29 February 2012
Panther Securities PLC
("Panther" or the "Company")
Acquisitions
Panther is pleased to announce that on 24 February 2012 it completed the
purchase of three Beales department stores (formerly Westgate Department
Stores) from Anglia Regional Co-operative Society Limited and a further
property situated in Huntingdon.
Lowestoft, Suffolk
The freehold property now known as Beales department store, London Road North,
Lowestoft, is a modern store with 21,000 square feet of selling space on two
floors, situated on the town's main pedestrianized shopping street close to
Tesco Metro supermarket, Sports Direct, BHS department store and Peacocks
(R.I.P.).
Wisbech, Cambridgeshire
This property, now known as Beales department store on Little Church Street,
just off The Market Place, is a modern, two storey department store containing
26,000 square feet of selling space, being situated in the centre of town.
Beccles, Suffolk
This department store is an older store in two separate sections adjoining but
separated by a small vehicular service road and contains approximately 17,000
square feet on mainly ground but also first floor. The property fronts through
from Smallgate to The Walk which is close to the centre of this market town and
to a Tesco superstore.
All three properties are let on similar tenant favourable leases to Beale PLC
whereby rent is a share of profits until May 2014, thereafter to market rent
subject to negotiations.
In their announcement made in April 2011, the estimated turnover for these
stores to the Beale Group was approximately £6 million (excluding VAT).
The price paid for the freehold properties was £2,250,000, of which £300,000 is
deferred, payable in three years' time.
Huntingdon
The property comprises 96,000 square feet (90,000 feet ground floor) of modern
factory premises on 5.5 acres on the Stukeley Meadows Industrial Estate, 1 mile
north of Huntingdon town centre.
The property is let on an FR&I lease for 15 years from February 2005 at £
190,000 per annum exclusive with rent reviews in 2010 (still outstanding) and
2015 to 65% of open market rental.
The property is held on a long lease for a term of 999 years from February 2005
at a fixed rent of one peppercorn and the price paid was £1,200,000.
All the above purchases were funded with existing cash balances and the Group
still has £15 million of its recently completed £75 million 5 year loan
facility available for future investment.
For further information contact:
Panther Securities PLC 01707 667 300
Andrew Perloff - Chairman
Simon Peters - Finance Director
City Profile 020 7448 3244
Simon Courtenay
Sheena Khan