Property Acquisition

First Property Group PLC 08 August 2005 Embargoed until 7am, 8 August 2005 First Property Group Announces First Polish Acquisition First Property Group plc ('Fprop' or 'the Company') (AIM: FPO), the online commercial property transaction platform and property asset manager, announces that it has completed the purchase of its first property outside of the UK, a 10,200 sq ft. retail complex, consisting of a supermarket and pharmacy based in a densely populated residential area of Warsaw, Poland. The acquisition was for a consideration of £1.077 million (zl6.3 million) and is the first property to be bought by the Company's newly opened office in Warsaw. The deal underlines Fprop's strategy of sourcing commercial property investment opportunities in parts of the world, such as Eastern and Central Europe, where higher yields are available and where the Company believes the rate of growth will be better than in the UK. The properties are let to two top covenants, namely: Jeronimo, a leading Portuguese supermarket chain with 600 Biedronka stores in Poland, and Rossman, the market leading German pharmacy with over 1,450 stores in Germany, Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic, for a rent of c. £100,000 per annum, representing a yield of 9.3% per annum. After all costs, the property is expected to deliver arate of return on equity of over 15% per annum. Commenting on the purchase, Ben Habib, CEO of Fprop, said: 'Given the sharp rise in commercial property investment values in the UK, we have, for some time, been exploring opportunities abroad and in particular in Central and Eastern Europe, where growth rates are currently higher. This is the first investment to be made by our Warsaw office, which opened earlier this year. On the back of the success of this initial venture, we anticipate making further acquisitions in Europe, as we seek to expand our asset management activities internationally.' - ENDS - For further information: Ben Habib Richard Sunderland/Rachel Drysdale First Property Group plc Tavistock Communications Limited Tel: 020 7731 2844 Tel: 020 7920 3150 www.fprop.com rsunderland@tavistock.co.uk Notes to Editors: First Property Group is an integrated, internet based, property services and asset management group. Its various divisions are: First Property Asset Management ('FPAM') - First Property Group's property fund management subsidiary, commenced trading in October 2002. FPAM now has five funds containing circa £22 million of property assets under management. Commercial Property Database ('CPD') - In 2001, Fprop acquired CPD, which provides access to its interactive database of UK properties exclusively to commercial property agents via their own web sites, giving multiple searching of size, location and property type, thus also providing agents with an income generating facility. CPD provides database and web services to about 100 commercial property agents in the UK. Online Sales of Properties - First Property Group plc operates a web based business-to-business property transaction platform established to facilitate the buying and selling of UK commercial property. By combining an email marketing campaign to its database of some 35,000 property practitioners, with links to detailed property particulars at www.fprop.com, it sells property entirely online without the assistance of any traditional services. Property Transaction Underwriting - Given Fprop's access to property for sale, its financing capability, its online sales capability and its in-house expertise, the Company also operates a property transaction underwriting service. This service allows Fprop to target vendors who have property for sale and offer to act as a buyer of last resort. If the property is sold on the market, any upside above the guaranteed price is typically shared 50/50 between the vendor and the Company. The Company only targets property which it believes it could add value to within a twelve to twenty four month period, with a view to a resale thereafter at a profit. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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