Interim Management Statement

Interim Management Statement

Gresham House plc

GRESHAM HOUSE plc (“the Company”)

Unaudited Interim Management Statement (the “Statement”)

Introduction

This Statement has been prepared in order to provide information to meet the requirements of the UK Listing Authority’s Disclosure and Transparency Rules. The Statement covers the three month period to 30 September 2010 together with relevant information up to the date of publication.

Investment Objective

Gresham House plc is an authorised investment trust listed on the London Stock Exchange. Following the passing of an ordinary resolution at the Company’s 2010 Annual General Meeting, the Company’s objective is to provide shareholders with long term capital and income growth by a combination of investing in commercial property, bonds and equities.

Material Events and Transactions

The Company’s interim results for the half-year ended 30 June 2010 were announced on 25 August 2010 and are available on the Company’s website www.greshamhouse.com.

The Directors are aware of the following significant events or transactions which have occurred in the period from 1 July 2010 to the date of this Statement that may have, or have had, a material impact on the financial position of the Company or Group:-

(i) the acquisition on 12 October 2010 of a further 10% investment in Memorial Holdings Limited for a sum of £1.7m financed by way of a vendor placing of 488,000 ordinary shares of 25p each and a cash sum of £89,400;

(ii) the increase of 0.49% in the IPD Quarterly Property Index for Capital Growth for the three months ended 30 September 2010;

(iii) the decrease in the amount of vacant space within the property portfolio principally as a result of the demolition of units at Newton-Le–Willows following receipt of outline residential planning consent; and

(iv) as at 30 September 2010 the value of the securities portfolio had increased by approximately 0.3% since 30 June 2010 compared with an increase in the FTSE All Share Index of 12.7%.

The Company has one class of share capital: ordinary shares of 25p each. As a result of the issue of shares as noted above the issued share capital of the Company now amounts to 5,369,880 shares.

Financial Information

Set out below is an unaudited summary of the investments held by the Group which are accounted for as Non-current Assets:

  As at 30 September 2010   As at 30 June 2010
£’000 £’000
Investment Properties 24,600 24,600
 
Investments – Securities 10,369 10,142
TOTAL 34,969 34,742

a) Investment Properties

All investment properties were valued by King Sturge LLP, Chartered Surveyors, as at 31 December 2009 at a combined total of £24,600,000. These external valuations were carried out on the basis of market value in accordance with the latest edition of the Valuation Standards published by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. As per our normal policy, no independent property valuations have been undertaken since the last year end. The directors do not consider that there has been any material change in the value of these properties since the year end other than at Newton-le-Willows where outline planning permission has been obtained for residential use and discussions to sell the site, or part of it, to a national housebuilder are ongoing.

Rental income on the property portfolio for the three months ended 30 September 2010 was £274,000. This compares with rental income of £882,000 for the half-year ended 30 June 2010 which, as previously disclosed, benefited from the receipt of a £250,000 premium from a former tenant which terminated its lease in March 2010.

The amount of vacant space has decreased by 398,558 sq. ft. to 423,417 sq. ft. as at 30 September 2010 principally as a result of the demolition of units at Newton-Le–Willows.

b) Investments - Securities

  As at 30 September 2010   As at 30 June 2010
£’000 £’000
Listed securities – traded on the London Stock Exchange

5,939

5,909

Securities traded on AIM 1,487 1,576
Securities dealt in under PLUS Market 184 138
Unlisted securities 2,759 2,519
TOTAL 10,369 10,142

The largest ten investments within the Securities Portfolio as at 30 September 2010 were:

 

Market Value

  % of Securities Portfolio
£’000s £’000s

Standard Chartered Bank 6% bond‡

1,103

10.6

HSBC Bank 9.875% bond ‡

SpaceandPeople plc*

1,037

969

10.0

9.4

HSBC Bank 5.75% bond ‡ 953 9.2
Scottish & Southern Energy 5.75% bond‡

923

8.9

Abacus Land (BR) Ltd Loan notes# 875 8.4
National Grid 6.125% bond ‡ 693 6.7
Memorial Holdings Limited # 686 6.6
Marks & Spencer 5.625% bond ‡ 607 5.9
AudioGravity Holdings Ltd # 395 3.8
8,241 79.5
 
‡UK Listed
* AIM Traded Securities
# Unlisted Securities

As at 30 September 2010 the Securities Portfolio was invested in the following sectors:

  % of Securities Portfolio
Financial 36
Utilities 18
Media 14
Property investment 15
Retail 6
Engineering 7
Foods 2
Electrical 1
Information technology 1
100

Comparative movements

  30 September 2010   30 June 2010   % change
Basic and diluted net asset value per ordinary share

N/A

468.4p

N/A

Share price (pence) 340.0 316.25 7.5
FTSE All Share index 2,867.58 2,543.47 12.7

Further information on the Company and Group, including a copy of this Statement, can be found at www.greshamhouse.com.

Enquiries

D Lucie-Smith
Chief Executive OfficerChief Executive Officer

9 November 2010

UK 100