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RNS Number : 8319K

Mar City PLC

30 June 2014

30 June 2014

MAR CITY PLC

('Mar City', 'the Group' or 'the Company')

Trading Update

Mar City (AIM: MAR.L), the London and Midlands housebuilder, announces its trading update for the six month period ended 30 June 2014 ahead of its expected half year announcement in September 2014.

Current Trading

Mar City is delighted to report that it has made excellent progress in the first half of the year, successfully executing its strategy of delivering high quality new homes in its core geographies of the Midlands, London and the South East. During the period the Company has delivered further significant growth, with completions tracking comfortably in line with internal budgets and we have increasing confidence for the full year as we move into the second half.

One of Mar City's aspirations is to change the way that new homes are constructed and bring housebuilding into the 21(st) Century. Accordingly, Mar City launched its first groundbreaking modular construction development, 'Green Point' in Collindale, North London in May. This 102 apartment site is on schedule for completion in September with 80 apartments already pre-sold with the remainder due for open market sale in due course.

The Company also commenced its second site using the modular technology for the construction of new houses at its Leamore development in the Midlands, which is already receiving strong levels of pre-market interest. As part of this development, the Company has successfully demonstrated the construction of two semi-detached houses from foundation level up, within 3 days, which has received widespread critical acclaim. The majority of new sites will now be moved into the development stage utilising this ground-breaking modular construction methodology during the second half of the year, which will allow Mar City to significantly increase its levels of production.

The Company has also benefited from the strength in the market for new affordable homes where it has seen very strong consumer demand for its new homes which has been supported by the availability of the Governments Help to Buy scheme, particularly evident across its new developments in the Midlands.

Land Acquisitions

Since reporting to shareholders at the Company's AGM in May, Mar City has acquired control of a further 472 plots across the Midlands, London and the South East in line with management's strategy to build a 3 to 5 year land bank, whilst maintaining target intake margins on new land purchases.

Mar City continues to view a range of opportunities and will continue to build its land bank during the second half of the year and expects to achieve its target of securing a total of 3,000 plots by the end of the year.

Outlook

With increasing levels of activity across all of the Mar City's sites currently under development and the momentum in consumer demand for new affordable homes, buoyed by the recent launch of Mar City's first development employing its new modular construction methods and the subsequent high level of enquiries which has followed, the Board is confident that Mar City will deliver further significant growth in its trading performance in the second half.

Commenting, Tony Ryan, Chief Executive of Mar City, said:

"We expect to achieve further strong progress in the trading performance in the second half, particularly as the Company benefits from the high levels of interest in Mar City's current programme of open market sales developments, which are translating into progressively higher levels of reservations and private sales completions and with increasing levels of sales to Housing Associations and Social Housing Providers, where the levels of interest remain buoyant.

We have been delighted with the response to the recent launch of our new modular technology. It is an innovation which we believe will continue to receive critical acclaim and we have been extremely pleased with the enthusiasm it has already received from within the industry and from our commercial partners, as they recognise how innovation can help improve the speed of production, overcome the issues of skills shortages and accelerate the rate at which quality new homes can be introduced into the UK housing market."

Ends

 
 Enquiries: 
 
 Mar City PLC                      www.marcityplc.com   www.marcityhomes.com 
 Hamilton Anstead, Chairman                             +44 (0) 20 7408 1102 
 Tony Ryan, Chief Executive 
 Marcus Jones, Finance Director 
 
 Shore Capital, Nomad and Joint 
  Broker 
 Pascal Keane / Jamie Cameron                            +44 (0)20 7408 4090 
 
 WH Ireland, Joint Broker 
 Mike Coe                                               +44 (0) 117 945 3499 
 
 Gable Communications                        marcity@gablecommunications.com 
  John Bick / Justine James                             +44 (0) 20 7193 7463 
                                                        +44 (0) 7872 061 007

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

END

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