covid period, and the hotel is on course to make its highest
contribution to overall Group profits since 2017.

·    Submission in April 2022 of the Whitehall Riverside Masterplan in
conjunction with our joint venture partner, Glenbrook, which includes:

o  detailed planning applications for a 500 unit 'Build to Rent' scheme;

o  a 12-storey office building;

o  a 478-space multi-storey car park; and

o  an outline for further hotel/office buildings on the remainder of the
site.

o  as part of the joint venture TCS is selling, subject to planning, the part
of the site that relates to the 500 unit 'Build to Rent' scheme to Glenbrook.
This sale, which is expected to complete in late summer will generate gross
proceeds of £14.0m, which is approximately £5.0m above the 31 December 2021
carrying value of this part of the Whitehall Riverside site.

·    TCS has also sold, subject to planning, its two Port Street,
Manchester surface car parks, both of which form part of the Company's wider
Piccadilly Basin development site. Completion of the sale is likely to occur
in October 2022, subject to planning. The total consideration of £13.0m is
not materially different to the 31 December 2021 carrying value of these
properties.

·    TCS also recently submitted a pre-application presentation to Leeds
City Council in relation to the existing consented 100MC office building and a
three-storey vertical extension to Wade House, both at the Merrion Centre,
with a view to delivering a further 1,078 student accommodation units.

 

 

 

Edward Ziff, Chairman and Chief Executive commented:

"It has been another year of recovery for the business, with robust rent
collection and further successes as we have sought to reset and reinvigorate
our business for the future. Over the coming months we hope to be able to
announce the completions of the Whitehall Riverside and Piccadilly basin
development site sales. These sales, together with the YPS sale, will allow us
to continue to strengthen the balance sheet of the Company through lowering
our level of absolute debt and leverage, whilst investing in our development
pipeline."

 

Sale of Investment in YourParkingSpace

 

The Company is delighted to announce the unconditional sale of its equity
investment in YourParkingSpace Limited ("YPS") to Flowbird SAS for total cash
consideration (net of fees and associated deal costs) of up to £20.7m (the
"Sale").  The YPS platform connects drivers with over 350,000 privately owned
and commercially operated parking spaces across the UK, available to book
hourly, daily or monthly via the company's website or mobile app.

 

The consideration for the Sale comprises the following:

·    Initial net cash consideration for the Company's equity shareholding
of £9.6m

·    Deferred consideration of £7.5m in aggregate, due in two
instalments: £4.4m 12 months after completion of the sale, and £3.1m after
24 months

·    A final contingent element of cash consideration, based on the
trading performance of YPS in the 14 month period following completion of the
Sale, of up to £3.6m

 

In addition, the Company will receive repayment in full (including all accrued
interest) of the amounts loaned to YPS, comprising a gross cash receipt of
£1.95m.

 

At 31 December 2021, the book value of the Company's investment in the YPS
equity stake was £1.47m, with an additional £1.53m loan to YPS. The Sale
will be accretive to both NTA and earnings for the Group, and the disposal
proceeds will further reduce net borrowings and will be redeployed into other
accretive opportunities in due course. As the Company holds a non-controlling
interest in YPS, 31 August 2021 results were not consolidated into the Group
accounts. As YPS is not consolidated, the Sale will not result in a Group
deconsolidation.

 

Background to the YourParkingSpace investment

 

The Investment enabled the Company to further leverage its car parking assets
through the YPS technology platform.

The Company's initial equity interest was acquired on 16 November 2016,
through the acquisition of 9.375% of the issued share capital of
YourParkingSpace Limited from the two founders of the business. This
investment of £0.415m was funded from the Company's cash resources (the
"Investment").

At that time the value of the gross assets the subject of the Investment was
£0.415m. The Company's non-controlling interest in YPS was held at carrying
value and was not consolidated into the Group accounts.

Under the terms of a separate option agreement the Company was then able to
acquire further shares in YPS from the founders over the course of the
following years - ultimately taking the cost of investment in YPS from
£0.415m to £0.965m.

The TCS Board have relinquished their remaining seat on the Board of YPS as a
result of the Sale.

 

 

 

Ben Ziff, Managing Director: CitiPark PLC | TCS Energy | Technology
Investments commented:

 

"Since making our initial investment in YourParkingSpace in November 2016, the
business has gone from strength to strength and has now evolved into much more
than just an online broker for reselling space. It has become a true disruptor
in the parking sector.

I wish YPS and its founders all the very best for the future and look forward
to watching them evolve even further.

The consideration from this sale helps to further strengthen the TCS balance
sheet whilst giving it the opportunity to invest in our development pipeline
and make strategic technology investments.

TCS remains one of the most proactive land owners in the UK always thinking
outside of the box and constantly striving for innovation with family business
values at its core."

 

 
-Ends-

 

For further information, please contact:

 

Town Centre Securities PLC
                                       www.tcs-plc.co.uk
(http://www.tcs-plc.co.uk/) / @TCS PLC

Edward Ziff, Chairman and Chief Executive
 
0113 222 1234

Ben Ziff, Managing Director: CitiPark PLC, TCS Energy & Technology
 

Stewart MacNeill, Group Finance Director

 

MHP Communications
 
               tcs@mhpc.com (mailto:tcs@mhpc.com)

Reg Hoare / Pauline Guenot
 
                  020 3128 8567
 
 

Liberum
www.liberum.com (http://www.liberum.com)

Jamie Richards  / Lauren Kettle / Nikhil Varghese
                                           020 3100 2123

 

Peel
Hunt
               www.peelhunt.com (http://www.peelhunt.com)

Carl Gough / Henry Nicholls
 
 020 3597 8673 / 8640

 

Notes to Editors:

Town Centre Securities PLC (TCS) is a Leeds & London based property
investor, car park and hotel operator with assets of over £360m. With more
than 60 years' experience, a commitment to sustainable development and a
reputation for quality and innovation, TCS creates mixed use developments
close to transport hubs in major cities across the UK.

For more information visit www.tcs-plc.co.uk (http://www.tcs-plc.co.uk)

 

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