TIDMCTG
RNS Number : 9423B
Christie Group PLC
12 June 2019
12 June 2019
Christie Group plc
("Christie Group" or the "Company")
AGM Statement
Christie Group plc (CTG.L), the leading provider of Professional
& Financial Services and Stock & Inventory Systems &
Services to the hospitality, leisure, healthcare, medical,
childcare & education and retail sectors, announces that at
today's Annual General Meeting, the Chairman and Chief Executive,
David Rugg, issued the following statement:
"Year to date, UK markets have been rudderless, no doubt born
out of the political turmoil. Our markets remain open for business.
However, by design not all our services are
transaction-reliant.
Professional & Financial Services
2019 has already been notable for the completion of
market-setting transactions across our sectors. These have served
to offset some weaknesses so far in core volumes.
For example, in Dentistry we completed the sales of Caledonian
Dental in Perth and the prestigious Houston Group of practices in
the South West of England, believed to be the largest single site
dental practices in Scotland and England respectively.
In the Pharmacy sector, we completed a number of prestigious
assignments including the sale of a group of five pharmacies in the
Home Counties and are instructed by Jhoots Healthcare Ltd to
dispose of at least 10 pharmacies across the country.
Our Childcare & Education team arranged the sale of Daybreak
Nurseries to All About Children. In Retail, we sold a further 31
Wyevale Garden Centres to Dobbie's for an undisclosed sum where the
aggregated asking price for the sites totalled GBP160m.
On the instructions of Administrators KMPG, we undertook an
accelerated sales process for 20 restaurant sites including Jamie's
Italian, Fifteen London and Barbecoa. For Duff & Phelps, we
have sold a number of pubs related to Mitchells of Lancaster.
Separately, we have recently launched the sale of a portfolio of 24
pubs on behalf of Wadworth & Company Limited.
On behalf of the LPA fixed charge receiver, Smith &
Williamson, we have over 170 signed non-disclosure agreements with
parties as part of the process for the sale of the 160 bed Days
Hotel Waterloo which is now at first round bid stage and we have
also run a sales process for a group of modern hostels, an
increasingly sought after asset class.
Our consultancy teams have been busy and creative advising on
over GBP1.4 billion of care assets. They also advised CBRE Global
Investors, together with Pygmalion on the Silken Hotel portfolio
acquisition in Spain and we have subsequently secured the annual
valuation of the portfolio.
Pinders, our national Business Appraiser, celebrates 50 years
this July. The range of businesses it considers is wide and, in the
period, included one of the country's premier veterinary groups -
consisting of a modern hospital facility, 10 satellite units and a
bespoke equine facility - and a 750 pupil school raising GBP5
million for a borders block. Pinders was appointed by Santander to
its 'RBS switches cases' for trading businesses.
Internationally we continued our run with the sale of the Ibis
Styles Paris Montmartre. We celebrated 20 years trading in Germany
with the sale of Amedia Hotel Weiden and launched the sale of
Project Home, a portfolio of 13 hotels across Germany.
In Financial Services we continued to expand. A new and positive
feature is that 10% of our core business mortgages cases benefit
from additional unsecured borrowing. Already in 2019, we have
equalled the unsecured fee income that we achieved in the whole of
2018. We have also seen greater acceptance by businesses to borrow
from alternative lenders such as challenger banks and FinTech. Our
insurance Services form a natural stablemate for our borrowers.
Stock & Inventory Systems & Services
Our Hospitality stocktaking services are often engaged by
management services companies. We work with 10 of the most
significant in the UK. Revenues continue to grow with a foray into
Europe for Moxy Hotels. Our newly introduced and confidential
allergen audits have seen immediate client appreciation.
In UK Retail stocktaking, we have instigated a new pay model for
counters and early signs are encouraging. Using our own technology,
we have introduced 'Green Screening' for work scheduling to drive
better decision-making and thereby more profitable job planning.
New clients include Fenwick, Samsonite (UK and Europe) and MISUMI
for warehouse and factory goods. Elsewhere we enjoyed a robust
performance in the Benelux countries and France.
Vennersys announces its latest win, the National Forest
Adventure Farm. We continue to upsell additional modules, such as
our leading 'party booking' module to Family Entertainment Centres
(F.E.C.s) and automated renewals through our membership's renewal
portal.
Summary
As we move into our second half, we carry the strongest
portfolio of corporate transaction mandates we have known, covering
as they do, each of our trade sectors. Whilst the timing of
transactions is uncertain, we have in prospect a stronger second
half."
Enquiries:
Christie Group plc
David Rugg 020 7227 0707
Chairman and Chief Executive
Dan Prickett 020 7227 0700
Chief Operating Officer
Stockdale Securities:
Andy Crossley / Antonio Bossi 020 7601 6100
Nominated Adviser & Broker
Notes to Editors:
Christie Group plc, quoted on AIM, is a leading professional
business services group with 43 offices across the UK, Europe and
Canada, catering to its specialist markets in the hospitality,
leisure, healthcare, medical, childcare & education and retail
sectors.
Christie Group operates in two complementary business divisions:
Professional & Financial Services (PFS) and Stock &
Inventory Systems & Services (SISS). These divisions trade
under the brand names: PFS - Christie & Co, Pinders, Christie
Finance and Christie Insurance: SISS - Orridge, Venners and
Vennersys.
Tracing its origins back to 1846, the Group has a
long-established reputation for offering essential services to
client companies in agency, valuation services, investment,
consultancy, project management, multi-functional trading systems
and online ticketing services, stock audit and inventory
management. The diversity of these services provides a natural
balance to the Group's core agency business.
The information contained within this announcement is deemed by
the Company to constitute inside information under the Market Abuse
Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014.
For more information, please go to www.christiegroup.com.
This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the
London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct
Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United
Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution
of this information may apply. For further information, please
contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com.
END
AGMUUVBRKWANARR
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 12, 2019 05:30 ET (09:30 GMT)
Christie (LSE:CTG)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2024 to May 2024
Christie (LSE:CTG)
Historical Stock Chart
From May 2023 to May 2024